Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
30 July 2020
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and go on holiday? The choice of a dreamlike location often distracts us from responsible habits we had with regard to the environment, that required so much effort to learn and such good intentions during the year, and we forget that instead the tourist sector is constantly growing and has local environmental and economic effects.
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and go on holiday? The choice of a dreamlike location often distracts us from responsible habits we had with regard to the environment, that required so much effort to learn and such good intentions during the year, and we forget that instead the tourist sector is constantly growing and has local environmental and economic effects.
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and go on holiday? The choice of a dreamlike location often distracts us from responsible habits we had with regard to the environment, that required so much effort to learn and such good intentions during the year, and we forget that instead the tourist sector is constantly growing and has local environmental and economic effects.
Tourism
Environmental impacts of tourism
There are many different environmental impacts of tourism:
- impact on the landscape of the natural areas due to anthropization, urbanization and the construction of accommodation facilities and infrastructures that severely modify the territory;
- air, soil and water pollution;
- altered land and sea ecosystems, that cause a loss of biodiversity;
- noise pollution;
- production of waste.
What is sustainable tourism?
In the 1987 Brundtland Report, the first definition of Sustainable Development is given by the WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development) and the concept of Sustainable Tourism refers precisely to that definition. The World Tourism Organization, the United Nations and other international organisms have identified the principal conditions that an ecotourist project must satisfy:
- to ensure that it contributes to the conservation and the sustainable development of the territories and the neighbouring communities;
- to guarantee the participation of the local communities in all the phases of an ecotourist project;
- to minimize the negative impact that the accommodation, transportation services and any activities that are organized for the tourists may have on the natural and cultural environment;
- to ensure that a reasonable amount of the income generated by the activities connected with tourism is given to the local communities and for preservation of the natural heritage;
- to increase the awareness that tourism can be carried out in various manners that respect the environment and that are socially responsible.
Sustainable holiday
Choice of the destination and of the facilities
Choice of the type of transportation
Prefer train transportation to air transportation wherever possible. In fact the train pollutes up to ten times less than a plane. It has been calculated that the short range flights, are proportionately much more polluting. In fact most of the carbon dioxide is freed in the initial and final phases of the flight. Furthermore planes release large amounts of water vapour at the high altitudes, where they remain for a long time. During the holidays, make the best of your time and move around on foot or by bicycle. It is surely more pleasant to move around this way, and you have the possibility to fully appreciate the environment you are in, but mainly the emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are reduced, and this contributes actively to the battle to prevent climate changes. In case it is indispensible to use a car, organize your trip so that you travel with other people. The factors regarding the emissions of the different modes of transport are as follows:
- car: 237 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre;
- plane: 150 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre;
- motorcycle: 90 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre;
- bus: 75 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre;
- train: 45 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre;
- bicycle: 0 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre;
- on foot: 0 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre.
Sustainable food
Forget these souvenirs
A rational use of water
Excessive use of water can deteriorate the local water resources, jeopardizing the availability of water for the resident population. Problems may increase in areas in which the tourist season coincides with the season with poor rainfall. In an accommodation facility, 37% of the water is used for bathrooms and 21% for the kitchen.
Therefore let us remember the usual important habits:
- Prefer a shower to a bath. In fact every time you have a bath, you use up to 150 litres, for a shower you use only 50 litres.
- Turn off the water when you are washing your teeth, a tap that is left open when you are washing your teeth leads to a waste of approximately 2500 litres of water a year, per person.
- Use shampoos and soaps sparingly, and if you can, choose the ones that are least polluting. If you are in a tropical area near a coral reef, this last advice becomes compulsory.