The Greener Summer Holiday: Can We Relax Without Wrecking the Planet?
The Greener Summer Holiday: Can We Relax Without Wrecking the Planet? Perhaps the greenest summer holiday is not the one where we do less, but the one where we notice more. Summer holidays are supposed to restore us. They are meant to get us away from the daily routine, away from the inbox, away from the washing machine that appears to generate laundry even when nobody has worn anything. But modern holidays can also come with a rather large environmental shadow. Flights, long car journeys, hotel air conditioning, disposable beach gear, new clothes, plastic bottles, imported food, overfilled suitcases and the mysterious holiday habit of buying things we would never dream of buying at home can all add up. The question is not whether we should stop having holidays. That would be joyless, unrealistic and deeply unpopular with anyone who has survived a British winter. The better question is this: Can we have summer holidays that refresh us without quietly wrecking the very places we a...