It’s National Banana Day! Comparing our travel habits.
Happy National Banana Day! In Climate Hub style, we’ve set you a challenge below. . . inspired by Mike Berners-Lee’s ‘How Bad are Bananas?’ book. But don’t worry, bananas are emissions approved - so can enjoy your Banana Milkshake, Banana Spilt or other Banana celebration today!
Keep reading to take on our carbon emissions challenge.
How bad are your travel habits?
We know that the Highlands & Islands are very geographically disperse, and sustainable travel can be hard. Sometimes the ease of simply jumping in your car outweighs waiting for a bus, cycling a bike, or paying for a train. But when it’s possible, the endorphins that cycling releases, & fantastic views the train offers make the journey worth it.
Take on our emissions challenge to guess how many bananas each journey through the Highlands & Islands equates to in carbon footprint. Spoiler - it’s a lot!
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4.5 bananas!
Starting small . . . cycling the 15.4 miles between Dingwall & Inverness creates 0.5kg CO2e.
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210 bananas!
This car journey in a petrol vehicle would produce 23.1kg CO2e.
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114 bananas!
This train journey would produce 12.5kg CO2e.
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227 bananas!
Flying to Shetland would produce 25kg CO2e one way!
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480 bananas!
This journey in a petrol vehicle produces 52.9kg CO2e.
Take those bananas as some food for thought ;)
Everything has a carbon footprint, but by making smart choices you can minimise your own. We aren’t asking you to cycle from Fort William to Inverness, or swim to Shetland - we are just asking for you to consider your choices. It’s not about 1 person doing climate action perfectly, it’s about us all doing it imperfectly.
Enjoy Banana Day, and do consider reading How Bad are Bananas? A very useful and eye opening read.