Internationalisation and long-distance relationships : the carbon impact of the ERASMUS generation’s air travels

 Since its creation in 1987, the Erasmus programme has developed into what is now considered a massive success and a considerable achievement in terms of connecting European Universities and people. From a few thousands students in 1987-1988 to about 180 000 in 2007-2009, more than 3 millions students overall benefited from this programme and grants and went abroad to study as Erasmus students. They were thus offered the unique chance to travel, discover new countries, learn about new cultures, mix with new people, in  the hope that, on top of often learning another language, they would create emotional bounds with other places and people which would make them truly internationalised European citizens.

However, as much as internationalising affections and relationships might have the capacity to bring European people closer, it certainly doesn’t shorten the actual distances which separates their countries. By allowing and encouraging young people to go abroad, and to become attached to places and people far from their home, the European Union has participated in creating an even more mobile category of people, whose nomadism is not primarily professional but sentimental. My point here is that such bounds have an ecological cost, particularly in regards to transportation use.

Erasmus students have to deal with two kinds of long-distance ties : those which precede their departure and that they wish to maintain when they’re abroad, and those they create in their host country, which they will attempt to conserve after leaving it. The first category typically includes family and childhood friends, and requires regular visit usually justified by specific circumstances (Christmas, important events, grave issues...). Romantic relationships are even more demanding, since visits are spontaneously expected to be as frequent as possible. They are also likely to receive visits from their friends and family during their time abroad. The second category may involve a girlfriend/boyfriend as well, and more generally friends, from the host country or elsewhere, but most likely not from the exact same place. Some of these people will remain dear enough to be visited later on, and they will perhaps visit too, which means that former Erasmus students will be tempted to travel around to see all their friends, those who stayed, and those who spread out as they went back to their home country.

It is quite clear that such intense travelling would have a massive impact on personal carbon footprint, in which transportation habits play a big part: it is estimated that approximately 56% of CO₂ equivalent per year (CO₂e yr^-1) of the personal footprint derives from travel (1). Let’s take an example to verify and illustrate that. We choose Ireland as host country, which already implies that the vast majority of Erasmus travels (home country/host country) will be airline travels. Now, consider a German student from Koln, coming to Dublin as Erasmus student. If he stays 4 months, doesn’t get any visit and only takes a plane to come and go back at the end of his stay, the carbon cost of his Erasmus experience, in regards to air travels only, is 0.19 tonnes of CO₂e (2). Now, assume he stays in Dublin the entire academic year, and goes back for Christmas and in March to see his girlfriend. She visits him once; his parents come as well, and so does his brother, and two of his closest friends. Overall, his Erasmus adventure will have caused 18 air travels, (9 return trips), resulting in the emission of 1.71 tonnes of CO₂e (assuming all of his friends and family depart from Koln as well). To that, we should add the travels he does the following year to come back and visit his friends still living in Dublin (0.19 t CO₂e), and as he travels to Barcelona to see a friend he met in Dublin (0.22 t). One of his Irish acquaintances also grabs the opportunity to visit Koln during the festival (0.19 t). That will make a total emission of 2.31 tonnes of CO₂e caused by the air travels linked to one Erasmus student – and this doesn’t include embedded costs (construction and maintenance of airports and airplanes, extraction of fuels…). Considering that the Irish mean personal emission is 5.70 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year, it does represent a considerable amount of greenhouse gases – especially if it can be generalised to all Erasmus students.

Out of 15 Erasmus students studying in Trinity College for the academic year 2012-2013, and randomly picked among personal acquaintances 14 of them had had at least 4 visits from friends and family. They all made the trip home for Christmas, and the majority came back another time during the year. On average, being in a relationship with somebody from home cost 2 extra return trips. They all intended to come back to Dublin for holidays in the future. One of them, from France, had started a relationship with an Erasmus student from Latvia he had met in Ireland. They were looking up the flights and trying to find ways to meet regularly, anticipating for when they would be separated by about 2000 km. When asked what they meant by ‘regularly’, he answered ‘You have to spend some time together at least every two or three months, otherwise there’s no point, it can’t work, you know, you better give it up right away. Three months is already, like, a really long time.’

Of course, the impact on CO₂e emissions will vary greatly depending on the duration of the stay, the closeness of the relationships and individual financial resources. But as a whole, it appears to increase considerably the use of aviation, which is a major component of individual footprint. It can be argued that some of these travels would have occurred anyway, as people grow used to going on vacation abroad. Erasmus students would then draw travels to specific destinations, but not actually cause them. On the other hand, international, uprooted students typically don’t have a car, which diminishes their personal footprint. More generally, we can hope that Erasmus students grow more conscious of global stakes, and that their international contacts and knowledge give them tools to deal adequately with collective issues such as climate change. Yet again, only a fringe of the population is allowed to become internationalised – and is therefore responsible for high emissions of CO₂e due to air travels. Traditionally, internationalisation was reserved for the elite. Now, and thanks to the Erasmus programme so to say, it includes the educated middle-class. Fortunately, most of these ecologically costly international ties are likely to fade away with time, and the impact will thus reduce as years passes. The worst-case scenario in terms of greenhouse gases emissions is then international relationships resulting in lengthy commitments, as they create couples and families built between two countries and heavily relying on air travel. And we ought to hope that such intercultural successes remain scarce.

Marion Lieutaud 

References: 

(1) Kenny, T. and Gray, N.F. (2009), ‘A preliminary survey of household and personal carbon dioxide émissions in Ireland’,  Environment International, 35, 259-272

(2) Calculator Carbon Footprint : http://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx?tab=3

 

Travelling Sustainably

I live to travel. It is when I am at my happiest.  We live in a diverse and beautiful world and in my short time here I plan to see and experience as much of it as possible. I can think of nothing better than hopping on a plane and landing in some new and exotic place, far from home and ready for adventure. I have always known travel comes at a high cost to our environment, but I’ve tended to ignore that fact. I was dreading our ‘Living Sustainably’ lecture on travel. I knew it was going to be confronted with a list of reasons of why travelling is a bad thing. I was right. ‘Hopping on a plane’ massively increases person’s carbon footprint. Approximately 20% of an Irish household’s carbon emissions are due to air travel. This is a huge figure. Emissions from flying can range from 140g to 260g CO₂ e per passenger km-¹.

I travelled to Tanzania last summer. My flight over, via Amsterdam, released in total 1,100kg of CO₂ per passenger. I also flew from Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania to Lilongwe in Malawi. This flight emitted 176kg of CO₂ per passenger. Finally my flight home, via Johannesburg and Paris, released a staggering 1,400 kg of CO₂ per passenger. In total, it increased my carbon footprint by 2,676kg of CO₂. This colossal amount of carbon emission could have been avoided if I had simply stayed at home. Some say travel is a luxury, and perhaps a luxury we can no longer afford. It is ironic that every time I travel I am helping to destroy this magnificent world that I am travelling to see.  Our lecture left me troubled and so I decided to focus my blog post on it.

Should I have stayed at home? 

No. I don’t think so. Living in Tanzania this summer is something that I could never regret. It was a massively educating and defining life experience for me. I have never felt as alive as I did there. I learned to live a totally new way of life. I met people I would never have otherwise had the chance to meet. They taught me to look at my life in a completely different way. It is something that I hope everyone will someday get the opportunity to do. It is a cliché to say that travel ‘broadens the mind’, but it is a cliché for a reason.

However, we cannot ignore the huge impact these ‘mind-broadening’ experiences have on the environment. So what can be done?

We can attempt to cut down our footprint in all other aspects of our life. When travelling we can try be as ecofriendly as possible. However, doing these things will never fully negate the true cost of a flight. What I think must be realized is that you do not have to fly to travel. There are a huge number of other alternatives that are overlooked. It is true that these alternatives will take longer, but they are also usually cheaper. And hey, getting there is half the fun!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Trans_mongolian_gobi.jpg

For overland travel not enough can be said about catching the train. Taking the train can cut passenger emissions by up to 90%. You can reach practically any country in Europe from the UK by rail. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Ireland, but the UK is only a ferry ride away. People are also quite unaware of how well connected Europe and Asia are by rail. Many of the rail routes are tourist attractions in their own right, not simply a means of getting somewhere. Famous railways, such as the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Jungle line in South-East Asia, and the Palace-On-Wheels in India, attract thousands of travellers every year.  What better way to view a country than by watching breathtaking landscapes, and sprawling urban centers fly by your window.

And what if there is no rail route? Well there will always be a bus. I travelled from Arusha to Dar es Salaam by bus. It was a ten hour journey. This will probably conjure up horrific images of cramped conditions, no air-conditioning and potholed African roads. However, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this journey. Yes, things were not as spacious and airy as they could have been, but on this trip I bonded with many other travellers, listened to African chants being sung to pass away time and chatted with locals about their lives and their reasons for travelling. I would have missed out on a lot if I had taken the plane instead.

Travelling by sea can be a bit trickier. Ferry timetables can be more infrequent than trains or buses and prices can be quite expensive. However it is definitely worth considering the option. There are myriad of transatlantic passenger ships, along with ferries to the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and even West Africa. Like train travel, a boat trip can be a once in a lifetime experience as well as an effective way of cutting carbon emissions.

I hope I’ve encouraged the reader to consider these other options. Longer journeys can seem like an inconvenience, but they can also be some of the most rewarding parts of a trip.

After college I plan to go to Beijing. I also plan not to take a single foot off the ground. I will go to the UK with the ferry and then take the train through Europe to Moscow. From here I can get the Trans-Siberian Express to Beijing. I will follow the old Silk Road on the way home, taking advantage of China’s railways. I will bus through Central Asia, then catch a train from Kazakhstan to Moscow and begin the homeward stretch through Europe. Direct travel expenses, train tickets etc., will cost me no more than €1,500. For this price I will get to see the diverse countryside of Europe, the vast wildernesses of Siberia, the steppes of Mongolia, the Great Wall of China, the foothills of the Himalayas, the hidden valleys of Central Asia, the Gobi Desert. I will share train Cabins with people from all over the world and make friends along the way. I think of nothing more thrilling. All the while my trip will have minimal adverse effects on the environment. How can an impersonal flight to Beijing and back again compete with this?

I do not think travel is luxury. It is a necessity. It changes your perspective on life. It gives you respect for other cultures and appreciation for the world you live in. It dispels ignorance and encourages tolerance and acceptance. It is the way we travel that is the luxury. When commercial flights became available, we lost one of the crucial and beneficial parts of travel, the journey. In this article I hoped to renew some appreciation for this part of travel. If more people began to use alternative options, think of the effect it could have on our world. Flights would increase in frequency; new ferry and train routes would be established. This could have a profound effect on the world. 20% of an Irish household’s footprint is due to air travel, and this is only a measure of fuel used, indirect costs could be extremely large too.

Please check out the excellent websites, such as http://www.seat61.com/, http://alittleadrift.com/ and http://www.busstation.net/index.htm, can help you to plan train and bus journeys all over the world and give advice on travelling without flying.

Lara Cassidy