There is currently a United Nations Climate Change conference taking place in Cancun, Mexico. Notables like Ted Turner, founder of CNN and UN benefactor; and Richard Branson, entrepeneur and founder of many enterprises including Virgin Airways, and others are urging prompt and dramatic action.

The biggest unanswered questions are not whether the globe is warming or to what extent human activity is the cause, but rather why the United States seems to be so uninterested and uninvolved in contributing to solutions. As travelers we have seen the melting glaciers and observed the effects of droughts and unseasonable storms. We have spoken with guides, farmers and villagers who observe that what were once predictable seasonal patterns. Shannon Stowell of the Adventure Travel Trade Association addressed the conference with ideas about how adventure travel can contribute to awareness of climate change and how our interests as travelers align with those most concerned about finding solutions and climate stability. His suggestions center more on the value of awareness than on actual reduction of the global temperature, which is the most enormous common property resource management problem ever faced by humanity.

We, as travelers still have this fundamental problem of the carbon profligacy of mechanized travel. Ted Turner does not bicycle between and around his many far flung ranches. Richard Branson, is not yet running his commercial jet fleets on biofuel or hydrogen. I guess they justify their outsized personal carbon footprints by the compensatory effects of their political advocacy that other people (families, cultures, nations) not create such large carbon footprints. It is kind of like using a megaphone to urge a crowd to keep the peace by turning down the volume on their ipod headphones.

Everyone I have ever met in the nature-eco-adventure travel industry is aware of the problem of global warming and would like to participate in an effective solution, if they can afford it and if it is presented convincingly. At least we are beyond denial and open to ideas. As far as I can tell we are still lacking in truly effective good ideas and especially lacking in an estimate of the cost. Adventure travel may be less damaging to the global climate than some other types of travel, but we should be cautious in suggesting we are more a part of the solution than part of the problem.