Can Earth Afford It?
Questioning international travel in a time of peak oil
By Kati Maginel
There should be little doubt that the sustainability of study abroad is in question: flying to destinations contributes to environmental problems such as global climate change and to the consumption of fossil fuels, which many experts say has peaked and is now in decline.
As a returned study abroad student, I am concerned about the dilemma this presents for people who, like me, believe in the value of international travel as a means to foster cross-cultural understanding. In the hope that my school, Berea College, will consider implementing policy changes that might help to minimize and offset the ecological impacts of study abroad, I conducted an independent study titled, “Sustainable Study Abroad: Ecological Costs vs. Educational Gain.” What follows are some of the points I considered.
Global climate change: what your flight is doing to the ozone layer
Perhaps the most alarming change brought about by our industrial age is global warming, which is largely attributed to human activities, including increased fossil fuel usage. An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report predicted global temperatures will increase 1.4 to 5.8 C in this century.
Global warming has caused and is expected to cause more natural disasters. Arid regions, atypical temperatures, melting icecaps, and the consequent rise in sea levels are just a few concerns. The exact effects of global warming are difficult to foresee, but it is certain that the lives of humans and all other creatures on the planet will be affected.
Of the types of travel that contribute to global warming, jet travel contributes the third-highest amount of CO2 emissions. One statistic from Alternatives to Globalization by Gerry Mander and John Cavanagh states, “a two-minute takeoff by a 747 is equal to 2.4 million lawn mowers running for 20 minutes.” Takeoff, of course, is only one portion of the quantity of fuel jets require. An average of one ton of CO2 emissions are released for every study abroad flight.
Peak oil: will international travel be affordable in the future?
Possibly even more urgent in the context of travel abroad than global warming is the reality of peak oil. According to the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO), “the term peak oil refers to the maximum rate of the production of oil in any area under consideration, recognizing that it is a finite natural resource, subject to depletion.” Though increasing use of oil and other fossil fuels has driven growth in the global economy, petroleum is a finite resource and production must eventually decline.
According to a statistic from The Ecologist titled, “Who’s Afraid of Peak Oil” by David Strahan, of just under 100 oil-producing countries worldwide, 60 are already in terminal decline of oil reserves, and more join the list yearly. The short-term effect of peak oil will be a spike in price as oil availability declines and global demand increases; the long-term effect will be complete unavailability.
Just as the reality of global warming is closely linked to flight emissions, peak oil will impact air travelers significantly. Of the biggest uses of petroleum in U.S. oil consumption, air travel ranks fourth in the quantity of petroleum it requires, according to Charles Komanff’s article, “Ending the Oil Age.” As availability of oil decreases during the upcoming years, travel costs will rise and could possibly become prohibitive. The global aviation industry consumes only about an eighth as much fuel as road transport, but in some ways the problems of replacing jet kerosene are even more intractable.
Two main ideas are touted as possible solutions for travel when oil becomes much more expensive: biofuels and hydrogen. “It is vital to understand and accept that there is no invention, technology, or fuel on the horizon that can bail us out of our dilemma,” says Pat Murphy, the executive director of Community Service, Inc. and author of the New Solutions magazine article, “Plan C—Curtailment and Community.”
Biofuels do not have the density of kerosene (the standard fossil jet fuel), and the business of producing them in large quantities is likely to endanger food security. It is also contributing to deforestation in the tropics. Likewise, there is little in the way of information or progress toward hydrogen-fueled planes; there is also an extremely high energy cost for production of hydrogen, which remains a process that is fully reliant on fossil fuels.
Rising fuel prices aren’t the only threat to the current travel paradigm. According to an article by Jamais Cascio, a founder of Worldchanging.com, the unstable history of financial performance, fickle consumers, and the rising threat of pandemic are other reasons our freedom to travel will wane. Travel safety, in light of peak oil, resource depletion, and climate change should indeed be noted when considering the future of study abroad. Currently, the U.S State Department lists 30 countries on its travel warnings list and the Fund for Peace considers 67 countries to be “failed states.” These countries demonstrate that ecological stresses including resource depletion and environmental deterioration create a loss of social and political stability.
Study abroad: a Lesson in sustainability
Even with these alarming predictions, it is equally concerning that international travel may become prohibitive in the future, because there are ways in which students learn about sustainability and contribute to a more sustainable world when they travel abroad. In the best examples, students absorb a greater sense of the world, our interdependence between nations, nature, and humanity. They also often come to understand the urgency and complexity of such issues as environmental degradation, overpopulation, and unsustainable growth during their time abroad.
If studying abroad in areas of the world such as the “Global South,” students have an opportunity to learn from communities more accustomed to living on a smaller ecological footprint than many in the United States. When students are abroad, their food is more likely to be locally grown. In-town transit needs are more commonly met by foot, bicycle, or public transit. Homes they stay in are typically smaller and house more people per square foot. Community interactions are more socially supportive, and the pace of life outside of the United States is in general much slower and less energy intensive.
According to a survey of Berea College students, study abroad presents alternatives to their consumerist mainstream culture, especially when they study in middle or low-income countries around the world. Those alternatives may lead to more sustainable lifestyle choices when students return home.
The question remains, however, whether an experience learning in a different culture with a less-consumptive lifestyle compensates for the high energy costs of travel abroad. As with most sustainability issues, there are no clear answers to this dilemma. Study abroad programs are inherently highly educational and often life-changing for the students who participate in them, but peak oil is nearing and climate change progressing. The quantity of fossil fuels used in international flights may be relatively small in comparison to the total energy use of the student, but it is certainly not insignificant. We must begin to pursue alternative, more sustainable ways to enhance our understanding of the world and our role in it to replace the current, fossil fuel-dependent study abroad paradigm.
This article is adapted from Kati Maginel’s report on the sustainability of study abroad, which she wrote for Berea College in Kentucky. Her research was part of an independent study, “Sustainable Study Abroad: Ecological Costs vs. Educational Gain,” conducted during the spring and summer of 2007. The document, presentations, and continued work on the project are intended to serve as the basis for policy changes at Berea College.
Kati Maginel is a senior Sustainability and Environmental Studies Major at Berea College. She has applied for a Watson Fellowship to continue her undergraduate studies and propel her understanding of sustainability and cultural change. Her proposal is the first to be submitted that only requires one flight during the entire year of travel and learning. Contact her at ktmag@yahoo.com.