Jim Densham – Senior Land Use Policy Officer (Climate), Scotland.
Way back in July, when the days were long and there were leaves on the trees, I wrote in this blog about Green Travel to Green Places, my RSPB sabbatical. My plan was to travel to RSPB reserves in Scotland to collect stories of climate impacts and only travel by low-carbon transport. I wanted to 1) bust the myth that you can only get to RSPB reserves if you have a car, and 2) show that you can reduce your carbon footprint when you visit nature.
The first reserves I visited were all relatively local day trips from home in the Central Belt, but after that I got more adventurous and visited Coll and Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, and Dumfries and Galloway in the south west. Some of these reserves are already experiencing the impacts of climate change and you can read more about this in my sabbatical blog. My sabbatical is now finished so the other day I sat down to work out how far I travelled and how much carbon I used – and how much carbon I saved by travelling without a car.
Arrived at RSPB Loch Leven
In total I travelled 953 miles to 10 reserves – 758 miles by train and 193 miles by bike. I also walked 2 miles to get to Baron’s Haugh reserve from the station. So how much CO2 did I save? If I travelled to those 10 reserves by car in the same schedule I would have travelled 843 miles (interestingly, a good few miles less) and emitted 173.6kg CO2. This was calculated for using a small car – for a large car, the total could have doubled to 349kg CO2. I used the transport direct calculator to work it all out.
On my sabbatical journeys I the CO2 comes from train travel and the ferry of course, but I haven’t included that as I would have also needed the ferry with a car journey also. Nor have I allowed any extra food consumption for my cycling! My 758 train miles emitted 68.5kg CO2. So my green travel saved 105.1kg CO2, or you could say that I emitted 60% less carbon than if I had travelled by car.
From the outset I thought that my green travel would reduce my carbon footprint but I didn’t realise it would be by a rather staggering 60%. I am really pleased with the result and also pleased that getting on the bike got me fitter, and I am now a regular bicycle commuter. . So it is possible to enjoy nature and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time. Good news for you and the birds.
Do you have any good stories about cycling to see nature, or to reduce your CO2?
You left out one vital detail Jim - what wildlife did you see?!