Your alarm clock beeps. It’s April 22: Earth Day. As you toss over in bed and open your eyes, you instinctively unlock your phone and log onto Instagram (don’t lie, we all know it’s the first thing you do in the morning). As you take a cursory glance, your feed is already flooded with friends posting their vacation and travel photos in Hawaii and Cabo with Earth Day Instagram captions like “Mother Earth” and “Mama Earth is so pretty” — or, a classic slew of tasteful nature emojis. One of your friends posts a photo in their new bikini from Shein laying on a white sandy beach, while another posts one deep in a lush, green jungle somewhere in Fiji.
But — and excuse me if I’m wrong — doesn’t posting photos of traveling and vacation defeat the whole purpose of Earth Day?
At its core, Earth Day is not only about celebrating our planet and all that it does for us, but also about advocating for greener initiatives and cleaner alternatives to reduce the effects of human-induced climate change. And last time I checked, traveling is pretty unsustainable. According to The New York Times, air travel accounts for 3 to 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions, and the United Nations estimates that aviation emissions of carbon dioxide will triple by 2050. And it’s not just carbon dioxide; airplanes also have severe warming non-carbon dioxide effects due to nitrogen oxides and vapor trails caused by the altitude at which aircrafts operate.
And it’s not just planes — you might want to rethink your Earth Day road trip, too. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average car releases 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, and every gallon of gasoline burned produces over 8,000 grams of carbon dioxide.
Not to mention, Instagram and other social media apps perpetuate unsustainable practices like buying into fast fashion trends and impulsively shopping with their advertisements and shopping platforms — which is not very Earth Day-friendly either, if you ask me.
I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer — I travel and go on vacations, too. But why do we need to flaunt our vacations and traveling escapades on Earth Day, of all days — a day that should be dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint and being kind to our planet? At the end of the day, posting your vacation photo isn’t in honor of Earth Day — in reality, it’s about flaunting your trip and showing off how much fun you’re having… right?
So when Earth Day rolls around this month on April 22, instead of posting a photo of you sprawled out on a hammock somewhere on a beach in Cancún, maybe try posting a photo of your favorite local hike or some wildflowers nearby your house. Or, try doing something good for the planet, like buying produce from your local farmer’s market or spending time outside. Save your vacation and travel photos for National Tourism Day, okay?