This is an old page. Thinking again about travel... I'd love to keep doing a lot of travel, even do a lot more travel, but what are the ethical options? I.e. can I do it without hurting the polar bears?
- Find carbon offsets that really do fully offset the impact of travel
- Cycle. I know a guy who went by bicycle and bus from Canada to Nicaragua. However, I value my life too much, & there's no way I'm going into training on
- Invent zero carbon travel. Not likely, given my lack of expertise and the scale of the problem.
- Go by very low carbon surface travel only.
- This is generally expensive.
- Time-consuming also, but with planning, a laptop and a smart phone, it's really not bad.
- Choosing an option that isn't grueling for a tall person is either more expensive (& higher impact as it means less passengers per vehicle/vessel), or it means lots of shorter legs. Lots of shorter legs is the best option, then, but needs very good planning and a "slow travel" approach.
- I'd need to know what the actual impacts are - e.g. how much impact is there in taking a cabin on a ferry between Singapore & Jakarta?
- Go mostly by very low carbon surface travel, with occasional connecting flights. This assumes there are carbon offsets that are mostly effective, and/or that there are short connecting flights with low carbon impact. (The second point seems unlikely.)
- Not travel at all - if there's no way to do it at an acceptably low level of carbon impact.
- This requires working out what an "acceptably low level of carbon impact" means, and what travel options fit into those limits.
- Deflect the question as one that requires collective action. Throw my hands up in there air, noting that my contribution is a drop in the ocean, and that only collective action will actually achieve anything - which really means the government putting a price on carbon.
I do strongly believe that collective action is the only thing that will achieve anything; however there's a lot to be said for being a pioneer & showing . I need more info on carbon offsets and the impact of different modes of travel before I can make any intelligent decisions.
Now in Guatemala (30 October 2008).
Clear ideas[edit | edit source]
Latest thoughts: Stay in Xela, Guatemala, for at least 3 weeks. Depending on funding, aim to end up in Brazil by January for the World Social Forum, traveling overland as much as possible. Also depending on funding, travel to Bolivia to connect with development organizations there.
People and places[edit | edit source]
Specific plans for Latin America[edit | edit source]
I may just stay in Guatemala and Mexico for a few months and get work done online. But depending on funding, places worth visiting in terms of Appropedia, engaging & partnerships:
- Costa Rica - lots of green stuff
- Cuba - post-oil
General[edit | edit source]
Everywhere I go I will be looking for:
- eco geeks (as well as ecoGeeks)
- sustainable communities and community projects, including ecovillages, cohousing and urban agriculture.
- people empowering others and working for change
- people helping people share knowledge
- Green DrinksW LUGs and other such gatherings: http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=Green-Drinks+OR+Enviro-Drinks+OR+EnviroDrinks+OR+Linux-User-Group+OR+OLPC+OR+Engineers-Without-Borders+OR++%22Engineers+for+a+Sustainable+World%22+OR+%28geeks+OR+wikipedia+OR+permaculture+OR+ecovillage+meet+OR+meetup%29&btnG=Search - and add city name.
- BarCamps
- GreenCamps
- Video opportunities, especially re the work of Appropedia and likeminded spirits. Will place on Youtube, and submit elsewhere (maybe something like Cinéma Prospérité Video Contest - Ending Global Poverty Through Enterprise Based Solutions | SEVEN Fund.org before September 15, 2008.)
- Latin dancing
This table is out of date. Check my Dopplr page instead for my itinerary.
| Place | Dates | Activities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne? | before flight... | NGO's | |
| Singapore | video camera? | ||
| Java? | maybe a few days in June | ||
| Alexandria | 17-19 July | Wikimania | geekorama! |
| Iceland | Vinay, Smari... | ||
| Boston | IDDS, MIT labs...? (incl http://cities.media.mit.edu/ ), Olin College; Mel's friends, Scott Albritton?; makerhouse; | ||
| Night bus to Ithaca...? | Ryan & friends? | ||
| Night bus to Chicago | ILXO office, Mel & Friends | ||
| Denver | in Denver:
| ||
| California | from mid-August in San Diego | Reinder knows ppl at Caltech...; California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture; ask Curt, David, Lonny, CS... || | |
| CA: Los Angeles |
Cultivating Sustainable Communities | ||
| Burning Man 2008 | Aug 25-Sep 1 | AE people[1] & Hexayurt people... | |
| CA: Silicon Valley |
Curt (Los Gatos) & kJames (Sunnyvale); I hear there's lots of green tech these days? | ||
| CA: San Francisco |
Full Belly Project?; David.reber (talk · contribs) | ||
| Northern CA: Humboldt |
Lonny, HSU... | ||
| Seattle | Weekend Sep 27-28 | http://www.infocamp.info/; also look up google:Seattle Sustainability community in Ballard - 1000 ppl? | |
| San Fransisco? | Oct - which weekend? | Open Sustainability Network Conference 2008 |
Contact and ask: I'd like to visit - will you be around? And can you make the Open Sustainability Network Conference 2008?
Vaguer plans[edit | edit source]
Want to see, maybe in 2009.
| Place | Dates | Activities | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | If I'm flying back via the pacific, I'd love to stop off in Taiwan and spend some more time here. | Bangkok | mid/late June (1 week?) | NGO's, family | ||
| North Thailand and/or Cambodia | End June - (mid or late July?) | EWB/RDIC, watch date for BarCampChiangMai | ||||
| Java | orgs like Dian Desa in Yogya; Jakarta; visit North coast of Java (Pekalongan, Tegal, Lasem) | |||||
| Aceh (and/or E Timor) | NGOs, view progs. Visit Lonny's ex-student, 3rd yr with UN. | |||||
| India | no time in 08? (Egypt for Wikimania then India before Boston is very roundabout... how expensive?) | "Village Earth and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) held our flagship course Participatory Practices for Sustainable Development at Bidhan Chandra Krishi University (BCKU) in Calcutta") | India has many NGO's, people with IT know-how, people with ideas, and English is fairly widely spoken. Could be an ideal place to look for Appropedia contributors. | |||
| Bangladesh | Grameenc, BRAC, Cholera hospital (ICDDRB?), cloth filterW and CLTS projects. |
How can I afford it?[edit | edit source]
Aside from not being extravagant (I'm traveling to meet people, not to stay in flash hotels):
- CouchSurfing
- Round the World on LETS - James Taris in Kingsbridge
- I buy shawls, jewelry and masks (from Indonesia and Thailand so far) and sell them where I can. I prefer to buy from the village, as close to the maker as possible (direct if possible). Always looking for new sources and buyers.
- If need be I'll do work for accommodation Help Exchange - there's some interesting organic farms and such with an interest in appropriate technology. "Will work for bandwidth."