Leaving

Regarding Google, sure not everything is perfect, but for me it wasn’t far from being perfect. I was surrounded by very clever, friendly and open-minded people, I was working on things I’m really passionate about, the work environment was simply amazing and I certainly miss all this as well as the delicious free food, the foosball tables, pool tables and countless other games, the free fitness room and of course the massages!

During the last conversation I had with my grandfather, he told me that his greatest regret in life was not to have followed his passion for Romanesque architecture and to have instead focused so heavily on his insurance business. Now, I have always had the upmost respect for my grandfather and such honnest statement coming from him had a deep effect on me.

So I did reflect on my own life and realized that so far, I had mostly let myself drift through it without much effort: I chose to do business studies after school, mainly because I didn’t know what else to do. At the end of my studies I specialized in Finance and was so bored during my internship at the bank that I had my first reaction: I would not work for a financial institution as I intended to. Instead I chose to work for a company I really admired for having revolutionized the internet in the best possible way.

After three years however, I started to severely need a change from my 9-6 daily routine. Staring at a computer screen 8 hours a day was becoming really hard for me. The prospect of doing this for 40 years was scaring me. What for? Did I really want to be saving my money my whole life for an unknown purpose like so many people do? What kind of stories would I be telling my grand-children later?

It is during my six-month exchange program in South Africa that I developped a taste for both travelling and photography. My grandfather gave me his old manual Nikon FG-20 before I left. And this gift had a bigger consequence on me than he probably realized at the time. The very first roll of film shot with the camera yielded two of the most successful pictures I ever took: the picture of two lions in love that on its own was viewed more than 40.000 times on Flickr and the picture of the smiling giraffe that has been used for a big nation-wide marketing campaign in Belgium (and is about to do so again!). Unfortunately the zoom of that camera broke down on the second roll, but a new passion was born for me. And more importantly, I realized after this experience in Africa how much my encounters with the local people and with the many different travellers I met on the road had broadened my mind and made me understand our world better.

The picture of the lions in love taken with my grandfather's old FG-20

Add to this a growing concern about the environment and that was enough to convince me to take off. Since my early childhood I have had a deep fascination for nature and animals ( ask my poor parents, they’ve seen all possible animals in our house!). Constantly witnessing the degradation of our environment without reacting was feeling increasingly wrong. But I do not believe that trying to make people feel guilty like many ecologists are doing is the solution. I wanted to witness environmental damage for myself, and see what I think I could do when getting back home. To minimize the ecological impact of my travel, I decided I would not take a single plane to go back home from Australia. And hopefully it would convince other people to avoid planes on their journeys too.

Only time will tell whether it really was a good idea or not. But for now, the only thing I can say is that it feels right, and has felt so ever since I took the decision. And that’s a great feeling, believe me!

But unfortunately, travelling also has its downsides, and one of them is the negative impact it generates on the environment. As this is a concern for me, I now have a couple of rules I apply that could help you too.

Choose your transport wisely

By far the biggest carbon emmissions during your travels will come from your transport, so it is important to choose your means of transport responsibly.

Airplanes are responsible for 3% of global carbon emissions. A US return flight from coast to coast will emit as much CO2 emissions as the average frenchman in one year. And these emissions are the worst because they are at emitted at high altitude, going straight to the athmosphere. My first tip is to avoid planes as much as you can.

Now of course if you don’t have much time and plan to visit a far-away country, planes are difficult to avoid. But still, instead of taking several internal flights to try to see the whole country in two weeks, why not consider exploring only one part much more intensively and avoiding all the planes? The “highlights” mentioned in the guidebooks will only rarely be your own personal highlights. Trying to see them all at all costs is usually not a such good idea. You will be surrounded by tourists most of your time, harrassed by touts, and at a much higher risk of theft. By travelling overland instead, you will see the authentic local life, see changes occur softly and gradually and understand the country you are visiting much better.

Even for long-term travels, I would recommend not taking too many planes. Trying to see America, Europe, Asia and Africa all in one trip like many people do, will likely be too much. Adjusting to a different culture takes time, and starting from zero all over again is hard and can be tiring.

Instead of flying, I recommend taking the train when possible, or a boat or bus. For shorter distances, also consider bicycles if some are available for rent. If you try it first with the environment in mind, you will continue to do it for your own enjoyment, I guarantee!

Minimise the amount of plastic you use

Have you ever heard about a new “continent of waste” forming in the pacific ocean? It is made out of billions of small plastic particles that accumulate at this place because of a combination of currents. It is growing rapidly and is already twice the size of of the continental united states! Watch the youtube video for more information. One of the major  waste problem we face today is due to plastic. Did you know that less than  3% of the plastic we use is recycled worldwide (according to a Helmut Kaiser Consultancy report, 2006)? And it takes about 500-1000 years for plastic to biodegrade, which means that we won’t get rid of that problem any time soon, even if we were to stop using it now.

In developing countries, the chances that they will recycle or dispose plastic responsibly are very low. So it is important to use it scarcely. I always refuse plastic bags and also explain briefly that I do so because of pollution.  In South East Asia for example, they will put the single can of coke you just bought in a plastic bag!

Another big problem are the plastic bottles, and it is harder to deal with that one in countries with no drinking water on the tap. Two options though: when you can, you can boil your water (25 minutes and you’re safe!) and reuse your bottle, or filter your water.

Show the good example

Travelling is a great way to meet many people and interact with the locals. I use this opportunity to show the good example and be environmental friendly!

These are the few things I have learned on this journey, but I’d be curious to hear from you, do you have other tips or ideas to travel ecologically?

Since some years now I travel a lot and enjoy taking nice pictures as souvenirs. The sad thing is that I never really used all these pictures to a useful end. They have been sitting on my hard drive without getting much attention. With Pictures from earth, I want to publish the best ones and classify them really well. For each picture I’ll give a small explanation of where it was taken and the story behind the shot.

On this blog, I’ll also give more information about the country every time I post a new album online.

I’ll see how popular the site can become and will post albums one by one. Here are some countries you can expect to see albums from in the near future: Madagascar, United States, Cuba, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, Israel, Ireland, Belgium, United Kingdom, and some more.

Of course I’ll continue to travel in the future, so I’ll continue to update the site and post new albums.

I hope you’ll enjoy the site, don’t hesitate to bookmark it, to subscribe to RSS feeds, and to give me your feedback!