The importance of sustainable transportation in tourism
Tourism is and has been the most common practice, whether it's for business, leisure, or family vacations, the economy of many countries is sustained by tourism. Because it's one of the commonest of practices, the effects that it could have on the environment should be put under the microscope too.
Traveling can have significant negative impacts on the environment and makes up to 5% of the total pollution to the atmosphere. It's because the local tourist spots consist of many tourists in a single place, this amounts to a lot of carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, the vehicles used by the tourists for traveling give off many poisonous gases and damage the atmosphere.
Hence it is of utmost importance to look for an alternative to conventional transport that is less harmful to the environment. The right choice is moving sustainably.
What is sustainable transportation?
Sustainable transportation consists of a green and eco-friendly form of vehicular travel to minimise damage to the environment. A few examples of sustainable transport include green vehicles that use biogas as fuel, the same hybrid cars are controversial because the battery on which they run on is Lithium. Lithium mining is very damaging to the environment.
Sustainable transportation also takes forms like walking, transit, sharing a ride instead of using multiple cars for a small number of people, and most importantly, cycling. If there's something we can affirm, is that the expansion of the world made us dependent on vehicular transport.
Burning of organic fuel became the only source for powering these transportation methods, and as the demand for transport grew, so did the damage to the environment. This is why an alternative to conventional vehicles are being sought to minimise the negative impact on the environment.
These environmentally friendly vehicles are being adopted rapidly with features more than the previous cars.
Take Tesla as an excellent example of this, in 6 years, they've had a 25,913% growth in sales.
The biggest obstacle that now exists is ensuring that the implementation of these environmentally sustainable transportation systems happens. Especially in the most competitive market structures and large oil companies, it could definitely be a challenge for them to cope with changes and adapt to them to keep up with the transport supply and demand.
Why is it important?
Quite frankly, is it much of a surprise that we should care about not harming the environment in which we live? Let's get down to the facts.
According to reports, pollution and damage to the ozone are worse than ever in these times, and it's getting worse mostly due to transportation. Burning fossil fuels negatively impacts our environment, and they get used to power the engines of highly demanded vehicles.
Global warming's root cause is the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, this happens through the burning of coal, oil, and natural gasses that help generate electricity or to run cars. Because of global warming, polar ice caps melt causing mass floods, storms, and heat waves, making the usually warm areas hotter than the life living there can bear.
Sustainable transportation should become the topmost priority to slow the process of climate change, environmental pollution, and halt global warming. Why? It's simple:
Transportation is one of the most critical causes of environmental pollution.
Benefits of sustainable transportation
This practice has numerous benefits and is the only option towards a better and life-affirming future on this Earth. It is a fast and flexible mode of transportation.
In compact cities of Europe, for example, people tend to walk the distance or cycle to their destinations. In this manner, there is no worry to find parking or stopping to fill up.This can turn into a faster mode to travel since you can use shortcuts and there is no tension of getting stuck in traffic, the result here is saving a lot of time and money (let's face it, gas does not come cheap).
Energy-efficient vehicles, walking and cycling to your destination is financially friendly too. You can end up saving a significant amount of money from your monthly budget by two main reasons:
- Spending less cash on fuel
- Avoiding repairs in case of an accident and expenditure on regular maintenance.
Simple actions like walking and cycling, integrate with and promote physical exercise. That makes it beneficial to your health, and keeping you healthy, reducing risks of heart diseases and diabetes.
Lowering the carbon emissions by making environmentally friendly, sustainable transportation a norm also keeps the air clean for us to breathe. This method of transportation isn't only beneficial for the environment but for the future generations, and us!
Moving sustainably while traveling
There are many sustainable transportation examples that travelers could take advantage of. Some include traveling in eco-friendly compact vehicles, also, people can go collectively in bulk to lessen, if not wholly diminish carbon emissions by burning of organic fuel.
The best and the most natural step towards a greener future is using the public transportation system. Take trams, buses, and trains for traveling intra-city and walking and cycling as an alternative to choosing a conventional vehicle.
Using motorcycles is fuel-efficient but can only carry a limited number of people at a time. This is why it is of utmost importance to stop frequently using high fuel-intensive modes of transportation as much as possible, or at least until a better alternative becomes available.
For example, traveling by air is a very convenient and safe way to get to places that are considerably far away. However, it is incredibly fuel inefficient, unfortunately, until now, it has no other alternative available matching its functionality.
Back to you
There is no doubt about the numerous functionalities of implementing sustainable transportation in our daily lives. Environmentally sustainable transportation systems are the only hope we have of having a sustainable future, by minimising environmental pollution and tackling global warming.
Sure, there are numerous flaws in each of these eco-methods. For instance, walking and cycling are very efficient ways to move, but these activities promote a lot on physical health and are an obstacle for people that do not have the strength or capability to walk and cycle.
Similarly, public transport minimises fuel consumption because it carries a bunch of people, instead of them traveling individually and consuming more energy. However, this method can be far more time consuming and cannot be depended upon when in a hurry.
All in all, sustainable transportation has its flaws, but the pros here outweigh the cons. This is why it is the best hope for an eco-friendly Earth! What’s your take on this?
