[CathayLoyalist2]

I bet we all did!!

[Charles-P]

In my view hardly anybody with the exception of the most devoted to the cause considers their “environmental impact” when traveling, choosing a car, a holiday destination or for that matter much of their lives however rather like so much of modern life we have been forced by a vocal minority (all of whom seem to spend their lives in the media) to think and speak in a way that they find acceptable.

I am told I must “consider the planet” when buying a car (bugger that, I chose a Range Rover and my wife has a Porsche).
I must “offset the carbon” when flying somewhere (never done it, never met anyone who has)
I should “minimize the social impact of my holiday” (didn’t understand that one, could not be bothered to find out).

We have produced a generation who are always metaphorically sitting up straight and eating their greens while being obsessed with the views of people they have never met and never will on social media who are telling them how they should think and act despite no qualifications or skills !

The idea that mankind is somehow “hurting the planet” makes me roar with laughter. Earth was here long before the Industrial Revolution and will be here long after we are gone. Me eating a Big Map is not going to change that.

Rant over, I’m off to the airport to fly a blooming long way while sitting in Business Class and enjoying a Brandy !

[TiredOldHack]

I loved that rant, Charles-P. Have a good flight.

[JeffD]

I have just completed this survey. I would also be very interested in seeing the results of this study.

[JeffD]

@Charles-P

Tend to agree with your sentiments. The aircraft is going to fly if I choose not to travel.

[PeterCoultas]

As someone (a biologist) who is much aware of changes we have made to the planet in my lifetime and sadly are continuing to make, I am very sceptical of so called “green” attitudes – there are several issues that are critical and the most significant is population growth.

I do not see this will be addressed and without that I can merely await the catastrophe for humankind – not necessarily the same for the planet! Typical is the green party’s attitude to nuclear power – this would be the most effective way of reducing carbon emissions (atmospheric CO2 up by over 25% plus since the industrial revolution – a minute time span geologically) but no, there is a “gut” reaction against nuclear.

Hopefully nuclear will be the salvation though in a much more unpleasant manner – a massive cull of us mad monkeys. In the meantime i see no reason to change my habits as our species cannot co-operate sensibly. The world is a wonderful place and I will continue to explore while hoping that mad muslims in their countries do not destroy all the marvellous things theirs (and other civilisations) have produced before I have had an opportunity to see them. Sorry if this sounds very selfish!

Depressing.

[MrMichael]

I just did the survey and am squarely in the don’t give a damn camp, ( would not dream of telling my clients that though).

Furthermore the next bearded, yellow toothed, cannabis smoking tree hugger that tells me my Jag is not environmentally friendly will be run over by it. I hope for his sake it is an electric ambulance that picks him up to take him to the nearest solar powered hospital. Bloody buffoons the lot of em.

[Tramor01]

Completed
There were some questions (e.g. star rating of hotels etc.) where I wanted to be able to tick more than one box as I I use both levels to the same degree (have regular hotels and question didn’t ask star rating most often used) – The survey didn’t allow me to do this.
Survey monkey does allow for this option.

[MartynSinclair]

I will go against the grain on this and speak out as someone who definitely DOES CARE about the environment. Not as Mr Michael so eloquently describes as “bearded, yellow toothed, cannabis smoking tree hugger”.

Admittedly, it will make absolutely no difference in our lifetime, whether Hktbound buys a Porsche or a Range Rover, or whether I take 4 flights instead of 1, but it will probably make a difference in the lifetime of our kids and certainly in the generation following.

[seasonedtraveller]

It’s a shame because, actually, I do care but realistically, I can do sod all about it.
My 3.0 A6 Quattro is more efficient than my previous car which was more efficient than the car before it, but, as long as so many others, in the Phillipines, SEA, USA or anywhere else don’t have an option or don’t care what they drive. it makes almost NO difference.

The plane still flies to Shanghai, with me, or without me.

The hotel in the US will still have it’s full size, in-room fridge/freezer turned on if I’m there or no-ones there….

It’s a much bigger issue

[dodger10]

Survey done. Good luck, and like many here, would like to see some of the results of your research.

I wish I did think more about the environment on my travels, but most of the time, when you’re away, with limited time and limited budget, things like the environmental thoughts and impacts go out of the window.

The only thing I can say I do my part for the environment on my travels, is during hotel stays. I use the same towels and sheets for the few days I am there.

[MrMichael]

I too re-use towels and the like, I hate waste of any sort. When you see in a hotel bathroom the little card inviting you to re-use towels I am rather sceptical of the environmental benefits reason they tell us about. It is to save money, and I have no problem with that.

I have often wondered why it is we no longer see deposits on bottles, as a young whippersnapper a good deal of my income was derived from finding bottles and returning them to the off licence ( any off licence) at a penny a time. Now that surely was environmentally friendly of me.

[BRin1406]

Survey done however It never ceases to amaze me when half of the worlds leaders plus their hangers on fly halfway around the world to discuss how we should all become environmentally friendly without a mention of their carbon footprint.

[TiredOldHack]

@MrMichael

Deposits on bottles – we all remember them! Five pence on a large Corona bottle!

Basically, back then, soft drinks were bottled all over the country in small bottling plants. There were more small local breweries, too, and it was commercially viable to return the bottles. The same went for dairies, of course, and milk bottles.

Now, soft drinks are bottled in massive plants because modern distribution systems allow delivery nationwide in a few hours. And it’s simply more expensive to collect used bottles, return them, wash and sterilise them, and re-use them than it is to use brand new ones.

Sad, really.

[canucklad]

I’m in Martyn’s camp here….
If any of us have emotional ties to rug rats then it really should be something we’re all concerned about….Our one and only beautiful, beautiful earth being USED as a resource to be exploited for greed rather than as a sustainable garden to nurture.
Trouble is, like most things in our world, unity of purpose is lost when greed, religious and political bias are allowed to dictate the common objective.
Add to that, the vast amounts of lobbying groups that argue the same cause, yet are in conflict with each to achieve the same result.
As a consequence we become jaded to the important messages, primarily because data becomes twisted to suit short term activists.
A classic example is aviation. It has been an easy target for “bearded, yellow toothed, cannabis smoking tree hugger” because it suits their immediate goals, and its simplistic message can be understood by the majority. But how many people know this…..

—Tropical deforestation is responsible for releasing more CO2 emissions than the entire global transport network annually.
—And global public transport (Ships-buses-trains & planes ) account for less than 5% CO2 emissions.

Mankind will eventually wipe itself out and world will go on rotating without us, me catching a plane has an impact, but compared to what is going on in China and Brazil , I’m sorry I just don’t feel guilty about not re-using a towel, which as it happens I do !!

A good example of the contradictions on all this environmental hocus pocus is me re-calling one of my first business trips, a long time ago when I worked in retail.
I stayed in a lush hotel in Yorkshire, notices abounded around me, not to have a bath, limit shower time, and re-use water because of the drought.
Outside the grass was greener than Celtic’s top, yet Yorkshire was in the midst of a drought!! As locals sang “Rain, Rain go away, come back another day” , the privatised water companies fat cats laughed all the way to the bank !

[Author]

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