As I sit here looking out onto the beautiful blue ocean on the beaches of the Dominican Republic, I think about the millions of Americans like me who traveled thousands of miles this holiday vacation. The rise in airfare hasn’t seemed to make a visibile dent in throngs of tourists taking advantage of the warm Carribean sun. While I diligently purchased a carbon offset for my flight, how much does that really reduce the impact that my trip made? Can we continue sustain this kind of global travel for our own pleasure?

According to James Kanter of the New York Times,

There will be 1.6 billion tourists traveling the globe by the end of the next decade. That is nearly twice as many than at present. . .

We are worried about the 2 Billion people in China and India owning cars. What will the impact be now that they are starting to fly?

On the other hand, Kanter also points out that tourism is a vital source of income for many developing countries such as the Dominican Republic. It has created many jobs for this island, which has few valuable exports and millions of poor citizens.

There is obviously no straight answer to this issue. However, one thing is certain: It takes incredibly large amounts of energy to move people around the globe. We are just starting to feel the climate hangover of a century of binging on virtually free and limitless energy. Rising energy prices may not be such a bad thing.

It is clear that a reduction in tourism will be a major hit on the global economy. Then again, maybe our economy is already too big for the earth – and the climate – to handle.