An elephant in the room…
Isn’t it a bit contradictory to drive a huge diesel-powered truck around the world while promoting sustainability and nature conservation values ?….
Climate change and biodiversity loss aren’t just a line on a chart or yet another scientific report making headlines in the media. For us mountain enthusiasts, it is personal, it is in our backyards and it is happening right now.
Climate change is the melting glaciers, the shrinking snowpack and shorter winter seasons. It’s the decline in business, the empty hotel rooms and the lost jobs. It’s the rock falls that not only threaten lives, but literally could reshape iconic landscapes. It’s the decline in fresh water coming down from the mountains to fill the rivers, water the fields and power up the hydro plants.
Biodiversity loss is the clearing of forests to make way to (far too often) ill-planned tourism developments. It’s the increasing use of chemicals to combat invasive pests or the growing risk of diseases and pandemics due to more frequent interactions between wild animals and humans due to shrinking habitats.
Yet neither climate change or biodiversity loss are a fatality. Day after day, solutions are being pioneered, progress are being made and people are waking up to the growing recognition that human well-being does not need to come at the expense of nature, but rather that nature provides the vital basis that supports our economies and prosperity.
There is much to recognise and learn from the knowledge and actions of the thousands of people dedicating endless efforts to protecting and restoring nature. Against the prevailing pessimism and alarmist messages that make the headlines, through sharing our travels and discoveries, we aim to give a voice to those who too often go unheard and show how individual dedication is already making a fundamental difference at global scale.
Our commitment
We are planning to travel the world (or at least part of it) in an expedition vehicle and this will unarguably have an impact on the environment as would, to some extend, any nature-related activity. Keeping this in mind, we have purposefully designed our vehicle, as well as our project, for this impact to be as limited as possible.
Indeed, our expedition vehicle will burn 16 litres of oil every 100 Km, but according to a study published by the University of Pisa and the calculations made by GoodPlanet, this will still produce 50% less emissions (approximately 11,8 t CO2e / year) than the equivalent journey done by car+hotels, and 75% less than the plane+hotels option (public transportation not being a viable option in most of the areas we will visit). The vehicle’s engine is Euro VI(d) compliant and equipped with a SCR 4th Generation exhaust gas depuration. Naturally, all remaining emissions will be fully compensated.
The living space of the vehicle has also been designed and engineered for maximum efficiency in terms of energy (insulation, solar input) and water consumption, but besides statistics, our main objective is to promote values such as minimalism, ethics, respect, slow travel, local economy and discovery in order to (re)connect people with nature so that, by seeing its beauty and the efforts undertaken to protect it, they can relate, care and join the movement themselves.
Our principles
Leave no trace
Zero waste
Zero single-use plastic
CO2 emissions compensated
So, here we are… Two people purposefully travelling in an expedition truck.
This blog is about our adventures, our feelings and anything we’d like to share as we wander in wonderland…