The two-edged sword of travel
Friday, May 8, 2020 at 12:58AM In a recent article in The Melbourne Age, travel writer, Ben Groundwater laments the current absence of travel (23/4) and in so doing paints one side of the picture of what travel is and does. ‘[Travel] supports economies. It supports communities.’ And ‘Exposure to other cultures and other people breeds understanding. It adds nuance.’
That might be half the story. But the jury is still out on whether or not travel is a net plus for the planet and its peoples. Cars produce a worrying amount of CO2; aeroplanes are far worse. An economy class return flight, London to New York, emits about the same amount of carbon dioxide per passenger as someone living in Ghana over an entire year. The fact that so many people in wealthy countries feel entitled to fly whenever they want to contributes to the devastation of our atmosphere.
It's not just environmental issues though. Anyone who has been on holiday to Phuket or Bali must wonder about the effect tourism has on other cultures. Trekking in Nepal in the early 80s, we saw local Sherpas labouring up steep slopes with vast loads of toilet paper and Coca Cola for the tourists. It’s only worsened since; most people have seen the photo of queues waiting to climb the summit of Mount Everest. Thoughtless tourism has wrecked as much havoc upon traditional cultures and the natural environment as planes have on the atmosphere.
As for exposure to other cultures breeding understanding and nuance, this may be true for the kind of travellers who would have learned these qualities in their own country anyway, through thoughtful observation and compassion. Often, travel only serves to confirm prejudices. I have lived a significant proportion of my life in India and have been intrigued by two types of reactions reported by returning Australians. One camp comes home speaking glowingly of what a profoundly spiritual place India is, as though ordinary Indians exist on some superior metaphysical plane to other mortals. Others come back appalled, saying how disgusting India is, people defecate it fields, sleep in the streets. Neither response demonstrates either nuance or understanding.
It we are not reflective at home, we are unlikely to become so the minute we take off on a trip. And the effects, on the places we go, on the skies we plough through so cavalierly, can be devastating.
Even popular music has something to say about this. ‘They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot,’ sang Joni Mitchell. The Eagles put it this way: ‘You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye’.
Reader Comments (1)
I'm so glad you have put "the other side" of the travel story out there Clare. I had a similar visceral reaction to Ben Groundwater's article but as usual you put it so much more eloquently and convincingly.