Tread lightly...

I come from a long line of homebodies.

My father spends his winter days snowed in at a Canadian lakefront cottage but sees no point in following the sun to the south. “Why?” he asks me, genuinely baffled, sweeping his arm past the frozen lake view from his window.

My grandfather, whose travels took him to the trenches of the First World War, saw no romance in the streets of Paris.

My great-grandparents fled Ireland for the Canadian promise of rich soil and predictable politics. And didn’t look back.

I, however, have always looked beyond my visible horizon to what might lie ahead.

But because of my family’s resistance to travel, I stayed rooted on Canadian soil. And then I grew up. And got a passport.

Suddenly the world was beckoning. Where to go? How about the Caribbean? Europe with only a backpack? Southeast Asia? The U.S.? And even my own backyard? I discovered that I did best without an itinerary. Without much money. And with an open mind. I loved the me I discovered in other places. And I loved all the yous that I met along the way.

And then I learned something catastrophically life-changing for an eco-minded travel lover like me: Travel was bad for the planet.

It felt like a cruel joke. I was a keen green. I biked or drove a hybrid. I recycled like it was my calling. I bought organic. I bought local. I even grew my own food.

So I stayed put…and I stewed. I felt restless. Caged. This might be better for the planet, I grouched, but it sure isn’t better for me.

Nor was it better for many of the world’s developing nations, said then-executive director Martha Honey, of The International Ecotourism Society. Many poorer communities rely on responsible tourism, she explained, to help traverse the distance between poverty and economic sustainability.

The key, of course, was travelling virtuously…and guiding others to do the same. To travel with the intent of not only enriching ourselves, but also those who welcome us to their community, their country, their home. To travel with the intent of having as light an impact as possible on Mother Nature. And to travel with the intent of sharing our resources, including goodwill, with the others with whom we share this round blue vulnerable home.