2. Fly less – take the Eurostar

I’ve made no posts for the last few weeks, firstly as I was on holiday in Paris and then for various other reasons, but that brings me nicely to my next topic: air travel. With the growth of budget airlines, there are probably few people in the UK (and most of the developed world) who haven’t taken to the skies. In fact, it is increasingly common for people to fly to domestic destination when popping home for the weekend, never mind jetting off on a transatlantic shopping trip.

Sadly, all this convenience and speed comes at a high cost. Here are some facts provided by Friends of the Earth on the impact of aviation:

“It currently represents 6.4 per cent of UK carbon dioxide emissions or 13 per cent of total climate damage. A study by the respected and independent Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in 2005 found that – even allowing for technological improvements – if current growth continues, aviation could use up the UK’s entire carbon `allowance’ by 2050. Departing flights from Heathrow alone are responsible for 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year or 3.1per cent of total UK emissions.”

So while it might sometimes, and I stress sometimes, be a quicker to take a short flight, if we’re serious about tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions then we need to reconsider our options. Short flights are particularly bad for carbon emissions per mile because such huge amounts of fuel are burnt during take off and landing.

If you’re going to France or Belgium (or indeed any Western European country if you’re really committed) then the Eurostar really does offer a great alternative to flying and in many ways is a more attractive option for several reasons:

1. Time – Though aeroplanes obviously travel much faster than even high-speed trains, the overall journey time can be massively lengthened by the hassle that flying can involve.

Time to get to the airport (usually well outside urban areas). Time queuing to check in. Time queuing to get through security (airlines now advise leaving two hours for this). Time waiting for a runway slot. Time waiting for the bad weather to clear. Time listening to the safety instructions (though you’ve heard them 100 times before). Time waiting for your bags on a lazy carousel. Time catching another taxi back into your destination city.

The London-Paris route on the Eurostar is completed in a mere two hours. You only need get to the station 30 minutes before departure and you arrive in the centre of the French capital with its great public transport system and further rail links to the rest of Europe. Plus 93 percent of Eurostar trains were on time last year.

Of course getting to London isn’t a speedy process for many Brits and the further into France you’re going, the longer the trip will take. However Eurostar has now joined forces with the UK’s train operators to build complete journeys from locations outside of the capital. It’s always worth remembering that your flight time doesn’t by any means reflect the journey time and the Eurostar could be a quicker option than it at first seems.

2. Ease – “So does this train go underwater?” Forcing myself not to burst out into hysterical laughter at this question from an American teenage tourist was about the most difficult part of my Eurostar trip. In fact, getting the train to Paris was one of the easiest journeys I’ve ever made that didn’t involve a car.

We booked online, collected our tickets from a machine at the station, passed straight through customs and security without fuss and boarded. There was little queuing, no navigating through a labyrinth of duty free shops and I could take shampoo and tweezers with me. My bags were in sight at all time and there was no chance of them ending up in Peru or being subjected to the busy hands of bored airline staff. I had room to stretch my entire six foot two frame and to walk up and down the aisle to my heart’s content.

Ok so there was no entertainment system but it seems like most people have iPods now anyway and most films you watch on a plane are rubbish anyway. There’s always a good old-fashioned book. Or try reclaiming the lost art of conversation. Plus there was no painful ear popping, no nauseating turbulence and no one trying to show me how to pull a cord and blow into a whistle. Just a pleasant ride through verdant English and French countryside with a long tunnel in the middle.

3. Cost – Budget airlines present a major challenge to climate campaigners and have helped make short-haul flights an everyday part of life. With some journeys even given away for £0 (plus tax and fees) it seems difficult to see how the Eurostar could compete with no-frills companies. However, with a little planning, taking the train could be the cheaper as well as the greener option.

You can book a seat on the Eurostar up to three months in advance and the sooner you buy your tickets the cheaper they are likely to be – return tickets start at just £55 and even less if you’re under 26.

The cheapest flights are increasingly hard to find as aviation taxes and fuel bills rise and you’ll often be asked to pay for what many would see as basic services such as baggage handling. With the Eurostar there are no extra luggage or check-in fees, no additional tax, no hidden insurance charges, just a straight-up ticket price.

Ultimately we are still faced with a system that allows air travel to be potentially cheaper than taking the train. However, the Eurostar does offer a reasonably priced, more environmentally friendly alternative to a method of transport that produces excessive amounts of CO2. Eurostar even include a carbon offset scheme in the price of the ticket meaning journeys are (theoretically anyway) carbon neutral.

Willpower to resist temptation has to play a part too but there are so many advantages to taking the tunnel that the extra cost is often worth it.

Eurostar journeys can now be booked to travel from over 100 UK stations to destinations all over France, Belgium, the Netherlands and even Germany. Visit www.eurostar.com for details.

1. Join environmental charities

When I began considering what to do first on my green quest, it was very hard to know where to start. Virtually every aspect of our lives has an effect on the environment and finding out the best way to act to reduce your impact in each case can be a difficult and confusing process. The obvious place to turn for advice and suggestions was the internet where there are many organisations attempting to fight climate change.

By supporting these organisations we can effectively and very easily contribute to their efforts to tackle climate change and protect the environment, both directly and indirectly. A small but regular financial contribution is not a difficult thing for anyone to shoulder. And it’s very easy to set up: using the internet, these groups are just a few clicks away. Within ten minutes I was able to join both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, setting up direct debits that will donate a small amount money to them from my bank account every month. That’s it. I don’t have to worry about it again. And through the Gift Aid tax reclaim system you can increase the amount they receive from you by 28% without actually parting from any more cash.

By joining these organisations I will also be able to find out about their campaigns and how I can contribute more directly, from signing petitions and writing to my MP to boycotting certain companies and products and going on protests.

You too can join Greenpeace here: https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/donate/by-direct-debit?PromoParam=WE001

And Friends of the Earth here: https://www.foe.co.uk/direct_debit_form_new.html

If you didn’t know:

Greenpeace is an international, independent and non-violent organisation that aims to prevent climate change and protect the environment by exposing and confronting environmental abuse by governments and countries around the world, and to promote responsible and just solutions to the environmental problems faced by the world. Greenpeace’s campaigns have contributed, among other things, to bans on nuclear weapons testing, mineral exploitation of Antarctica, and the dumping of industrial and radioactive waste at sea. Find out more here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk

Friends of the Earth is an international network of organisations that seek to influence political and economic policies in favour of the environment, finding green alternatives based on fact to help people and governments change the way the world is run. Just recently, Friends of the Earth’s ‘Big Ask’ campaign contributed to the successful introduction of the UK’s Climate Change Bill which will require a legally binding reduction of the UK’s carbon emissions of 60% by 2050. Find out more here: http://www.foe.co.uk

You may want to support more organisations or, for whatever reason, you may not wish to join the two I have highlighted here. So here is a list of environmental charities: http://www.britishcouncil.org/environmentuk/charities.htm

Of course joining either of these organisations won’t directly reduce my carbon emissions, but they are both incredibly important in the fight against climate change. And this blog is designed to show how little things can make a contribution, so it’s not a bad way to start.

It’s not (always) easy being green

I’ve just finished watching the environmental documentary The 11^th Hour and I’ve been left in tears. This incredibly powerful examination of the environmental problems facing the world today has shaken me to my very centre. Going even further than Al Gore’s Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth, the film exposes just how much danger we as humans are putting ourselves in through the extreme impact we are having on the planet. Never has climate change seemed so real to me, and never has it seemed such a genuine threat, not just to our way of life but our very existence.

It wasn’t the scenes of despair-inducing environmental devastation that caused me to well up, however; it was the affirmation that we, as a species, have the ability to do something about climate change. According to the film, the technology already exists to reduce human impact on the Earth by 90 percent. When put like that the task of halting our impending self-induced doom doesn’t seem so impossible.

We live in an age of industrialisation, globalisation and advanced technology, and while this means that huge forces influence our lives in ways we can only struggle to comprehend, it is also the case that virtually every decision can have an effect on our environment, from turning on the light in the morning to brushing our teeth at night. We can effect change in each of these small aspects of our lives without too much hassle or sacrifice, and while individually they might seem relatively insignificant, if enough people take part they can all add up to one planet changing whole.

Of course there are some other, larger issues we need to seriously consider as well, things that require determination and a willingness to make a major lifestyle change. That’s why it’s not always easy being green. But by taking things one step at a time, perhaps we can ease the transition to a greener, more sustainable way of living, becoming so used to making environmentally conscious decisions that they don’t seem like a chore. These decisions won’t always be the simplest or cheapest but in the long term they will probably be they best.

So with this blog I intend to document my quest to green up my life without completely rejecting the modern world and resorting to moving to a shack in the middle of nowhere. It will require willpower and an acceptance of limitation of choice but when the solution is to generally become less materialistic and self-centred I would be ashamed to imagine I could not achieve these aims.

It was the realisation, while watching The 11^th Hour, that we do have the power to make a difference that turned my fear and anger into determination. The human race has achieved so much in its relatively short history, and much of that has come in just the last 100 years. Surely we have it in us to rise to the challenges presented by climate change and stop it before it’s too late. Perhaps we really can save the world.

http://11thhouraction.com/