The green, green way to get Downunder

A bus will carry Barbara Haddrill on the first leg of her journey from Wales to Australia

When the invitation to be a bridesmaid at her best friend's wedding arrived at her home in a Welsh woodland a year ago, Barbara Haddrill was delighted - and perturbed.

Far from being concerned about the shape, shade and size of her dress or choice of flowers, the overriding concern for the 28-year-old environmental worker was how to traverse the 16,695km from her caravan in a forest in Powys, Wales, to the nuptials in Brisbane, Australia.

Shunning the dubious pleasures of the economy-class cabin of an aircraft, her plan instead is to travel to the wedding by land and sea in the name of the environment.

Soon, Haddrill and her wedding outfit will board a coach for a 63-hour journey to Moscow on the first leg of a trip that will take up to seven weeks and entail about a dozen different buses, trains and a large cargo ship.

After a break of two months, she will then make the return journey without leaving the ground.

The ecology worker has decided that her planet-friendly principles prevent her from getting on an aircraft for the 22-hour journey from London to Brisbane at a cost of about $2600 and the production of 5.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every passenger.

Instead she will spend roughly four times the one-way air fare - and 49 times the journey time - travelling halfway across the world for the wedding of her friend and former university colleague Caroline Cummings.

In so doing she will produce only 1.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main gaseous culprit for global warming.

Such is her dedication to the task she has set herself that Haddrill is bringing her teal and blue bridesmaid's dress with her in her rucksack because it would go by air were she to post it.

The intrepid wedding guest, who has worked for the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales for the past 18 months, said: "It only dawned on me slowly that I was facing a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, it was a real honour to be asked to be a bridesmaid at the wedding of a close friend.

"But to do that I would, by jumping on a plane, negate in less than 24 hours everything I had done in the past six or so years in reducing my carbon emissions. It seemed obvious that I should make the journey more slowly without having a harmful impact on the planet and see so much more of the land and people that lie between."

After travelling from Cardiff to London and then London to Moscow by coach, she will board the Trans-Siberian Railway for the 5806km journey across Russia to the Chinese capital, Beijing. She will then spend up to three weeks crossing China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia by bus and train before reaching Singapore, where she will pay about $2900 for a passenger berth on a cargo ship bound for Brisbane.

Haddrill, who met her friend Caroline while studying in Leeds, said: "I'm not pretending I'm whiter than white on these things - I've been on aircraft. Part of the point of doing this is also the adventure. I'm not sure yet how I'll be getting from Beijing to Singapore. I just hope I make it to the church on time."

Her epic journey takes place in the context of ever-increasing debate about the environmental impact of aviation, the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases. Air transport accounts for 3.5 per cent of all manmade emissions responsible for global warming - a figure predicted to double in 15 years.

Campaigners argue that while the public is increasingly aware of carbon dioxide generated by jet engines, there is less awareness of other emissions - water vapour and nitrous oxides - which they say can quadruple the impact on the environment.

But just how much less damaging to the environment is travelling overland to Australia than hopping on a modern airliner which, according to the aviation industry, generates the same emissions for each passenger as a car?

The British Air Transport Association (Bata), which represents the aviation industry, said it accepted that the modes of transport chosen by Haddrill were likely to generate fewer emissions than the equivalent journey by air.

Bob Preston, Bata's executive officer, said: "We wish her good luck. But not everyone has six or seven weeks of spare time to make the journey she is."

A weblog set up by Haddrill, originally to keep friends and family informed of her progress, has attracted a cult following on the internet, including some who are unconvinced at her claims for eco-friendly travel.

One comment read: "It is going to be a wonderful and unforgettable experience, but cleaner? No way. A modern airliner uses less gas than a car [per passenger], and you're going to find yourself on stinking Russian trucks and buses and, probably, some oil-leaking southern Asian container ship."

Another critic said: "It's oh-so convenient of you to forget what buses, cars and trains run on. I hope you are aware that while planes can be damaging to the environment, your proposed means of transit aren't exactly eco-friendly either.

"Do you really think buses in Siberia run on hybrid engines or that there's a TGV from Moscow to Vladivostok?"

Supporters of Haddrill and her journey claim that even allowing for the dirty engines of Soviet-era technology, she will still be performing a valuable task in helping to dismiss the mirage of guilt-free air travel.

Haddrill said: "I think it is great that we live in a world where people can go around the world and air travel isn't just for the rich. But clearly it has gone too far - people now fly without thinking about it.

"Maybe it is good to sit back and think about whether it is the best way to travel. I've thought about how I want to spend my money and, even though it's more expensive, this is how I want to do it."

- Independent

babs2brisbane.blogspot.com