A Cyclist's Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

More than a year ago, a topic about Tenerife and the environment came up on the Sun4Free forum. I’ve had this article lying around as draft version, so I thought rather than delete it, I’d publish «as is».

Lets assume that you’re absolutely correct in your statements. What do you suggest that we do to stop the emissions of CO2 in Tenerife? Stop encouraging visitors to the Island? Ban all tourism? BIG savings on emissions with no aircraft coming in. Stop all unnecessary activity on the Island? No pleasure trips by car, bus motorcycle or bicycle?

Here’s what I managed to dig up:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates aviation contributes just 3% to total global emissions of CO2, compared with the 25% pumped out by power stations.

So since I was asked directly, here is what I would introduce:

In the short term (6 – 18 months)

• Firstly introduce a new green Tenerife website outlining all of the measures that are going on.
• Give each resort hotel a «green energy rating» based on their use of electricty, ability to reuse and recycle, etc.
• Introduce transit lanes on the highways
• Make all the coaches use biodiesel if they aren’t already and equip them with bicycle racks
• Target vehicles causing excessive pollution.
• Run several prizes for the most environmentally friendly small businesses within several different categories … ensure they get more exposure through the media.

offer small loans & grants

• Provide small loans & grants for the most environmentally friendly new business ideas
• Educate people via the media about how to recycle and why it is worth the effort

In the medium term (2 – 3 years)

• Introduce a Solar Panel rebate scheme for small businesses…
• Introduce 20¢ tax on each passenger flight. Use this money to plant trees for each flight elsewhere, not necessarily in Tenerife (each tree will save ~1 tonne of CO2 in it’s lifetime)
• Promote the use of scooters as a more economical & environmentally friendly form of transport.
• Encourage carbon-offset websites like this one www.greenfleet.com.au

In the long term (5 years +)

• Prioritise the construction of the North-South train link.
• Phase out petrol hire cars and phase in hybrid vehicles such as the smart car

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