The Rough Guide to Ethical Living
by Duncan Clark (Rough Guides)
It could be this reviewer's imagination but, suddenly, there seem to be fewer travel guides doing the rounds - perhaps because flying is now recognised as just about the least eco-friendly form of travel.
How timely then is the appearance of The Rough Guide to Ethical Living. The guide stops short of advising readers to give up travelling altogether but offers in-depth advice on low-carbon living and responsible shopping, driven by the understanding that by 2050 as many as 40 per cent of the world's plant and animal species could be 'committed to extinction'. To help save a few of them you need to address all the areas covered, which include: responsible shopping, home energy, waste and recycling, house and garden products, food and drink, clothes and - just in case you were wondering where Rough Guides are heading - travel.
Putting its cards on the table, the guide tells you how bad flying really is. 'An ethical flight is something of a castle in the air,' the guide warns. 'Combine high greenhouse-gas emissions ... with the fact flights allow us to travel such vast distances and you have a recipe for environmental disaster.'
And there's more. Because less damaging planes are unlikely to appear soon, expect rising aviation fuel tax. If set at the same rate as that of petrol, it could add up to a HK$7,780 surcharge on a long-haul flight.
