It’s a dilemma for a dedicated environmental activist: your friend is getting married in Australia, you’re in Britain, what do you do? Travel overland to avoid carbon emissions from aircraft, of course.
Barbara “Babs” Haddrill (28) is doing just that, undertaking a six-week trip from mid-Wales to Brisbane by train, bus and boat for bridesmaid duties in a homemade dress before heading back using the same means.
“I feel like I have devoted myself to doing what I can to reduce my impact on the environment,” she wrote on her blog, Babs2brisbane.blogspot.com. “If I flew to Australia, I would negate everything I have done for the last six years and that would seem sad.”
Haddrill, who works at the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales and lives in a caravan, began her journey on Saturday, hitchhiking in a downpour.
She will head by bus to Moscow and take the Trans-Siberian railway, before heading south to Singapore, again by train, where she will attempt to find a boat to take her to Australia.
Trains, boats and buses all have less impact on the environment than air travel, which at high altitudes pumps out harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. — AFP