International holidays, as a whole, are not the most sustainable, especially when they involve flying. On the other hand, we all deserve a sunny getaway every now and then, and breathtaking destinations like Algarve offer a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. So, how do you find the right balance? A walking holiday could be your answer. 

Reducing your footprint

A walking holiday in Portugal essentially means that, once you get to the airport, you stop using any kind of transport. Instead, you simply walk from A to B, wherever that may be for you. As such, you reduce your carbon footprint significantly, avoiding the use of cars or public transport all together. Besides the sustainability aspect, it’s a highly rewarding way to explore a country, since you get to see parts of it you would normally miss out on. 

Your walking holiday will typically take place on a pre-planned long-distance trail, which could last anywhere between a week and a month. One of the most popular walking routes in Algarve is the Rota Vicentina network of walking and hiking trails. The Fisherman’s Trail, in particular, is a great option if you want a 7-day experience with a balanced mix of sandy beaches, stunning landscapes, authentic villages and delicious foods. 

The idea behind walking holidays is to explore Algarve’s natural beauty in the most respectful and sustainable way possible. The “Leave No Trace” principle is absolutely fundamental here, meaning your footprints should be the only sign of your visit. Respecting the wildlife is also key, particularly as the region is home to a vast variety of bird species (if you’re lucky, you’ll see them stork nests on the cliffs in spring!). 

Supporting the local communities

A huge part of sustainable holidays is where you choose to spend your money. The local communities benefit from tourism, as long as it helps to grow their economy. On a walking holiday, you will typically be staying in small, independent hotels or B&Bs along your route, rather than those owned by global chains.

Moreover, you will be visiting numerous historic towns and fishing villages, where you can savour fresh seafood and other Portuguese produce. Again, when choosing where to shop or eat, make sure to go for locally owned spots, as opposed to tourist restaurants and franchise cafes. Not only will this ensure that your money stays in the local economy, but you will also most likely receive a much more authentic, quality meal without the tourist price tag. 

If you book your holiday through Orbis Ways, they will take care of the accommodation and other services for you. Working with a well-established network of local businesses, Orbis Ways ensure that you stay at charming local hotels or country cottages. Not just that, the agency encourages sustainable travel by compensating the CO2 emissions produced by your trip! 

Small actions with big impact

A walking holiday across Portugal’s Algarve coast will certainly be an unforgettable adventure. And, the small compromises that you make during your travels do not just contribute towards the preservation of this beautiful region, but also make your experience more authentic and rich – making it a win-win for everyone!

The post Exploring Portugal’s Algarve coast sustainably on a walking holiday appeared first on Green Prophet.

Senad Hadzic walked for 314 days and crossed six countries from his village in Bosnia to get to Mekkah in time for Hajj

Last year we covered the amazing story of two South African Muslims who had cycled all the way to Mekkah. Not much more you could do to top that we thought at the time, but we were wrong. A 47-year old man from Bosnia has walked all the way from his village to the holy city of Mekkah. With only €200 in his pocket, he said he couldn’t afford to make the sacred pilgrimage any other way. Wakling between 12 to 20 miles a day, Senad Hadzic crossed six countries and entered Saudi Arabia last week in time for Hajj and the upcoming Eid celebrations. Now that’s what I call a green pilgrimage!

“I slept at mosques, schools and other places, including houses offered to me by good people,” Hadzic said in the YouTube video. “Some people asked me whether I was scared when passing through wild places and I told them ‘why should I…God is with me.” Hadzic carried with him a copy of the Qur’an, a Bible and a map of the six countries he planned to cross. Hadzic spent 314 days walking across Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan to get to Mekkah.

As one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims from all around the world flock to Mekkah every year to perform the sacred pilgrimage. Every able-bodied Muslim who is finanically able is required to perform hajj once in their lifetime. Most pilgrims, however, fly to their destination which negatively contributes to climate change. As such, environmental campaigners have been looking into ways to make the journey greener as well as ensuring that pilgrims reduce their energy consumption and waste during their stay in Mekkah.

Dr Husna Ahmed, the co-author of the 2011 Green Guide to Hajj told GreenProphet in an interview that Muslims need to be re-using items like water bottles and also thinking about what they can do beyond their hajj. “Hajj is a time for embracing good habits and reconsidering moral behaviours, so it’s the ideal time to change our outlook on the environment,” she added. Dr Husna is also keen to point out that Hajj is meant to be a once in a lifetime experience and states that those who have been on the pilgrimage several times need to think carefully about the impact of their travel.

:: You can download the Green Guide to Hajj here.

For more on Green Hajj see:

Four Steps to a Greener Hajj 

Interview with Green Hajj Expert Dr Husna Ahmed

‘Mekkah Metro’ Marks A Green Hajj for Pilgrims

Case Study: We Measure One Family’s Hajj Carbon Footprint

The post Bosnian Walks 3,600 Miles to Mekkah appeared first on Green Prophet.

A Californian jogs to the beach.  Coming towards him on the sidewalk is a Texan. Unless one steps aside they’ll collide. Quick: which way does the jogger move? If this is in Europe or the USA, heavy odds he moves to his right. In Asia (with Asians), the slide would likely be left. A crazy-making observation, and it’s not connected to driving: Irish drive on the left side of the road, but they’ll step to the right on the pavement.

The folks at Berlin’s Max Planck Institute (MPI) say this behavior is based on an improbable marriage of psychology and mathematical probability.  When we correctly guess another’s intentions, we get a positive subconscious boost. We’ll probably choose the same move when the same situation arises; get another subliminal “high-five”.

Subconsciously, we record these near-misses. We adopt a directional bias. It becomes habit. Whether it’s right or left doesn’t matter.  We’re suckers for Pavlovian conditioning.

Cars are constrained forms of transport: speed limits, travel lanes.  By comparison, walking seems flexible and self-controlled.  There’s that tricky “perception” thing again. Walkers are influenced by physical constraints and by other pedestrians, who turn out to be highly predictable.

Mehdi Moussaid of MPI and Dirk Helbing of Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ), theorize and model pedestrian patterns under endless scenarios. Understanding national tendencies to step in different directions is useful for organizers of events like this summer’s Olympics or the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. When people convene from around the glode, they bring personal sports preferences and equally ingrained crowd behavior.  Understanding people flows makes for safer events.

Without a common reflex to move aside, collisions increase. Cultural biases go beyond a preference to steer left or right. Nationalities have different “personal space” and adjust walking to maintain that comfortable distance. Some don’t mind bumping into you; others are appalled at contact.

International walking speeds are similar in thin crowds; but when density increases, speeds vary.  Variables could slow pedestrian passage to a tension-building crawl.

In 1995, physicists designed a computer model that assumed people are attracted by things (destinations) and repelled by things (pedestrians blocking their way).  Experiments allowed them to reliably predict self-organizing crowd patterns which they could next analyze in real crowd situations.

They observed that dense crowds spontaneously split into lanes that allow efficient movement in opposing directions, allowing us to simply follow the person ahead instead of fighting through a mob.

When opposing flows intersect (imagine the entrance of a busy cafe), movement momentarily stops.  As people leave, pressure on the exit line drops, traffic lessens, with greater space between each exiting person. An opportunity opens for those wanting to enter.  They’ll push in until pressure on their side of the flow is relieved.  A series of alternating bursts of opposing traffic flow results.

Dynamics vary based on the crowd.

About 70% of a crowd consists of groups, and groups have more “sticking power” than individuals, affecting flows.  If you can see your destination in the distance, you’ll tend to take shortcuts through the crowd to get there. Seemingly random realities will affect overall crowd behavior.

Thin crowds have a constant flow. People in high density crowds tend to shorten their stride, periodically stop to avoid collisions, creating a stop-and-go pattern. Very dense crowds risk developing “crowd turbulence”, where people can’t control spacing between one another. Then powerful physical forces become chaotic: if someone falls, the void they create fills with other bodies.  People are trampled; stampeding occurs.

I was in such a crowd at a NYC parade.  My husband and I left a pizza parlor with our toddler in his stroller and were swept into a wave of partiers headed to Fifth Avenue. Easier to go with the flow than attempt a reversal, but on Fifth, blocked by  barricades, the crowd slowed and quickly condensed. I could smell the cologne on the guy stalled in front of me, but the guy behind kept pressing forward.  Real panic as we watched our stroller get swallowed by this mob.  Strangers helped lift it above our heads and passed our son like a concert balloon above the crush. Never been so frightened, straining to keep him in view.  A few moved barricades relieved some pressure. We found our kid, lounging in the stroller, enjoying his slice.

Computer simulations help anticipate crowd action and can gauge behavior in emergency evacuations.  A primary danger is that people will herd towards a single exit, inciting that disastrous crowd turbulence effect. Flow analysis helps spot where crowding will likely occur.  Once potential congestion points are identified, more sophisticated models are used to “cause and effect” architectural designs. Experimenting with physical forms, sound, and adaptable lighting will change flow patterns; alternatively attracting or repelling people from their directional target.

The Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, is an opportunity to put this science through its paces. Millions of pilgrims make the journey; Hajj has experienced fatal stampedes.

Saudi authorities used crowd consultants to change the layout of the Jamarat Bridge, where pilgrims perform a ritual of throwing stones at three pillars. Enforcing one-way bridge passage improves pedestrian safety.  Redesigning the pillars’ shape allows people to pitch stones from more locations, effectively disperses the crowd.

Paul Townsend of Crowd Dynamics, a consultancy with Hajj experience, says risks remain significant.  Hajj presents unique challenges.  It’s impossible to know how many pilgrims will turn up.  Then there’s the spiritual focus of the crowd.

“Hajj pilgrims have the attitude that, if I die there it is God’s will,” says Townsend in an interview with The Economist. “There is a willingness to get more and more densely packed in the space.” Scientists can model many aspects of pedestrian behavior, but religious fervor adds an unpredictable element.

Scientific patterning should gelp reduce future crowd disasters.  The real trick is to avoid serious crowding in the first place.

Image of Hajj pilgrims by AHMAD FAIZAL YAHYA from Shutterstock

The post The Weird Science of Pedestrian Behavior Might Help Hajj appeared first on Green Prophet.