"Climate change is a serious problem and tourism contributes a lot to it, but I don’t want to be flight-shamed out of my travels..."

"... because I think travel is a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet. So my company has a self-imposed carbon tax of $30 per person we take to Europe. In 2019, we gave $1 million to a portfolio of organizations that are fighting climate change. We gave half that amount in 2020, even though we stopped bringing people to Europe after the pandemic hit. It’s nothing heroic. It’s just the ethical thing to do."

 
Says Rick Steves, quoted in "Rick Steves on the Return of Travel and Why It Matters/The travel writer and TV personality is back in Europe, planning itineraries for next year. Travel, he says, can help us understand the world. Here’s how he recommends doing it" (NYT).

I say: What bullshit! He's got to know it's bullshit. It's not just nothing heroic, it's virtually nothing. He's got a business he wants to keep going, and he doesn't want to be "flight-shamed." Well, too bad. No one wants to give anything up. If you actually believe "Climate change is a serious problem and tourism contributes a lot to it" and you continue to do it and to actively facilitate others doing it, you should be ashamed! The NYT has this huge article about Steves, and the NYT profits from travel industry ads. It's absolutely ludicrous to purport to be taking climate change seriously.

And "travel is a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet" — is he a beauty pageant contestant? He should be shamed not only for his travel but also for his disgustingly lame self-justification. I've seen tourists roaming the globe. They are not stabilizing it. It would be easier to argue that they are destabilizing it. Do you have tourists who come to your town? If so, are they bringing peace and stability? If you like what they are doing, is it for any reason other than that they are dropping money before they get the hell out?