WE’RE gently swaying at the door of my two-berth train cabin on our overnighter from Hanoi to Hue, enjoying a bucket-list travel moment. We’ve woken up to dawn gilded scenes of banana-tree-framed paddy fields, Buddhist pagodas, motorbikes stopped at rail crossings, a beautiful blur in the early morning light.
Tu, our Vietnamese guide, later reminds me and my travelling partner, podcast editor Jon Weeks, that as idyllic as the passing landscapes are, many here might have risked their lives to try to illegally migrate to perceived greener pastures if it weren’t for visitors like us.
Jon and I are in Vietnam to explore exactly this for the Standard’s latest sustainable travel podcast: how connecting in a more meaningful way with the places we go to and the people we meet there is a win-win for everyone.
International tourism means more Vietnamese can stay in their home villages, since trips such as ours are putting money in local pockets. You might ask what this has to do with sustainable travel, but sustainability is not just about carbon footprints. Despite the enormous pressure that emissions from flying place on the environment, travel is one of the most effective tools for climate solutions, driving positive change by helping communities such as the ones we’ve met in Vietnam to thrive and prosper. And this very human win-win sits alongside the importance of tackling global warming.
As you read this, symptoms of the climate emergency are everywhere — extreme heatwaves in India. Wildfires in Canada where smoke crossed the Atlantic to choke holidaymakers on the beach in Portugal. Catastrophic floods in Brazil, Kenya — even the UAE. And yet we’re seeing sustainability slip down the agenda. Booking. com’s survey of more than 31,000 holidaymakers found that while 75 per cent of respondents want to travel more sustainably, 49 per cent see sustainable options as expensive.
Bu hikaye Evening Standard dergisinin September 17, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Evening Standard dergisinin September 17, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Top judge demands reform to fast-track justice after a grieving mother's case
GRIEVING families, pensioners with dementia, and even dead people have been wrongly prosecuted in Britain's secretive fast-track courts, a major Evening Standard/ITV News investigation has found.
Saka trains for Euro clash in Italy after derby injury
ARSENAL were today boosted by the fitness of Bukayo Saka ahead of their Champions League opener against Atalanta tomorrow.
After the knocks, I'm on a roll...the best is yet to come from me
THEY say 13 is unlucky for some but that’s not the way I see it ahead of my 13th world title fight.
I DREAM ABOUT ENDING SPURS' WAIT FOR GLORY
POSTECOGLOU URGES PLAYERS TO EMBRACE SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY’ AFTER 16 YEARS WITHOUT A TROPHY
Ange must weigh up gamble on 'fearless' rookies
FOR Ange Postecoglou, picking a team for tonight’s Carabao Cup third-round tie at Coventry is a balancing act that he can ill-afford to misjudge.
Share performance 'not linked' to CEO mega-pay
SOME of the best paid CEOs in Britain have dramatically underperformed the stock market in the past three years, undermining the case for even higher pay for top executives.
Footsie falters ahead of Fed's rates call
DECISION day on the long-awaited opening cut in US interest rates today kept London traders in defensive mode during a poor session for the FTSE 100 index.
Taking a seat at the table: Sit down with our new critic
The Standard's new restaurant reviewer, David Ellis, shares the meals that shaped him, and what the next course holds
I never thought I'd become a best-selling author; bring on the reading renaissance
TO read: within the queer community, known as an instance in which two or more people drag, roast or insult each other for filth.
"My baby died-then I was convicted over lapsed car insurance"
Broken and lost after her three-month-old daughter died from pneumonia, Jenny Beasley forgot to renew a policy ―and found herself prosecuted as a criminal under the controversial Single Justice Procedure, Tristan Kirk reports