Every weekend, above all if it is a "long holiday weekend" it is always the same: a long queue of cars, SUVs, pickups and vans on highways and speedways.
In theory, we are all environmentalists and pro-Nature but when vacations and holidays are at stake there is nothing to do: relax and personal leisure come always first!
During these first summer weekends italian cities get empty and an enormous crowd of people drive to the seaside, the countryside or to the mountains: everywhere, just to have a break. What's the problem with the environment? Often a lot of people declare to devote their vaction time to Nature and environment but something is missing...
These weekends and summer vacations often hide heavy costs in environmental terms: I'm not talking about the devastating consequences of the passage of these vacation environmentalists (when I walk after these weekends in the woods here in the surrounding used as dumps I always fall in deep depression) but rather about the dramatic enviromental impact of these mass travels.
When we watch in TV these long queues in the highways, all this produces a heavy environmental impact and this crowd of cars and SUVs may become a real environmental bomb.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has released some guidelines and documents in order to provide some suggestions to make some real green vacations: it is not enough to travel to the countryside or eat a lot of organic food to make a green vacation because our respect for the environment begins from the modalities we choose to travel.
In the document Getting There Greener, the Union of Concerned Scientists has analyzed different modalities commonly adopted to travel during vacation evidencing low and high emission types and providing also 10 useful tips to make real green travels
I warmly suggest the reading of these documents also to be aware of the high environmental costs of our leisure vacations.
Vacation Traveler Quick Reference Chart
Getting There Greener Summary
In theory, we are all environmentalists and pro-Nature but when vacations and holidays are at stake there is nothing to do: relax and personal leisure come always first!
During these first summer weekends italian cities get empty and an enormous crowd of people drive to the seaside, the countryside or to the mountains: everywhere, just to have a break. What's the problem with the environment? Often a lot of people declare to devote their vaction time to Nature and environment but something is missing...
These weekends and summer vacations often hide heavy costs in environmental terms: I'm not talking about the devastating consequences of the passage of these vacation environmentalists (when I walk after these weekends in the woods here in the surrounding used as dumps I always fall in deep depression) but rather about the dramatic enviromental impact of these mass travels.
When we watch in TV these long queues in the highways, all this produces a heavy environmental impact and this crowd of cars and SUVs may become a real environmental bomb.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has released some guidelines and documents in order to provide some suggestions to make some real green vacations: it is not enough to travel to the countryside or eat a lot of organic food to make a green vacation because our respect for the environment begins from the modalities we choose to travel.
In the document Getting There Greener, the Union of Concerned Scientists has analyzed different modalities commonly adopted to travel during vacation evidencing low and high emission types and providing also 10 useful tips to make real green travels
I warmly suggest the reading of these documents also to be aware of the high environmental costs of our leisure vacations.
Vacation Traveler Quick Reference Chart
Getting There Greener Summary
