Go green

Go green

Amateur Photographer published a ‘green’ edition a week or two ago, and while I welcome the initiative, I was less than convinced by some of the suggestions in the magazine.

Now, let’s start with the science: if we took a pre-emptive, preventative view of global warming, we’d have banned air travel and the internal combustion engine. So, as a society, we take it less seriously than politics and economics…



In real life, almost however we live, we are damaging the planet a bit. If we travel a lot, it’s likely that we do a lot of damage: and to truly offset a flight next year, we’d need to have planted the trees 25 years ago. Otherwise, we’re putting the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere now, recapturing it in a quarter of a century…

On the other hand, unplugging the charging leads when not in use is not going to save much power… And just at present, it’s not a great idea to travel by bus and train – though that will change as the world gets coronavirus under control in a year or two.



Again, a really good environmentalist would buy secondhand as often as possible, recycle to the max, avoid disposable anything, and look for responsible sourcing of everything – not just camera gear, but also vegetables, television, shoes. And we’d be reducing the quantity of animal products in our diets.

I’m going to suggest just one change for most of us. And it’s a simple one, something we’ve had to do for three months, and can continue in the future. Forget the bucket list. Iceland, Tuscany, Yellowstone, Antelope Canyon – write them all off your travel agenda, unless you have relatives or friends in the area.



For places you do visit, give yourself time to get the good shots – don’t drop in and whisk away in a day, but stay around so that if the sunrise isn’t good tomorrow, you’ll have six more chances. Book an apartment and walk as much as possible – while I still feel guilty about flying to Rhodes for a holiday, staying in Lindos and walking all round the town most days reduces my footprint a good deal.

And – if you haven’t found it already – look at your own area’s treasures. There will be some, wherever you are!