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Four sustainable motorhome dilemmas - what do you choose?

Guest writer: Linda Vismer

Camping life is full of sustainable dilemmas to ponder. Opportunities to make conscious choices from situations that don't even require thought or that actually deserve to be talked about.

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Sustainable motorhome dilemmas

When travelling, we are often faced with different situations where there are only more or less bad options or where there is a way that feels convenient even if it is not the best for the world. I'm a big fan of the phrase "easy to make the right choice" but sometimes the reality is far from simple.

Sustainable dilemmas don't have to be negative, even if dilemmas don't feel like such a positive word. I see dilemmas as a situation that provides an opportunity to reflect and take a hard look at how you want to live your life and how you want to contribute to sustainability.

These are three, possibly slightly exaggerated, scenarios that you may face when travelling by motorhome, or camping in general. It's possible that you don't think these situations are tricky at all, but my advice is to take a closer look. Is it easy because it's a well thought out decision that you're happy with or a decision that feels easy because it's mostly been that way.

Staying long in one place or moving on?

This is a relatively new way of thinking for me but a very interesting one for those who want to contribute to sustainability in a conscious way.

SituationIf you are planning your next holiday, will you stay in one place for a long time or will you move around?

If you stay longer, you'll put less strain on the climate, benefit the local community in more ways by experiencing more than the typical/classic things nearby. If you go further, you spread your holiday money across more destinations, campsites and local entrepreneurs.

This example may be the closest to doing the right thing regardless of the choice, but the question is - do you make a conscious choice based on who your holiday will benefit or do you just pick and choose based on your own taste?

Österbybruk, a place many people visit, but there are many other fine mills in the Uppsala area that are therefore not visited.

How far can you drive to sort your waste?

I have long naively believed that every sensible person in this country sorts their rubbish. Until one day when I met just one sensible person (in my judgement) who didn't. If you are a person who does not sort waste at home, then I guess this sustainable dilemma is not so difficult.

Situation: You are staying at a campsite with almost no waste separation, what do you do?

Do you throw everything in the same bin or are you prepared to collect your rubbish and sort it at another time, perhaps at the next campsite if you are travelling around or "down in the village" if you live somewhere a little longer? Are there things you would even consider taking with you all the way home if necessary? Tin cans, glass, batteries?

A place that does not provide conditions for travellers to sort waste - what do you do?

But who is driving?

This scenario is based on an ambition to be an equal relationship - that is, in this example, everyone contributes equally and feels that their tasks are equally valued and (un)stimulating. (Yes, I have deliberately made gender-based assumptions in this text).

Situation: It's time to move on, who does what before and during the journey?

Do you have divided roles so that one person always packs up the awning, rigs the caravan/camper for departure and gets behind the wheel? Does the other person do the packing inside the caravan/camper, entertain any children, wipe the sink and make sure things don't move during the trip?

The way you divided it up, has it just happened or is it a discussion you had? Are you both happy with your assigned roles? Or do you alternate tasks so that everyone is equally good at and comfortable with everything?

I have made my own way, despite being uncomfortable, and the reward was magical.

I will admit that my motorhome experience is limited, although I do have three weeks in a hatchback in Europe and two weeks in New Zealand in a campervan. These are some of the sustainable motorhome dilemmas I've faced myself, and I'd love to hear what examples you can paint that you've faced, or that you see others struggling with.

Pressbild Linda Vismer från Resa Medvetet

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Linda Vismer

Linda is a writer and opinion leader. She runs the blog resamedvetet.se and has published the book Resenärens makt - turism som när och tär. Linda highlights different perspectives on tourism, encourages reflection and wants to contribute to more people travelling in a way that makes a greater impression and better impact.

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