Caring for the Environment, Wanting to Travel: How to Reconcile the Two?

There are certain sensitive, often taboo, subjects that quickly raise the temperature of the talk around the family table or create a sense of unease when talking among friends... especially if you are someone who is concerned about the environment.

Travel is probably one of the subjects that raises the most tension, next to having children and eating meat. With others, but also within ourselves.

And with summer just around the corner, these tensions are invariably heightened: many of us are in the process of making decisions around the upcoming holidays.

This clash between our desires and our values stems from the fact that no one really wants to question what makes us feel comfortable. Being able to rest, discover new things, breathe, unplug: these are precious moments. But can we still do so with complete ease in a world that's experiencing a full-blown climate crisis?

For some, the answer is simple and indisputable. For others, the disconnect between environmental values and the allure of the open seas is still very difficult. And this feeling of discomfort is something we need to explore.

An historical anomaly

The fundamental issue is that over the last few decades, travel has become a social norm. It is seen as a right, almost a necessity, if we are to ‘live life to its fullest.’

Except that to be able to travel quickly, often and cheaply is in fact an historical anomaly and a huge privilege that we all take for granted.

Prior to the 1960s, very few people had access to pleasure travel. The explosion in mass tourism is a recent phenomenon, made possible by ridiculously low air fares, a globalized economy and a performance culture in which travel has become a social badge of achievement. But beneath this widespread acceptance of travel there is a very high price.

That is the 8.8% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions that is produced by tourism. In addition to the carbon footprint, we need to consider the pressure on local resources, the pollution generated by tourist accommodations, and the destruction of natural environments, not to mention the very real effects on people: gentrification, altered lifestyles or economic dependence on tourism.

Despite this undeniable fact, it's still a rather delicate matter to question travel. And why is that? Because it has a huge personal impact on us.

Giving back meaning to where it all begins

Travel is not just a physical act: it is a symbolic and cultural gesture.

And there is a fundamental difference between the human need to rest, to get away, to meet people ... and tourism as an industry. And, being the imperfect humans that we are, we find it hard to separate the two. We can experience the need to get away from it all, but without being part of a machine that degrades nature, cultures and individuals.

This is exactly the issue raised by the sociologist Rodolphe Christin in Peut-on voyager encore? [Is travel still possible]—an essay that seeks not to condemn, but to highlight our contradictions. He describes tourism as an entertainment industry that obeys the worst logic of capitalism: accumulation, performance, and the consumption of other places.

“Travel needs to again become an extraordinary experience, something we don't do every weekend. It should be a defining moment in our lives, worthy of the time and energy we devote to it.” - Rodolphe Christin, Sociologist

From a different standpoint, but with the same lucidity, author Marie-Julie Gagnon also asks herself in an article entitled Voyager mieux, est-ce vraiment possible [Is it really possible to travel better]?

She does not offer any miracle remedies, but she does open up room for doubt and nuance. She approaches travel, not as a guilty pleasure but as an area of tension between desire and responsibility. She invites us to become informed, to do better--not perfectly, but better.

Toward a new travel culture

Obviously, we can still travel. But perhaps we need to learn to do it differently. Travel less, primarily, but also choose destinations that are closer to home. And if you're going far away, explore the surrounding area for longer. Opt for the least polluting forms of travel to get to your destination, and also once you're there.

And, above all, you have to think about what you're really looking for when you travel.

Is it to discover new things? A change of scenery? A rest? Perhaps it's time to recognize that many of the things we look for when we travel could be found closer to home.

As Rodolphe Christin recently pointed out in an interview:

“Going away on vacation has become a conformist action, a conditioned reflex. We can't even imagine spending our holidays at home. It makes you wonder whether our living conditions have become so unbearable that we are at the point where we just want to get away from it all.”

So it's not a question of giving up everything, but of reconciling our choices with our values. It's about moving from reflex to intention.

So, talking about travel from an eco-friendly perspective should no longer be taboo. It's uncomfortable, yes. But it's necessary. Not to judge ourselves or others, but to start an honest dialogue.

Because in a world in crisis, there are no more neutral gestures. There are only choices. And every one of them deserves to be thought through with clear minds ... and perhaps a little love for the world in which we live.

Two readings to discover