Adjusting the normal to help the planet

For the planet's sake we need to rethink our perception of travel. Photo / Getty Images

Travel. A word that can conjure up all sorts of images, exotic cultures, fascinating landscapes, interesting people and such a variety of food.
This planet is amazing in its diversity, one episode of a David Attenborough nature documentary can be really eye-opening as to the diversity that is more than elephants and lions.

When I did my OE in the 70s air travel was relatively expensive so we spent five years travelling while based in England, eventually returning overland through Asia, Australia and home. I still remember the emotion of seeing Aotearoa for the first time in five years as we descended through the clouds and to remember and appreciate what a beautiful country we have as home.

There is the old phrase "Travel broadens the mind" and it certainly can. The world is made up of fellow human beings, all living their own, but different lives. Some understanding of where others on this planet get their world view would go some way towards co-operative solutions to the major problems facing us all.

Is being able to travel more important than the elephant in the room, climate change? To put travel into perspective is it more important to cross the planet to visit our children and maybe also their children, when in doing so we are then risking their future?
Air travel seems normal to us here in Aotearoa but less than 11 per cent of people on the planet have ever flown, but just 1 per cent of the world's population are responsible for half of aviation's emissions, which is 4 per cent of our 7 billion population's emissions.

The enthusiasm, for example, in the tourist industry, to get back to "normal", which can only mean more air travel, is also reducing our chances of getting carbon emissions down to a level that could dodge the worst effects of climate change. This doesn't mean we shouldn't care for the people who are affected by the change that is needed, but if we also care for our families and Earth that sustains us, we must make changes from the "normal" we have got used to, to a "normal" that is sustainable.

We should also remind ourselves that the travel we call normal now has been normal for only the past 50 years or so. To go back 100 years, "normal" overseas travel was by sea and the trip to Aotearoa was up to 120 days. When our forebears left their homes to travel such distances, they mostly never expected to see their homes and families again. This was normal for them at that time.

I am not suggesting that we revert to the normal of that time, but that we make a serious effort to put our travel plans into perspective. What is really important at this time in history? I would say dealing with climate change with all the tools we can to reduce our individual carbon footprint as much as possible.

Of course, nothing can beat seeing family and friends in person, but compared with return letters of perhaps four times a year, modern technology allows us nearly everything but personal contact using Skype and Zoom. Covid-19 showed us this could work remarkably well for communication, and for a while showed what a world using less fossil fuel could be like.

The new normal of less travel is a critical part of reducing our carbon footprint and provides us with a future that will last longer than not putting the brakes on our carbon usage.

* John Milnes was Green Party candidate for three elections, founder member of Sustainable Whanganui, parent and grandparent.