Interview with Ed Gillespie on Sustainable Tourism
I had the opportunity to meet Ed Gillespie at the Climate Change Summit, which took place in October 2023 in Bucharest, where eEco was a media partner.
I knew about his adventure of visiting 31 countries without getting on a plane, an adventure he chronicled in the book Only Planet. And I was curious to find out how he arrived in Romania.
"By train, of course!" was his natural response.
So, the man doesn't just talk about slow travel, he seems to practice it too. He chose to make a 48-hour journey from the UK, together with his six-year-old daughter, because from his perspective, the adventure doesn't begin only when you reach your destination, but from the second you walk out the door. What a change in mindset! If we started to see things this way, perhaps we would also be more open to giving up planes in favor of trains. Well, it would also help to have more decent trains. But it seems that the condition of the CFR trains didn't bother the Brit.
And yet, does being a responsible tourist mean never flying again? This is the question I challenged Ed with. And I'll let you discover his answer in the video. Which I find moderate, not extremist. Just as we try to maintain the tone in everything we do on this platform.
Also in the interview, you will find interesting perspectives on carbon offsetting offered by airlines when we buy a ticket or about so-called sustainable aviation fuels. Aviation fuels, which, by the way, bio or non-bio, are tax-exempt. This is why airline tickets are still so affordable for a good part of the population.
I hope you like it!
