Learning to travel more sustainably is not something that happens overnight. As a Xennial, I passed from a Gen X paradigm of sustainability into a millennial one. Gen X sustainability was more passive, reflecting a higher trust that responsible parties are making sure that the things they’re responsible for are being taken care of, e.g. recycling. Generally you made the less wasteful choice among the options presented to you, and that was fine.
But it was not fine after all. We now have multiple planetary crises, on top of widening human inequality. Millennial sustainability does not just choose from a menu; it questions the menu. I thought I would document my journey phasing from one to the other.
This article series share a frank account of my own attempts to apply sustainability habits to travel (spoiler: I made mistakes). They are separated by country because I tried new things in different trips (this means you can also sort of use them as a country-specific sustainable travel guide).
One day I can look back and see how far I’ve come, and reflect on what it means to travel sustainably. And perhaps these breadcrumbs I’ve left along the way, will help you on your own journey.
