Hey, they are not wearing helmets!
Lloyd Alter
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Over at TreeHugger I have been a big proponent of the idea that "Flying is Dying", as George Monbiot put it. Flying puts a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and because of radiative forcing, it causes just about twice as much damage as it does when emitted at ground level.
Then I went to Paris.
I became convinced that the value of travel and the lessons one learns from it can outweigh the carbon footprint of the trip. While I purchased offsets for the voyage, I suspect that the lessons learned will offset far more carbon dioxide over the longer term. In North America, we look at the changes we are making in our lives like Puritans, that it is the right thing to do even if it hurts. In Paris, they do it naturally and they enjoy it.
They Eat Local Food.
In fact, they celebrate it, with different specialties from every region of France. The city is surrounded with farmland.
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| Photos Courtesy of Lloyd Alter |
They practice moderation.
Portion sizes are far smaller than in North America. A glass of wine is standard with every meal (a bottle with dinner) like the portion, appears to be used moderately.
They walk a lot.
The sidewalks are jammed and people seem to walk everywhere. There is such a vibrant street life to support it- restaurants, stores, local services.
They put chairs in their parks.
Sounds like a minor thing, but the parks were full of people enjoying themselves, having meals, actually using the place.
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They ride bikes.
The new Velib bike service is a huge success; there was a velib station right under our hotel window and I watched the action. One-way bike rental is such a good idea, and there were stations everywhere.
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They have small cars.
The streets are small, and so are the cars. So they get great mileage and squeeze a lot more of them in.
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They have great transit.
Subways seem to be everywhere, and they connect to the train stations and the airports. To get from the airport to my home in Toronto: a $48 buck cab ride. To get from my hotel to the airport in Paris: a three euro subway ride.
They have an even better rail system.
The trip to London on the Eurostar was astonishing; from one lovely train station in Paris you barely have time to finish your newspaper, before you pull up in another lovely station in London.
They live in small spaces because they want to live in nice places.
I have shown a few of them on TreeHugger and people cannot believe that families live in such small apartments, and even thought they were being cruel to children. but if you want to live in a nice part of town, that is what you do.
They value their heritage.
You just don't knock down old buildings; you upgrade them, change their uses, add modern services but demolition is just not done. They even gave them stimulus money. Look at the picture above: old building, new storefront glass: modification for a different era.
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They take care of their streets and public spaces.
Inexpensive and simple garbage containers are placed everywhere, sometimes a couple of steps apart. Give people a place to put litter and they will use it. If that isn't enough, there are people cleaning the sidewalks and gutters every morning.
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They seem to enjoy life.
This seems to be the key takeaway; nobody is holier than thou; they don't seem to work too hard, they seem to have a good time, and they know how to live in a city and enjoy it. The civic government knows how to make it possible for them to do so.
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No doubt a visit to the banlieues, or suburbs, would tell a very different story; I was staying in a Paris of the rich and of the tourists. But it is still a model to emulate. If we all lived like Parisians we would offset enough carbon dioxide to be able to actually visit it. It is worth trying.
More on Green Travel
What I Did On My Summer Vacation: Notes on the Green Aspects of My Trips to Paris and Dublin
Are You a Green Globetrotter?
Quickly Calculate The Carbon of Your Flights
What is the Cheapest and Greenest Way to Travel?
Don't be Like Gov. Mark Sanford—Travel Local
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
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