192
In order to further understand emissions due to recreation and leisure, Druckman
and Jackson ( 2010 ) divided recreation and leisure into 12 sub-categories with
particular focus on holiday/non-holiday activities. They found that carbon emissions due to holidays account for around 10 % of an average UK household’s entire
carbon footprint. Of this, over half (52 %) of holiday emissions were found to be
due to aviation, and when this was added to other holiday-related transport emissions, transportation accounted for nearly three quarters (74 %) of ‘Holiday’ emissions. Emissions due accommodation services in hotels were found to make up
around just 16 % of ‘Holiday’ emissions. These fi gures give us an indication of how
carbon emissions might be reduced, primarily in this case through reducing holiday
travel emissions. Holidays are, however, a particularly diffi cult area to tackle: as
Barr et al. ( 2010 ) said ‘ A holiday is a holiday ’ during which people take a vacation
from their environmental behaviour. Aviation emissions are, in particular, growing
rapidly, and, due to political diffi culties in introducing policies to restrict aviation
demand, it is considered unlikely that this trend will be reversed (Macintosh and
Wallace 2009 ).
3.3 Looking Through the Lens of Time-Use
How we use our time is a key determinant in the emissions for which we are responsible, in particular in the case of discretionary time-use, such as during recreation
and leisure. Additionally, looking through the lens of time-use allows allocation of
emissions due to space heating to functional uses.
Although researchers such as Minx and Baiocchi ( 2009 ) and Becker ( 1965 ) have
laid out theoretical foundations for the relating how people use their time to sustainability, Godbey ( 1996 ) and Godbey et al. ( 1998 ) have explored the relationship
between generation of municipal solid waste and time-use in USA, and Jalas ( 2002 )
have related direct and indirect energy use to use of time in Finland, to our knowledge the only study relating carbon emissions to time-use is Druckman et al. ( 2012 ).
In their analysis of the ‘carbon emissions per hour’ of different activities for an
average British household, Druckman et al. ( 2012 ) found the most carbon intensive
uses of time are ‘Personal Care’ (which includes personal washing, clothes and care
of clothing, and health care), ‘Eating & Drinking’ (which includes alcohol and eating out) and ‘Commuting’. Apart from ‘Sleep & Rest’, the broad category of
‘ Leisure and Recreation ’ has the lowest intensity. However, ‘Leisure and Recreation’
is the second largest time-use category at 5.7 h per day on average, only exceeded
by ‘Sleeping and Resting’ at 8.9 h per day (ONS 2006 ). Further analysis of leisure
and recreation (see Fig. 9.4 ) showed clearly that activities in and around the home
are the lowest in carbon emissions per hour, and that moving away from the home,
thus incurring emissions due to transportation, increases emissions. Indeed, they
found that emissions for ‘Sports and Outdoor Activities’ were nearly three times as
carbon intensive as ‘Spending time with family/friends at home’.
A. Druckman and T. Jackson
In order to further understand emissions due to recreation and leisure, Druckman
and Jackson ( 2010 ) divided recreation and leisure into 12 sub-categories with
particular focus on holiday/non-holiday activities. They found that carbon emissions due to holidays account for around 10 % of an average UK household’s entire
carbon footprint. Of this, over half (52 %) of holiday emissions were found to be
due to aviation, and when this was added to other holiday-related transport emissions, transportation accounted for nearly three quarters (74 %) of ‘Holiday’ emissions. Emissions due accommodation services in hotels were found to make up
around just 16 % of ‘Holiday’ emissions. These fi gures give us an indication of how
carbon emissions might be reduced, primarily in this case through reducing holiday
travel emissions. Holidays are, however, a particularly diffi cult area to tackle: as
Barr et al. ( 2010 ) said ‘ A holiday is a holiday ’ during which people take a vacation
from their environmental behaviour. Aviation emissions are, in particular, growing
rapidly, and, due to political diffi culties in introducing policies to restrict aviation
demand, it is considered unlikely that this trend will be reversed (Macintosh and
Wallace 2009 ).
3.3 Looking Through the Lens of Time-Use
How we use our time is a key determinant in the emissions for which we are responsible, in particular in the case of discretionary time-use, such as during recreation
and leisure. Additionally, looking through the lens of time-use allows allocation of
emissions due to space heating to functional uses.
Although researchers such as Minx and Baiocchi ( 2009 ) and Becker ( 1965 ) have
laid out theoretical foundations for the relating how people use their time to sustainability, Godbey ( 1996 ) and Godbey et al. ( 1998 ) have explored the relationship
between generation of municipal solid waste and time-use in USA, and Jalas ( 2002 )
have related direct and indirect energy use to use of time in Finland, to our knowledge the only study relating carbon emissions to time-use is Druckman et al. ( 2012 ).
In their analysis of the ‘carbon emissions per hour’ of different activities for an
average British household, Druckman et al. ( 2012 ) found the most carbon intensive
uses of time are ‘Personal Care’ (which includes personal washing, clothes and care
of clothing, and health care), ‘Eating & Drinking’ (which includes alcohol and eating out) and ‘Commuting’. Apart from ‘Sleep & Rest’, the broad category of
‘ Leisure and Recreation ’ has the lowest intensity. However, ‘Leisure and Recreation’
is the second largest time-use category at 5.7 h per day on average, only exceeded
by ‘Sleeping and Resting’ at 8.9 h per day (ONS 2006 ). Further analysis of leisure
and recreation (see Fig. 9.4 ) showed clearly that activities in and around the home
are the lowest in carbon emissions per hour, and that moving away from the home,
thus incurring emissions due to transportation, increases emissions. Indeed, they
found that emissions for ‘Sports and Outdoor Activities’ were nearly three times as
carbon intensive as ‘Spending time with family/friends at home’.
A. Druckman and T. Jackson