Travel and Climate Change
The negative impact travelling has on the environment has driven me to conduct further research into the topic. At this point in my research, I have begun to envision how I could design a travel app which could counteract or reduce the damage which the tourism industry enacts on our world.
On social media, I noticed that many influencers of apps like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook were encouraging their followers and other users to take advantage of the low cost of flights being sold by airline companies over the past year. The drop in airfare is largely a result of the Covid pandemic which has “thwarted the expected return of business travel” because of international restrictions like lockdowns and countries restricting entry to international visitors. Prices for flights to Europe are at a five-year low, down more than 30% compared with the same month in 2019, according to the travel website, Hopper. The airline price drop does have its advantages. For most individuals, airline tickets are a luxury that is afforded rarely; this is in stark contrast to public figures like politicians and celebrities who we watch travel frequently on expensive vacations – much of the time, at our expense. Thus, airline price drops arguably level the playing field; providing many the opportunity to finally experience new cultures and adventures that were once unfairly exclusive to a wealthy, small minority.
However, as a user pointed out in the comments of one of these promotional videos, there is a detrimental downside to this huge wave of tourists using airlines as a means to travel: an increase in ticket sales encourages a constant demand for more and more flights. This has and will continue to mount pressure on our planet’s struggle against climate change.
Flights produce greenhouse gases (mainly CO2) from burning fuel. These contribute to global warming (Earth’s rising surface temperature) when released into the atmosphere. Global warming is one symptom of the much larger problem of human caused Climate Change. Climate Change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil used to power the engines of commercial airplanes among other vehicles.
The effects of climate change are visible today, causing disastrous damage to wildlife and human civilisation. It has caused rainfall patterns to change, resulting in intense flooding in some areas while others suffer drought and famine. Sea levels continue to rise at an alarmingly rapid rate as glaciers and ice sheets melt under the warming climate; according to a study by Climate Central, more than 300 million people will have lost their homes by 2050 as a result of high sea levels causing flooding and high tides. It is also important to note, climate change will disproportionately affect the world’s poorest communities despite its largest contributors being global superpowers like the United States and China:
“The world’s poorest communities often live on the most fragile land, and they are often politically, socially, and economically marginalized, making them especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. More frequent and intense storms, flooding, drought, and changes in rainfall patterns are already impacting these communities, making it difficult for them to secure decent livelihoods.”
– Christina Chan, director of the World Resource Institute’s Climate Resilience Practice
Should we give up flying for the sake of the climate?
by Jocelyn Timperley for BBC’s Smart Guide to Climate Change
On aviations contribution to climate change, environmental journalist Jocelyn Timperley notes that: “around 2.4% of global CO2 emissions come from aviation. Together with other gases and the water vapour trails produced by aircraft, the industry is responsible for around 5% of global warming.” In the BBC article she goes on to inform the reader a return flight from London to San Francisco emits around 5.5 tonnes of CO2 per person – more than twice the emissions produced by a family car in a year and about half of the average carbon footprint of someone living in Britain. A flight from London to Berlin emits around 0.6 tonnes of CO2e – three times the emissions saved from a year of recycling. Emissions from planes are rising rapidly – they increased 32% between 2013 and 2018. While improving fuel efficiency is gradually reducing the emissions per passenger, it is not keeping up with the rapid increase in total passenger numbers, which are projected to double in the next 20 years. Even for those who do not fly often (once or twice a year at maximum), these few yearly flights are still likely to make up the largest proportion of their carbon footprint. “Generally, trains and coaches are the lowest carbon means of travel, much lower than flying and cars” says Milena Buchs, an expert in sustainability, economics and low carbon transitions at the University of Leeds.
Sustainability Online
SkyScanner
SkyScanner was one of the first online travel companies I encountered which featured design/content elements that promoted sustainability. When a customer using the site searches for airlines, options for that specific journey appear in order of most to least carbon emitted by the specific. Green is a colour most associated with the natural world where it features heavily (trees, stems, grass etc). Thus, the vibrant colour is used most frequently by designers to indicate if a product is environmentally friendly and will protect the natural world from human-made destruction. The above includes a green frame around a white text box which contains the flight information. SkyScanner has also create a small circular icon in a similar design theme which displays a white, animated leaf on a bright green background. The leaf is also symbolic of the natural world which a customer will protect if they choose the lowest emission flight. The leaf is minimalist, pictorial icon with a curving, outline that creates an inviting, playful tone that encourages an individual to consider its meaning thoughtfully. I also really liked the white text box geometric planes which are cleverly rendered to reflect the traditional shape of a boarding pass ticket – creating a sense of nostalgia as it calls back to traditional methods of travel before apps like Apple Wallet were created to store tickets digitally.
After Ice
Justin Brice Guariglia is an American interaction designer and environmental activist. In 2017, Guariglia launched the iOS app: “After Ice”. The app uses augmented reality formatting in the form of a camera filter to show the user at what depth their current location will be submerged under water in 2080 due to Climate Change (Guariglia, 2017). Guariglia utilised digital drawing to create a realistically animated blue-toned, semi-transparent layer which shows over the user’s image that emulates the movement and colour of water. This creates the illusion that the user has literally been transported to a terrifying future in which we may be as much as two hundred feet underwater. In 2021 it is easy for the ‘West’ to disregard the need for sustainability, viewing Global Warming as a distant, disconnected issue because we are privileged enough to not witness or experience the full extent of its damage yet. Therefore, I think that the underwater layering feature is incredibly effective as in confronting the user and creating a sense of “urgency” (Guariglia, 2017) for sustainable living as we realise that one day our own homes will be inhabitable.
How I Can Design My App Sustainably
I also wish to keep sustainability in mind when designing the travel app to reflect the environmental issues I wish to address in the assignment. It was interesting to read science journalist, Sarah Griffiths BBC article: “Why Your Internet Habits Are Not As Clean As You Think”, she writes that: “The carbon footprint of our gadgets, the internet and the systems supporting them account for about 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions, according to some estimates”. Griffiths continues that it is (coincidentally to my own assignment) similar to the “amount produced by the airline industry globally, as explained Mike Hazas, a researcher at Lancaster University. And these emissions are predicted to double by 2025.” According to the report ‘Clicking Clean’ released in 2014 by Greenpeace, “If the internet were a country, it would be the 6th largest user of electricity behind China, the US, Japan, India and Russia.” I read Katie O’Connor’s article for UX Magazine: “Using UX Design to Build a Sustainable Future” in which O’Connor notes ways in which a designer can work to reduce energy produced from devices that will ultimately reduce carbon emissions. Some tips the designer provided included using minimal typefaces and detailed images, allowing pages to load faster and ultimately using less energy.
Transforming Tourism for Climate Action
Climate Change: Should you Fly, Drive or Take the Train?
Why Climate Change and Poverty are Inextricably Linked?
Biggest Contributors to Global Warming in the World
Will Southeast Asia be able to cope with more flooding and rising waters?
Climate Change: Companies Must See Past Tress to Blazing Forests?
Why Your Internet Habits Are Not As Clean As You Think
Using UX Design to Build a Sustainable Future