Earth Day 2020 – Your Planet needs you.

This blog is written to remind us all of the greatest challenge facing the world and one that we have known about for a long long time. We also finish this blog with what Ireland Walk Hike Bike are doing to help you become a more responsible traveller.

The following text is taken from www.earthday.org

On Earth Day, April 22, 2020, we have two crises: One is the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The other is a slowly building disaster for our climate.

We can, will and must solve both challenges. The world was not prepared for the novel coronavirus. But we still have time to prepare — in every part of the world — for the climate crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic does not shut us down. Instead, it reminds us of what’s at stake in our fight for the planet. If we don’t demand change to transform our planet and meet our climate crisis, our current state will become the new normal — a world where pandemics and extreme weather events span the globe, leaving already marginalized and vulnerable communities even more at risk.

 

Pristine Irish Beach - coumeenole beach - Ireland Walk Hike Bike

 

What is highlighted by Earthday.org makes for some tough reading. But let us focus on some of the positives coming out of this Covid-19 pandemic. The impact it is having on our planet. While people are temporary grounded, the planet is getting a much-needed chance to recharge. And our native wildlife, they are roaming into some of their old haunts and even seeking out new ones.

For some time now the locals of Venice have voiced concern regarding the high number of visitors the city gets each year. As one of Italy’s most visited cities it gets an estimated 20 million visitors each year. Which has a massive impact on its delicate ecosystem. However, in recent weeks the iconic canals have cleared and with it, shoals of fish and native seaweed have re-emerged, bringing life back into the waterways. One brave duck even built her nest in an area normally packed with tourists.

What is clear for all to see is that the natural world can and will find a way to revive itself, but the human population need to change our ways to allow this to happen. We have all changed our habits essentially overnight in response to Covid 19 so why can’t we do the same to save our planet.

We have all embraced technology which has allowed many businesses to continue to operate as normal when many thought this would not be possible. Let’s take these lessons and apply them to everyday business practice when we emerge from the Covid 19 crisis. If we cut out the unnecessary journeys to meetings or seminars that can be done online. Why can’t we work from home a few days a week and cut out the unnecessary commute to work. Imagine the effect this would have when 100s of millions of people take out these journeys.

Irelands airline traffic has reduced by 95% since the beginning of the Covid 19 crisis with many other countries showing similar trends. This has been a major contributing factor to the reduction in global emissions along with the significant reduction in the manufacturing industry. Of course, the Airline industry decline is a crisis for the travel industry and as a travel business you may wonder why I am highlighting the benefits of reduced travel.

Well, it’s obvious that many of us take unnecessary airline travel (lots of this is work related) and this is primarily down to the huge reduction in the cost of flights over the last 30 years. We need to realise that travel is a privilege and not a right and we need to cherish it and not take it for granted. When we travel, we need to ensure we are using companies that practice responsible travel and minimise their impact on the environment and the communities they visit.

Pristine Irish Beach - coumeenole beach - Ireland Walk Hike Bike

Ireland Walk Hike Bike is doing what we can to ensure your holiday with us is sustainable and we are taking this downtime to review our practices. Currently we have several small steps that help you as our guest.

  1. We give you the opportunity to offset your carbon footprint with our online carbon calculator when booking your Self-guided hiking holiday in Ireland
  2. We give you a list of what you can do to be a more responsible traveller while preparing for your guided hiking holiday in Ireland
  3. We offset the carbon generated by you when you are enjoying your active holiday in Ireland.
  4. We design our Eco-Friendly tours with responsible tourism at the forefront of everything we do.
  5. We give you a reusable stainless-steel water bottle to ensure you don’t buy any single use plastic bottle during your tour. You then bring your gift home and never have to buy a plastic water bottle ever again !!
  6. In our office we have implemented many practices to reduce our use of paper, eliminate plastic as well as waste and energy reduction systems.

These are just a few of the simple steps we follow to allow you to be a responsible traveller in Ireland and hopefully encourage all our guests to continue these habits when you return from your Adventure holiday in Ireland.

We will make it through this current Covid 19 crisis and the world will have the chance to travel again but we would ask you to question your own travel practices and ensure you are being a responsible traveller in the future. Our current “normal” is not good enough and if we continue as we are then our natural environments will continue to suffer.

Please join us and be better for mother nature.

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