this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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Solarpunk Travel

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Community for those focused on sustainable travel. Our society's current levels of energy intensive and frequent travel are not compatible with life on a finite planet. We advocate for long-term slow travel to see the world, and low energy local travel to deeply experience your community. Green washing free zone.

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Crossing the Pacific? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 1 year ago by LilNaib@slrpnk.net to c/solarpunktravel@slrpnk.net
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We have lots of moral options for traveling over land, and even some options for relatively short oceanic trips, like across the Atlantic from W. Europe to/from N. America.

What are the current possibilities for traveling from e.g. USA to Taiwan? I'm willing to entertain options that don't have "mass market" appeal.

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[–] MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is this meant to be a today or a we might do that in the future. For today you have container ships, which offer cabins for paying cutomers. However I am not sure that that is better then flying, given how bad cruise ships are for the enviroment. You can also buy a boat and sail the pacific, that works as well. Some people offer trips on their private sail boats and going island hopping across the Pacific is an option, but a risky one. An ocean going second hand sail boat can be had a reasonable price, if you want to do that. Another one would be to go eastwards and just cross the Atlantic and then go throu Europe, Central Asia and then mainland China towards Taiwan.

However run emissions on those options as well. There is a decent chance that due to longer travel time emissions might be as high as flying.

[–] LilNaib@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally I think that although container ships are indeed polluting and nasty, traveling on one shouldn't be measured against flying, as airplanes only fly to transport human passengers, without whom they would not fly. Meanwhile, traveling via container ship is more akin to using someone else's waste product since the reason for the container ship making the journey is to deliver non-human cargo, and a few passengers using some spare corner space is just a bonus. I've looked into this option and will look again. Also will look into smaller boats, thanks.

Another option is to 1000x my biochar production to offset emissions.

[–] cerement@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

this video made the rounds a few years back: 30 Days Timelapse at Sea (Piped)

EDIT: Michael Palin did his version of Around the World in 80 Days – episode 6 “Far East and Further East” has him crossing the Pacific on a container ship

[–] LilNaib@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 months ago

this video made the rounds a few years back

Wow! This world is beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

For today you have container ships, which offer cabins for paying cutomers. However I am not sure that that is better then flying, given how bad cruise ships are for the enviroment.

I did a quick check on costs about ½ year ago. Room and board on a cargo ship is the cheapest non-DiY option AFAIK, which is around $100/day. Crossing the Atlantic in one is ~2—3 weeks. So I think we’re talking $1400 min. for the Atlantic, whereas the cheapest one-way economy flights are ~$500 if you shop it out. So then the question is, couldn’t the difference if $900 be spent in a way that more than offsets the emissions difference between a cargo ship and a flight?

I realize the OP asked about crossing the Pacific, which I guess means the price gap would be even bigger.

Oh, I forgot to mention I read about a bus that goes from London to New York. IIRC it takes a month because it goes the long way around (ferry to continental Europe, east into Russia and to Alaska). Not sure if the ocean between Russia and Alaska freezes well enough or if that’s by ferry. Not sure what the price is either, but a guess the bus would have the lowest emissions.

EDIT: just noticed the OP nixes travel via dictatorships, so that would nix the bus.

[–] LilNaib@slrpnk.net 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So then the question is, couldn’t the difference if $900 be spent in a way that more than offsets the emissions difference between a cargo ship and a flight?

I think that kind of question will end up being one of the main ones in figuring this out, thanks. My general plan right now is to drive to California in a vehicle running on restaurant waste vegetable oil, then take either a plane or container ship, and then once back home, just go nuts making as much biochar as possible.

I saw a Youtube video of a timelapse 10-day trip from Washington state USA to Japan, which is surprisingly decent.

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I saw a Youtube video of a timelapse 10-day trip from Washington state USA to Japan, which is surprisingly decent.

Is that via cargo ship?