I'm writing this sat on a train at 6.49am. I boarded the train ten minutes ago extremely pleased with myself for travelling so early because of the unusually high number of seats for me to pick from. The contrast with the normal rush to occupy one of the few remaining spaces on the train to London was refreshing and relaxing. However, because of the low rate of occupancy this morning, my carbon footprint for the journey is higher than it would have been had I squeezed into the last space beside the smelly toilet.
The reason for this is that the carbon footprint of travel is most effectively assessed in terms of kilograms of CO2 emitted per passenger kilometre. The important bit here is the 'per passenger' bit. A private jet carrying two celebrtities is responsible for more CO2 per person than a budget airline cramming people into every available luggage compartment.
You might reasonably conclude from this that low carbon travel is about discomfort and squashing people together as much as possible. Even if we take the threat of climate change to be serious enough that it's worth squeezing together a bit when we travel, this misses the point when we looked at from the perspective of making individual travel choices.
Broadly speaking, trains and coaches are very efficient modes of transport (not to mention bikes and walking). If we take a typical plane, a typical train and a typical coach travelling the same distance, each with their seats 70% full, the plane will be between three and ten times as damaging in CO2 terms than the train, and the coach is able to edge slightly ahead of the train. There are various factors that play their part, from the way that the electricity is produced if the train in question is electric, to the altitude at which the plane is flying, to the specific engine-type of the coach.
It is pretty ridiculous to expect every traveller to fully research the intricacies of each vehicle they have the option to travel in, plus the level of occupancy expected on that day (which is of course impossible to tell until you're already travelling). Instead, the low carbon traveller can choose to take the option that they know to be broadly lower carbon. They can choose to holiday closer to home, and when they choose to travel further afield they can make it a once in a lifetime adventure rather than a frequent jaunt half-way across the world.
Embracing low carbon travel means acknowledging that the rise of cheaper, more frequent, and longer-distance flights is not sustainable. It means taking bold steps towards the future that awaits us in a world where we have dramatically reduced the amount of carbon we emit. We are exploring alternatives and driving innovation whilst at the same time re-capturing some of the magic and wonderment travel used to bring. Low carbon travel is about taking a positive and sincere approach to sustainable living without abandoning our innate desire to interact with the world and the wonderful people who occupy it.
The above summary is a very broad overview, and there are lots of complexities that we don't claim to cover. We also don't claim to know it all! Understanding and adapting to a low carbon life is a giant learning process. We'll be posting the lessons we're still learning on the blog.