“We need to change how we travel”: Intrepid’s Darrell Wade on why action is all that matters

Someone asked me the other day, “What can we do about the climate crisis?”

Fifteen years ago, I would have told them, “We all have to get together, have conversations, raise awareness.” And that was good advice… 15 years ago. But the truth is, we don’t need any more talk. The time for discussion is over. What the world needs now is action—nothing less.

It’s funny, as a travel business, Intrepid has been working on sustainability and climate change for nearly 20 years. But from a direct impact perspective, when it comes to actually hurting our bottom line, we’ve always thought, “Well, that’s off in the future.”

Not anymore. Last year, we had our audit and risk meeting, and for the first time ever, climate change was flagged as a short-to-medium-term risk. This isn’t something that’s going to happen; it’s something that’s happening.

Sustainability is everyone’s obligation, and it starts with choice. Let’s not play the blame game: We’ve played that for far too long, and we know how it ends. Look at your own lifestyle, look at your household, your work, your extended family, your community. Look at how you travel, and who you travel with.

Intrepid operates in 120 countries around the world, and the frequency of climate-related events is escalating. As a global business, you simply can’t escape it. This stuff is impacting how we run trips, how we get insurance, where and when we travel, health procedures. It’s changing everything. Climate change has arrived, faster and harder than we ever expected. And now we, as a society, must figure it out.

Of course, there’s an elephant in the room here, which is: ‘Should we travel at all?’

See, Intrepid is built on a contradiction. We’re a B Corp that does some really good things around the world. We’re carbon neutral, we raise millions for local not-for-profit groups, we create employment opportunities around the globe, and we’re investing in climate projects like carbon sinks and regenerative agriculture. But still, we’re part of the problem.

Tourism accounts for about eight percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Just getting on a plane leaves a huge carbon footprint. We’ve had to face the reality that, while our own operations are getting greener, travelers still have to physically reach their destination. That’s an additional scope to our emissions. It lurks behind every trip.

The only way to eliminate that right now is to not travel at all, or just travel domestically. And some people are doing that. The second way is to offset the flight emissions. Now offsets aren’t perfect, but they are improving. And as a company, we don’t want perfect to be the enemy of good. We’d rather offset our flights than do nothing at all.

The thing we need to change is how we travel. Our approach to adventure. Fewer, longer trips are better than shorter and more frequent ones. Ferries and trains are better than flights. Slow, immersive travel is better than fast-paced country hopping. Public transport is better than private. Eating local food is better (and generally more delicious) than eating imported.

You have to remember: While travel comes with significant costs, there are plenty of benefits to people getting out and experiencing other cultures, experimenting and exploring different corners of the world. Seeing how other people live, how they work, how they’re dealing with climate change, gender equity, diversity, poverty. Seeing these things in person gets you thinking about your place in the world, and your own contribution. And while increasing access to travel is something Intrepid is very passionate about, we need to do it in a way that preserves not the actual Earth—after all, nature will win in the end—but humanity’s place on it.

So yes, Intrepid is part of the problem—but we’re also doing our best to be part of the solution. If there’s one call to action for this decade, let it be accountability and personal action, whether you’re an individual, a company or a society. Sustainability is everyone’s obligation, and it starts with choice. Let’s not play the blame game: We’ve played that for far too long, and we know how it ends. Look at your own lifestyle, look at your household, your work, your extended family, your community. Look at how you travel, and who you travel with.

The world doesn’t need talk, it needs action. And action starts with us. 

The theme for Earth Day 2023 is ‘Invest in Our planet’. Find out more about how you can take action for Earth on the official Earth Day website. 

***

Adventure.com strives to be a low-emissions publication, and we are working to reduce our carbon emissions where possible. Emissions generated by the movements of our staff and contributors are carbon offset through our parent company, Intrepid. You can visit our sustainability page and read our Contributor Impact Guidelines for more information. While we take our commitment to people and planet seriously, we acknowledge that we still have plenty of work to do, and we welcome all feedback and suggestions from our readers. You can contact us anytime at hello@adventure.com. Please allow up to one week for a response.