…My daily life is nomadic. I often live in a tent. I don’t own a car. I don’t have an air conditioner, a hair dryer, a wardrobe or a lawn mower. I spend my time exploring the planet. I meet new people every day. I play music and dance. I cook over a fire, and sleep in the forest…
Of course, I am still in the Matrix, but I am trying to subvert it every way I can…
Why Travel Green?
There are still a few people in the world who are not convinced that our planet is facing an ecological crisis of unprecedented proportions right now. Most of them are in psychiatric facilities or the halls of power though, so their opinions can reasonably be ignored.
Economists and statisticians are telling us we are in trouble. Our most eminent scientists are screaming for our attention. The human population is set to double within our lifetimes.
The problem is that even our best scientists have not found a way to make water multiply, like we do, so eventually there isn’t going to be enough of the stuff for us all to drink, let alone have backyard pools and use it to wash our poo away. We are cutting down our forests to build bigger and bigger houses, burning coal and gas to power our mega TVs, and wringing every drop of oil out of the ground to keep our SUVs running.
What can we do? How do we, as ordinary, average, Candy-Crush-Saga-addicted peoples, make a difference, and give our planet a chance to survive us?
One answer is simply to consume less. Own less stuff. Live in simpler, smaller homes. Start eating six donuts for breakfast, instead of twelve, and walk to the gym, instead of driving there. Hell, get rid of the car altogether!
‘Could that really work?’ I hear you ask. ‘A life without a four seater sofa and an SUV? What sort of a life would that be?’
My life.
How Do I Travel Green?
My daily life is nomadic. I often live in a tent. I don’t own a car. I don’t have an air conditioner, a hair dryer, a wardrobe or a lawn mower.
I spend my time exploring the planet. I meet new people every day. I play music and dance. I cook over a fire, and sleep in the forest. I recycle food. I walk everywhere. I hitchhike, and catch busses, and patch my old clothes, and write smug blog posts about how minimal my life is ;-)
Of course, I am still in the Matrix, but I am trying to subvert it every way I can. You don’t have to be outside a system to hack it, and you don’t have to compromise your happiness by making your life simpler. Simplification equals freedom.
(Below: in 2013 I hitchhiked across Europe and Morocco, living in my tent. This is Ait Ben Haddou, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Minimal travel is liberating, not limiting. Read about my journey into the Sahara here…)
Freedom is one of the travelers greatest joys.
If you are not bound by a routine, a career plan, or a chunk of real estate and a massive loan, then you are at liberty to go where and when your heart desires.
Energy consumed must be replaced. All resources are ultimately finite. Money is the same way. Minimising your consumption will also minimise your financial expenditure, which means you need to earn less, which means you work less, which means… you get to have more FUN! Do the things you love. Roam and dream.
Being a minimalist traveler is win-win. You save money, travel further, and the planet bears a smaller burden.
Fly less, hitchhike more.
When you’re in a plane, you don’t get to see much of the world as you zoom around it. When I travel between countries, I try to do as much of the distance as possible hitchhiking. I get to see the world as I travel around it, and I am car-pooling all the way!
Example: This year my son Jonah and I wanted to go to Southeast Asia, from Australia. The shortest, cheapest flight we could find was between Perth, in Western Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We hitchhiked thousands of kilometres across the Australian desert, took the short flight to Malaysia, then hitchhiked our way north to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. We saved a lot of money, had an adventure and minimised the carbon footprint of our journey as well.
(Below: me and my son Jonah hitchhiking in Thailand together. Read about our adventure here…)
Downsize.
If you want to lead an adventurous, nomadic life, it doesn’t make much sense to have a lot of material posessions and a permanent abode to store them all in. There are lots of alternatives to owning a home, or paying rent.
Living in a simple shelter like a tent is a relaxing and liberating way of life. Sure, a tent isn’t much good in extreme climates, but the great thing is, if the weather starts to get bad, you just pack up and move somewhere else!
Living in a tent doesn’t have to be a solitary experience either. There are huge nomadic groups like the Rainbow tribe, getting together all over the world. Social media is making it easier than ever for travelers to come together and form supportive communities.
As I roam around our planet I become aware that the nomadic community is growing steadily. If you haven’t lived the gypsy life, it’s hard to imagine, but once you experience it, it’s hard to imagine living any other way.
Earth – our home – is a big, beautiful complex place.
Love the planet. Get to know her better. She will love you back.
(Below: this year I spent three months living in a green community in the Australian bush, cooking with fire, playing music and bathing in the river. Read about my experiences at Rainbow Gathering Tasmania, here…)
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