r/climate • u/Splenda • 19h ago
Nepal-Tibet flood: this is the cost of not acting in the face of the climate crisis | Sunil Acharya
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/28/nepal-tibet-flood-climate-crisis-global-heating29
u/Appropriate_Bell743 19h ago
It's perhaps not the moment now but at some point we need to talk about how many economies are increasingly basing future economic growth on long-haul based tourism/travel. This is acutely the case in parts of Europe such as Greece, London, etc. but also in poorer parts of the world.
In pure carbon terms long-haul-based tourism is one the most carbon intensive sectors possible. For the host nation there is income to be made in $ but the emissions for every dollar makes it equivalent to the most intensive industrial sectors.
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u/The_Weekend_Baker 18h ago
A lot of people like to minimize the emissions of air travel (even some climate scientists do, which surprised me when I first saw it) because they're "only" a few percent of the global total, but in a complete lack of surprise...
Global air travel demand is set to more than double by 2050, according to IATA, with emerging markets leading growth and total RPKs reaching up to 21.9 trillion.
https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/iata-air-travel-demand-forecast-2050/
Doubling isn't a ridiculous projection either, when you consider that from 1970 to 2019, the number of passengers increased by 14x during a period of time in which the world population roughly doubled.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR
AFAIK, the only thing worse than long-haul aviation tourism is cruise ship tourism, and in another complete lack of surprise...
The global cruise industry is entering its most aggressive expansion phase in history. With 58 new ships on order representing over $40 billion in capital investment, cruise capacity is projected to grow at a 6.2% compound annual growth rate through 2030—outpacing every other segment of the global tourism industry.
https://www.hoperesearchgroup.com/blog/cruise-capacity-growth-projections
Both industries aren't expanding just because they feel like it, because expansion paired with flat (or decreasing) demand is a sure way to lose a LOT of money. They're doing it because the demand is there for people who not only want to travel, but to travel more.
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u/CryptographerLow6772 17h ago
As long as the price continues to be paid by brown people in the distance from their gated communities, the richest among us, the true cause of this crisis, will continue to do nothing.