Words by Fuchsia Sims. Fuchsia is the co-founder of Adventure Junky, an app that makes a game of sustainable travel practices, awarding you points for completing or contributing low-impact experiences and showcasing destinations and travel operators that offer them. Friends can play against one another, or you can compete globally for the Eco bragging rights of #1 Adventure Junky on earth.
Sustainable Travel – Our Calling
For billions of years, our planet Earth has whizzed quite happily around the sun. Sure there’s been tectonic collisions, ages of ice, volcanic eruptions, but that’s how ecosystems and diversity have evolved over millions of years – very slowly. Yet in the last 70 years all that has changed – the hand of man has brought about radical and unprecedented transformation.
In 1950 only 25 million people crossed international borders, and being an explorer was seen as a risky career not hobby nor luxury. Last year 1.4 billion people crossed international borders. That’s almost 4 million people going on a holiday every single day!
Today mass and mainstream exploration has officially erupted, stretching far and wide across the globe. Thanks to cheaper air fares, rising incomes, social media’s ability to fuel ‘Instagramable” locations and FOMO – who knows how much longer you’ll be able to see a Polar Bear in the wild, or visit the Maldives while they’re above water.
What’s even more frightening is that by 2030 today’s travellers are set to double! Even today, many places can no longer cope or escape their own popularity, so we must ask the hard questions – are our environments and cultures resilient enough to withstand the stampede?
There are plenty of examples to show they are not – from overtourism, cultural erosion, plastic waste, rapidly rising C02 emissions, wildlife exploitation to mass and irreversible habitat loss. All of which negatively impact the lives of locals and the authenticity and quality of your experience as a traveller.
Now it’s not all doom and gloom, when managed well travel is an incredibly powerful force – it creates jobs, attracts investment and drives infrastructure development. Sustainable and regenerative travel practices improve livelihood, education levels and quality of life for local people. It can also refocus energy and action towards conservation, helping preserve cultural traditions and protect wildlife.
Travel must contribute as much to the wellbeing of the people and places we visit – as to our own.
To achieve this win-win when we travel we must reframe our mindset, behaviours, practices and expectations. We must take accountability for our impact on the world we love exploring. We cannot rely on government or grassroots, cruise lines, airlines or other travel business to do the right thing, we must be the eyes and ears on the ground. It is our responsibility to take part in and promote healthy travel experiences because our choices are fast become a vote for the future of this planet.
Here are ‘Seven Commandments’ to follow if you truly are on a mission to answer earth’s call to action, and become a more responsible and sustainable traveller:
1. Become an Offsetter
It’s ironic that as passionate travellers with a deeper appreciation of the beauty of our planet than most, that through our travels we producing roughly 3x the CO2 emissions of the average citizen.
Tourism accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions, with long haul flights being the major contributor. To put this into perspective, an individual flying from Sydney to London return generates approximately 6 metric tonnes of CO2 – this is more than the entire annual emissions of the average Italian and is enough to melt a staggering 18 square meters of Arctic sea ice forever.
Go climate positive today, sign up here to offset your personal and travel emissions at www.adventurejunky.earth/offset.
2. Explore Your Own Backyard
Keep an eye out closer to home. When you start looking you’ll likely be amazed by what is around you. It’s good to stay close for a few reasons. Firstly you’ll probably travel and get out on your weekends more often, get to meet and support local businesses.
Also you’ll lower your travel footprint on the environment. I’m not saying don’t ever travel far, just mix it up. Travel helps us grow and develop as individuals, it’s important to experience other places and cultures. But we all need to start understanding there is a real impact behind our choices if we really hope to help the Earth.
3. Refuse, Reduce, Recycle
Travel is an enormous generator of waste from food to plastic. I don’t know about you but I definitely feel guilty when I look around at all the single use items when I fly. So I always carry my trusted cup and thermos, sometimes I’m even known to have a spork in my bag. This really is about changing you patterns of behaviours and standing up for what you feel strongly about – it is simple just say NO to single use items!
This year alone over 8 million tonnes of plastic waste has been dumped in the ocean. It is also important to note that when we travel to less developed countries one of the biggest problems they face is adequate waste management and recycling systems – so please be more aware and play a positive role.
4. Know thy Operator
Researching as much as you can about your tour operator and the region they operate in is a massive way to leave a positive impact in the wake of ones travels. There are some remarkable tour operators out there in the world, that work hard every single day to not only ensure that you have a safe and sensational experience, but that the people and places they work around are taken care of.
From ice climbing companies who’ve set up initiatives to train local women to guide, to gigantic schooner sailing boats that have had their engines rebuilt to be electric which not only help the environment but removes noise pollution for whales, to family owed rafting companies who have been protecting their river for several generations. The back ground stories and initiatives some companies are working on are often hidden so dive in deep and be sure you are supporting the right one.
You’ll find over a thousand of these types of adventures on the Adventure Junky App.
5 Take the Path Less Travelled
Avoid the mass and mainstream at all cost. Walk off the beaten path, visit places you have never head of or the places you have off peak season.
6. Return to Nature
Deep with in our DNA is a desire to reconnect. But we’ve come so far from our origins that we now call it an ‘adventure’ to step back into nature… Be sure to wander where the WiFi is weak, you cant help but find a better connection. Let nature recharge your long life battery – unplug, be present, open your mind and break away from tech tunnel vision and burnout. Finding places on earth with no reception is rare, the new form of luxury, enjoy those moments as often as possible.
7. Local Wisdom and Knowledge
Some of the richest, more meaningful travel experiences come with genuine cultural exchange. Meeting the locals, learning, sharing and immersing into their way of life almost becoming a ‘tourist in camouflage’ is the greatest way to travel. Finding opportunities to directly engage with the local people when it comes to buying food and gifts also helps keeps money within their community and helps provide a circular economy.
Wherever possible you should strive to support ethical businesses, brands and craftsman. Personally spending time with the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land or sitting with a Himba Tribe in Namibia, have been some of my most rewarding and memorable experiences.
Finally I encourage you to join our tribe, become an Adventure Junky.
An Adventure Junky is a conscious and mindful traveller. They see the advantage of small groups versus mass tours. They aim to leave the community and environment with a net gain. They look for opportunities to give back, to learn, to buy local, to travel lightly and respectfully. They want to share their experiences and educate others what they learn along the way.
Remember, you’re not just one traveller, you’re a growing 1.4 billion of them! Imagine if we all travelled with passion, purpose and a common goal – we’d not only combat the negative effects and challenges tourism faces, we’d also ensure there is a diverse and thriving planet for future generations to explore.
