Travel slowly

And fly less. We must do a lot of things less, and other things more. We need to do what it takes to save the Earth, you and I. Greta Thunbergs statement to the world goes like this:

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”

Thunberg spoke at the United Nations headquarters in New York City in September 2019. How did she get there? She crossed the Atlantic from Sweden by sailboat. Her mum changed her work pattern – she is a singer – and now does musicals which are more stationary. Todays pattern of travelling is one of the great polluters.

We must adapt. Like Greta Thunberg and her mum, we must change our travel patterns. Stay longer if you must fly. Travel less and longer. This is a great incentive to do that round the world trip you long for. You wont actually make it RTW. The oceans are big and the land, too. But you will get to know the parts you choose to visit much better. Slow travelling is the future.

Did you know that the Atlantic has its own smell?

I do believe we need to travel. I believe we need to meet people and cultures, and I believe we have to be close to understand and to care. We need to smell the cities and the oceans. The forests and the mountains.

Did you know, by the way, that the Atlantic has its own smell? I live in Norway. The Atlantic is right there. Our coast is scattered with wooden houses where people have lived for hundreds of years and still do. My grandma had one, and I spent all my holydays with her when I was little. I know this house very well. A few years back I travelled through the Namibian desert and onto the coast. The Atlantic meets Namibia. We had to make a fuel stop on the Skeleton Coast and I visited an old wooden house by the sea. In Namibia. Where the desert meets the Atlantic. It smelled like Grandmas house.

You need some time for these experiences. Time to experience and time to let it all sink in. And as my friend Tokowha, a maori from New Zealand, said so wisely:

You can only visit so many lakes and mountains - then you have to meet the people, and for that you need time

Go slowly. Maybe this change means we can take back time.