Journey dispatch #2
Saint Lucia 🇱🇨 to Martinique 🇲🇶
Hey everyone! Welcome to Journey Dispatch #2, our latest endeavor to bring you up-to-date climate + travel content from around the world.
We’ll continue to share feature articles on climate and nature solutions as well as longer-form travel diaries (shoutout to folks who are currently following the sailing series), but if you want to read the latest, subscribe now to receive our regular updates!
Well, we did it. We managed to fall victim to ‘Island Time’ already. Blame the pristine beaches. Blame the rum punch. Blame the INCREDIBLE quantity of climate solutions stories worth telling on Saint Lucia. Blame, most of all, a bad weather window for sailing.
After arriving in Saint Lucia, we bid a fond farewell to James and Danielle and promised to meet them again someday on the other side of the world. Our plan was to hurry North as fast as possible, while they took some time to enjoy Saint Lucia.
Well, we ended up seeing them just a week later at the infamous ‘Jump Up’ party in Gros Islet. The street party, which has been going on continuously for more than 50 years, rain or shine, is an absolute institution in Saint Lucia. We met up with James, Danielle, and a few other ‘boat-hitchhikers’ we’d met at the marina. We all danced together under pouring rain that kept us all landlocked for the week. Sometimes, you just need to celebrate the moment and not focus too much on a schedule — a hard-won lesson — but an important one on the road.
We finally set sail for Martinique on Wednesday afternoon, a full 13 days after our arrival in Saint Lucia. It was a bit disappointing to realize how much time had passed — because we’re now facing a rapidly closing window to make it back to the U.S. in time for a climate conference we were invited to — but we enjoyed every minute of our time in Saint Lucia! We mixed a lot of work and play, doing interviews with local climate solutionists while also making time for runs, hikes and swims.
We’re now on our third day in Martinique, and it’s been a dream. Can you guess the first thing we did when coming ashore?
While the rest of our crew went ashore to drink some ‘Ti Punch’ at the bar, our first stop was the boulangerie. We’re not yet sure for how long we’ll remain in Martinique — but you can bet that while we’re here, we’ll take every opportunity to grab some nice baguettes and pastries!
💡🌳 Solution of the week: Densifying road transport
Road transport ALONE accounts for about 15% of global CO₂ emissions. Public transport is one of the best, most cost-effective solutions to cutting carbon emissions — replacing every ICE (internal combustion engine) car on the road with an EV isn’t going to cut it.
Saint Lucia’s bus system proves that you don’t need expensive infrastructure or bureaucratic timetables to get where you want to go with public transport. The island’s public transport almost functions like a carpool system, with minibuses running with crazy high frequency and costing as little as $0.50 USD for a ride.
What’s also great: you get a chance to meet new friends and see the island’s incredible scenery, hands-free!
📣💚 Shoutout to: Stanley Lucien, Radio Host at HTS Saint Lucia
One fun thing that happened this week: we made our first appearance on a LIVE morning radio show. We spent an hour with Stanley Lucien at the national radio station of Saint Lucia, talking all things travel and climate. When we agreed to go on the show, we didn’t initially realize it would be an hour of off-the-cuff chat, with questions from a live audience! We were pretty nervous, thinking that our green world tour might invite criticism from crotchety climate deniers. But instead, we found that callers were really excited and curious about the project!
We loved having the opportunity to share what we’ve learned about climate resilience with the people of Saint Lucia and spread the message of what we’re doing to a new audience. We definitely hope to make another talk show appearance soon!
❌ 🎒 Travel fail: Rain, rain, go away!
Thanks to our 13 days spent in Saint Lucia, we’re now facing a much tighter window to make it to Miami in time for the Aspen Ideas: Climate Summit. With just five weeks to go, there’s a real chance we end up missing this milestone event in our travel. If we do, it’ll be a big bummer, but we’re committed to
📸 Photo of the week:
Life in the Caribbean isn’t all play. In exchange for a place to stay and our passage, we’ve been doing cooking, cleaning and sailing for Captain Ron! After snorkeling down to check the anchor was in place, Megan devised a novel new solution for cutting onions.
That’s all for today! We’ll write again next week with an update. Cross your fingers that we make it to another island!