Going Green - Are you thinking of making great escape with sun summer break?

Take the train rather than flying (photo: Shutterstock)Take the train rather than flying (photo: Shutterstock)
Take the train rather than flying (photo: Shutterstock)

Green campaigner and consumer expert, Angela Terry, separates climate change facts from fiction and explains how you can take simple, practical steps to help save the planet. Follow @ouronehome & visithttps://onehome.org.uk/ for more advice.

Q: The January frost is making me think of summer holidays.But how do I holiday without hurting the planet?

A: We’re all dreaming of a summer holiday!

Thankfully, there are sustainable ways to enjoy a well-deserved, luxurious break.It’s about being that little bit more creative in you’re thinking and perhaps embracing the journey as part of the adventure too.

Here are some suggestions ...

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Stay grounded

Aviation accounts for around 2.4 per cent of global carbon emissions.

Taking other gases and vapour trails produced by aircraft, the industry is responsible for roughly five per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

This might not seem like a big deal, until you consider that, despite the climate emergency, the airline industry plans to grow and only a small percentage of people in the world actually fly at all.

In 2018, before the pandemic restricted travel, only 11 per cent of the global population flew.

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In Britain, 15 per cent of the population take 70 per cent of flights. These frequent flyers are causing considerable harm. It clearly isn’t fair, especially when the climate crisis is already hitting the poorest people hardest, who don’t even have the option of flying.

The truth is very little else will raise your carbon footprint as quickly as taking a flight. Reducing the amount you fly, the distance you fly or cutting air travel out altogether is a way of making a meaningful contribution to tackling global warming.

Take the train

Take the train rather than flying (photo: Shutterstock)Take the train rather than flying (photo: Shutterstock)
Take the train rather than flying (photo: Shutterstock)

You could go by train, one of the greenest ways of travelling. Thanks to Eurostar you can swiftly reach many European cities from London, including Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. From the French capital, you can take a TGV, a highspeed train, to the Mediterranean coast in around three hours. To find out more about train travel around Europe, the website seat61.com is packed full of info, including sleeper train details. For a really exciting family holiday, you could even explore the continent by taking your kids interrailing. Children under 11 go free.

Explore the UK

Another option is to holiday in the UK, which is chockfull of unforgettable holiday destinations – like the Isles of Scilly (the ‘British Caribbean’), Dorset’s ‘Jurassic Coast’, the Lake District, the Scottish Highlands, Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway, the wilds of Snowdonia and the historic Sherwood Forest. To steep yourself in the local culture, plan your trip around a festival. Find a list on the Visit Britain website.

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Green your accommodation

When booking accommodation, you can make green choices too. For example, the National Trust offers a range of stylish eco-friendly cottages – featuring everything from green-powered electric heating to solar panels.

Celebrity spot

Clearly not one for a mug of cocoa and slippers, Oscar-winning actor Jane Fonda is spending her eighties fighting to save the planet.