Well here’s the thing. I wish I knew exactly how to save the planet. I simply do not have the answers. But as a frequent flier, every week traveler - it certainly is something I want to be thinking about as I see this great earth. In fact I have a whole episode about it on my podcast - right here. Listen and then fight with me…Naomi Klein style.
People love to tell me how bad flying is - from an eco perspective - and the recent “flygskam” (flight shame) movement has spilt all over me. My feeling is yes, I know it contributes, but so does driving a car (I drive electric) and eating meat (we’re vegetarian-veganish mostly) and a host of other bad things I could list… but really it’s unregulated giant corporations and the three big polluters refusing to do more (China, America and India). Not to pass the blame but there are big polluters and small polluters. Everyone is doing it.
The latest data: Aviation contributed approximately 4% to observed human-induced global warming to date, despite being responsible for only 2.4% of global annual emissions of CO2. Read the New York Times piece this week and make up your own mind.
Virgin Atlantic is giving their profits to finding ways to replace dirty fuels with biofuels. I don’t think flying counts for nothing, but it certainly isn’t the only crime. It’s not so simple, even though humans want to simplify this, it’s messy and complex. And I promise that recycling will do very little to save the planet, but at least it feels good right? But the judgment people love to vomit out, does very very little good.
Every year I work on the 52 Places piece for the New York Times - and every single year since I can remember people critique us for EVEN doing it - ok, YOU don’t have to go and YOU don’t have to read it. It’s not meant to send you on a route through the world anyway, it’s just to inspire people…but the online world has you ready to cancel me or to throw tea AND shade.
I do however think there are small ways - like thinking about personal waste, and being more conscious of how to take take take from the planet. And then there are more systemic big ways - that government and big tech can help with. Perhaps the problem is we can’t agree on a simple thing - just how important is nature to you? The Amazon is on fire as we speak, why does it seem like half the planet cares and the other half much less so. Michael and I talk about micro plastics in the oceans all the time, and now we have started wondering about the fish we sometimes consume. Poisson De Plastique. Sounds delicious. Also, Elon Musk’s Mission to Mars feels like it’s becoming a real possibility, so perhaps some are even less inclined to care about nature on the third rock from the sun.
But alas, the future is here. And the future is now. We can agree that a productive, diverse natural world, plus a stable climate, have been the very basics that have formed our civilisation’s successes. And so, recycling and composting feel very good to me. When I peruse my local farmers market, or farm stall, or when I shop at places like Organic Pharmer (that’s with a PH in case you wanted to look that up) it does all feel fantastic to me. And I love that when I walk around Tokyo, there are no trash cans - it is my responsibility to take my trash home with me. What let’s be honest, what does it really mean? What am I actually impacting, as I tread all over the world with my sneakers made from ocean plastic that has been recycled.
But oh the shade, the shade…to some I am the single biggest reason the planet is in trouble.
I do think we need to be talking about regenerative farming - and the best way to see this and understand this is to travel to places where it is being done on big and small scales. In fact, we should be doing that right away. I hope that President AOC will start offering subsidies to organic farming in 2024 when she takes office - this will be my side hustle, organic farming lobbyist.
Ok so back to what feels utterly wonderful, whilst I am traveling what feels really good is when I remember to bring my reusable water slash coffee flask - I recently started counting how many plastic bottles of water get foisted on me during a transcon flight. It’s not pretty. Then for the moment being part of the Paris Climate Agreement does also feel utterly fantastic. It been climate week in New York again recently, and just knowing that there are forces from all over the global that are beyond my comprehension working on helping this planet, fuck that feels sensational.
As someone who is on board an airplane often, as I said, I realize I am also doing my fair share of harm to the planet. I am not suggesting we don’t fly ever again, withal some kind of perspective. So now my friend Nic, who lives in Morro Bay, plants a tree for every trip I take on a plane - Mother Earth actively thanks him. As a frequent frequent traveler, I am clearly not doing enough - so what else should I be thinking about doing. Ok so I am recycling, I am always shopping local, I do turn off the lights and AC in hotel rooms when I am not there, and of course, I don’t need my hotel linen and towels washed every day. The so called “eco hotels” aren’t really that eco - let’s be clear. Especially the ones who foist it on you, it’s just suspicious when they can’t answer the real questions. Some of the Costa Rica ones are however pushing the envelop and I appreciate that. Anyway, I think about new ways to aid in this department all the time - of course, I would love any suggestions so please reach out. Bet my friend Carol has many many ideas ready for the world…
Ecotourism, a movement that began to take shape back in the 1980s, is the oldest and most commonly used word for it. More recent industry buzzwords include sustainable tourism, green tourism, nature tourism, responsible tourism, ethical tourism, mindful travel, conscious travel, pro-poor tourism, and many others. Ecotourism is essentially all about bringing nature/wildlife conservationists, local communities, and the responsible travel industry together to ensure development focused on long-term sustainability rather than short-term profits. But what does any of this really mean? Not much without context.
So let me tell you a story about a dear friend's mother, let’s just call her LaiLai. Well, LaiLai recently told me - climate change and the destruction of the planet is part of the bigger plan. It will rid the earth of the glut in population, and will make space for the right amount of humans to be here. It is, after all, Darwin’s natural selection - a sort of natural order of construction and destruction. When she said it, it felt so severe to me. A little touch of extreme. But there is something to it. And I just can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe the planet is just saying, ok enough already, parasites be gone! I wonder what she’d say about the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Speaking of LaiLai, well perhaps she is a little extreme. But nobody is pushing the conversation forward the way she does (As much as I like Al Gore, he just isn’t hitting the same notes that she can and Greta Thunberg certainly isn’t either) - if only we could only take a little bit of LaiLai and filter it into our daily lives. And she has dedicated her whole life to all this change - and you know what shocks her most? The fact that nobody is speaking out! And she is right, why aren’t we ALL speaking up?
Last week in New York kids took off school to go protest, and I feel that is crucial but hardly enough. They may actually need LaiLai to lead their march and be their mascot. She is charismatic and speaks so clearly. She is after all speaking her truth, and she is leading the charge. We all need a little LaiLai in our lives.
In the 70s living in the original Venice Beach, she would pile the kids in their car and head over to a fast food chain’s drive thru. She’d pull up and the family would roll down their windows and yell at whichever ill-fated teenager earning minimum wage was there - “how could you use styrofoam!” “AND ALL THAT PLASTIC!” Today she does drive a Tesla and uses it for dumpster diving in San Francisco, she recently told me people are discovering all her good spots, but she does still love it. How fantastic is that? I am looking forward to one day going on a trip to go dumpster diving with her, because as she says they throw out all this ugly fruit that is perfectly good to use for jams and who knows what else. I actually do find it odd that we’re only interested in buying produce that looks good - just think about apples. Snow White had that perfect one, even the fictional characters Adam and Eve had their own perfect looking apple. And you know what happened to all of these fools.
So I adore LaiLai, even though she told me my very expensive cologne was making her tongue tingle and it was probably not good for her biome. Well, she lives on hundreds of acres close to Yosemite and has WOOFERS (World Organization of Organic Farmers) who come and work and live on her land - learning how to go back to the land. And this is where my travel thoughts come into play. Isn’t this an amazing way to travel the world? Let’s go to the Kibbutz and learn how farming is done in Israel. Or what if we travel to Bolivia and see how Claus Meyer’s teams are employing young people in La Paz to learn to cook with native ingredients, in order to rely less on imports? What about doing to the farms outside Abu Dhabi and working on them for a day or two? Even the UAE has serious farming happening. I also think going to West Virginia to stay on a working farm will be good for the planet, and your political beliefs...
This would start a whole new travel movement - learning to live off the land, learning to use it’s natural resources in better ways. It’s the anti-travel, travel to live travel.
LaiLai is inspiring to say the least. In her extremity she does somewhat push people away - that’s what the fringe does to you. But without her we’d all be ruining the planet every day with hardly enough regard for this life. In fact, one of her fascinating philosophies is something that amuses me so - she says no to seatbelts. Yes, no seatbelts in her Tesla. She says “don’t mess with fate, if it’s your time, it’s your time.”Now pause and think about this. How freeing is this? You can totally let go of all your worries and all your fears. You can just let all that go. Mind blown.
LaiLai opens your eyes to how much you can do in this life… please can someone give this woman her own Netflix show? A podcast? She can be the Marie Kondo of the environment or for the planet - she could come into your home, or your business, or your whole life and show you how to clean it up, how to be more eco. Imagine this: “no no put down that down, that’s far too much plastic Daniel.” Definitely not, you don’t need to use single use gloves to touch that meat, what a waste. Are you going to use these vegetable scraps? They are very good for the manure I am making in my Tesla trunk. And that smells very good Daniel, much better than that chemical cologne you have on.
And those carrot and beet shavings? They are perfect to use for coloring my hair. I hope you’re planning to drink that urine Daniel, it’s very good for your immune system. Is that a guinea pig farm I see outside, I certainly hope so - it’s a very good source of protein! She should be holding court for the entire eco-tourism industry - my feeling is she’d get it right!
In all my travels, 120 plus countries and counting, I find it difficult to always see and understand what everyone is doing to save the planet, LaiLai excluded - a lot of the impacts are small and not necessarily noticeable perhaps, or it is in a legislative place where I definitely can’t observe it. A few places that definitely stick out to me on my travels are Botswana, Guyana and Costa Rica. Of course the obvious northern European countries I have been to, like Denmark and Sweden and Finland, are included here too.
But first, a special mention has to go out to the birding communities, the ornithologists of the world. It is estimated that over $800 billion is spent a year in outdoor recreation in the United States, with birdwatching having an economic benefit of $41 billion dollars. Roughly $17.3 billion is spent annually in wildlife-watching trip-related expenses in the U.S., with more than 20 million Americans taking birding-specific trips. They are helping in conservation by pouring their dollars into areas that need protection - also birders by their very nature are trying to be lighter and not bombastic as they observe the yellow breasted spotted helmed sparrow.
In Botswana they country took their entire military or defense budget and poured it all into conservation. Just think about that impact. Costa Rica is by far the most eco-conscious tourism place on the planet right now, with an endless amount of regulation around hotels and resorts being able to build and operate on principles that are good for the planet - less waste, less destruction. In Guyana they aim to achieve 100% clean and renewable energy supply by 2025.
Rutopia, a new kind of travel operator, and based in Mexico is offering bio-cultural trips. Rutopía is a platform that allows travelers to search for authentic experiences outside the conventional routes, to access rural communities, especially the indigenous ones, with hosts who want to share the incredible cultural and natural richness of their land. Rutopía preserves the natural and cultural heritage of Mexico and its rural communities by revolutionizing tourism so that the earnings really gets to where it is needed the most.
So what will make the biggest impact? That’s what we should probably all be thinking about on every trip we take. I hate the way we’re preached to, though. I am unsure if that works. I try not to preach, but rather want to open dialogues and try figure it all out together. We could save the planet, but first we have to find some common ground. I faint when I see photos of seals covered in oil, my heart caves when I see forests on fire. But that’s not everyone’s messaging - it needs to be something that affects everyone, in their daily life.
Ok fine, let’s sci-fi this. Margaret Atwood’s new book is out, and I just flew out of Gilead. All humans get a horrible disease, infected by earth (from its very core), all at once (think of this as a Netflix series you’ve seen). The more you do to help save it - from the banal recycling, to big legislation you start healing yourself. The cure is to help the planet. If you do nothing, you just start wasting away...slowly dying, killing yourself really.
Recently someone told me this - the planet will be fine. It will heal itself in whatever way it needs to. Humans are fucked. A small moment of perspective shift.