{"id":13893,"date":"2023-08-19T19:29:28","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T02:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/?p=13893"},"modified":"2023-08-20T08:01:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T15:01:03","slug":"ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/19\/ashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Damage<\/a>
Damage in the harbor of Lahaina on the island of Maui following a devastating wildfire, via the U.S. Coast Guard<\/a> | Wikimedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lahaina fires put me into a climate anxiety spiral, made worse by guilt. As an active participant in travel media, I not only flew to Hawaii several times a year many years in a row, I encouraged you to do the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know flying contributes to global warming<\/a>, but travel media tends to overlook or minimize our impact. We like to \u201cwhatabout\u201d it by pointing to business travel, the wealthy<\/a>, and the transportation industry at large. We like to wave off our impact and go about our business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m aware my own travel is a minuscule addition to global warming, but I got into a terrible funk all the same because, as travel media, an implied part of my work was getting others to, you know, travel. The more people board planes, the more global warming accelerates. And we\u2019re just not going to sit down. Americans, in particular, suck at making sacrifices for the greater good. See also: Covid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we throw up our hands. What are we supposed to do? Stop traveling? Obviously, we\u2019re not doing that<\/em>. Ridiculous! But we\u2019re shirking our duties as media if we don\u2019t speak up about the carbon costs of all this globetrotting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know travel contributes, and we know industry and governments need to be held accountable for things we can\u2019t change ourselves. As ethical writers and travelers who love to see new places, love to get out in the world, love to argue that travel is the greater good, why aren\u2019t we disclosing the carbon cost of our trips? If we believe that the industry has to change, why not pressure them to do so by adding this information to our stories? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy round trip flight from Seattle to Kahului, Maui, generated 1.4 tons of greenhouse emissions. To stem climate change the annual recommended amount per person is two tons.\u201d Put that <\/em>on your sponsored FOMO Instagram and blog posts. Put that in the \u201cif you go\u201d box on that magazine or newspaper spread. Want to take it one step more? Include your carbon cost when you step up to the mic on that conference stage. “My name is Pam Mandel. My pronouns are she\/her. My flight from Seattle to Berlin burned 3.73t of carbon. I’m here today to talk to you about why transparency in travel stories matters.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lahaina is in ashes and Yellowknife, in Canada\u2019s Northwest Territories, is under evacuation. Kelowna is burning and we await landfall of the next tropical storm — in California, a region not known for tropical storms. Floods in Pakistan displaced nearly 8 million people. The stories are seemingly endless. All of these situations were either precipitated and\/or made worse by climate change. Every morning, as I worked to make my ideas cohesive on this piece, another climate crisis was breaking news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel media is going to hate <\/em>this idea of disclosing the carbon cost, I can hear the objections already. Before we dismiss it, though, I\u2019d ask why we hate this idea. Do we think people should be shielded from the carbon costs of travel? Do we think showing our carbon consumption makes us look bad? Do we think including carbon data in travel information is bad for business? Explain it while I change out my air filters in anticipation of another smoke front, this one expected to arrive any minute thanks to the wildfires in the Okanagan. Explain why we should divorce this inseparable byproduct of travel from writing about travel<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collective travel media has a voice. I\u2019d like to see what happens to airline alternative fuel development programs<\/a> or cruise ship management policies<\/a> when every travel story posts its carbon footprint. Think of it like nutritional information on a can of soda or a health warning on a pack of cigarettes. My flight to Maui was \u00be of my annual recommended carbon serving to stem climate change. That\u2019s worth knowing and worth sharing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel publishers, editors, writers, videographers, podcasters, influencers, and anyone with a platform in this space: I did not ask we stop traveling. I ask that we share the true cost. It is such a small thing to ask and the potential for it to accelerate long overdue change is \u2026 well, let\u2019s find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could keep doing nothing. But Lahaina is in ashes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n