Today's Mobility Revolution: Transforming the Way We Travel

[Dan Johnson]

Perhaps the greatest shift fueled by the petroleum age is the mobility revolution. Just over a century after the Wright Brothers' "Flying Machine" went airborne, we take for granted the ability to circumnavigate the globe by plane. Now, climate change and peak oil (among other developments) are requiring perhaps an even more profound transformation - the attempt to maintain such mobility while radically reducing (or even eliminating) carbon emissions and other adverse environmental impacts of travel.

JetBlue unveiled its "Jetting to Green" initiative offering travelers carbon offsetting through Carbonfund.org, as well as supporting the development of second-generation biofuels. Importantly, the aviation fuels will come from vegetation and algae-based oils, instead of diverting food crops such as corn to fuel - a practice that is raising food prices, triggering riots globally. With airline travel projected to continue increasing (for example more than doubling in the UK over the next quarter century), it seems imperative to achieve ecologically sustainable mobility solutions to avoid a crash of the airline industry in a carbon-constrained future.

Environmental constraints apply not just in transit, but also at destinations - for example, at conferences gathering professionals from far afield. The average three-day, 1,000-person meeting produces over 12 tons of trash, uses 200,000 kilowatts of energy, and consumes 100,000 gallons of water. This according to hotelier Marriott, which is taking measures to reduce these impacts by reducing (through linen-less tables), reusing (name tags), and recycling (donating leftover food.)
Marriott is also greening conferences by contributing five percent ..., where deforestation currently emits more carbon than all terrestrial transport globally. Just last month, Marriott committed $2 million to fund environmental management in the Brazilian State of Amazonas, and the hotel chain has partnered with Conservational International to create a 5-point "green" strategy.

[Jan Herder]

Hi Dan, these are questions I'm thinking about as well. I think it is essential for tourist destination economies to transform to the information age. No one seems to be saying that travel is an industry about to collapse. But considering the price of oil who will be jetting around at $400 a barrel? Only the very rich. The continuing gigantic carbon footprint of travel is threatening the very destinations we are trying to preserve. I'm curious about what others in the industry are thninking and what solutions they are offering? The use of platforms such as Second Life look to me like the future of conferences. Are any other members of this network using Second Life instead of travelling? Thanks.