It's just that the family that scraps tends to use more modest means.
When I was 13 we drove from MA to FL with a 25 mpg Aspen Volare station wagon to go to Disney. Everything was modest.
Yes, multiply that over 3 million families and you get a big foot print. But the problem isn't the individual families wanting to take a break. If we look at how much they create while not on vacation, I'm sure it's nearly comparable. People of lesser means must choose more efficient methods by necessity. When one airplane is filled with passengers in coach, that mitigates the output per person. When a family takes a road trip, the highway MPG is better than if they were spending the week driving to and from work, the gym, soccer, store, etc. I would imagine that a family of modest means on vacation is not much less efficient than when going about their day to day activities. That would mean that it's really the infrastructure and energy supply base at issue here. Not much us little people can do about that without stoking political will. Good luck with that.
Now, the Families of greater means are an entirely different story. I'm sure I don't have to go into a complex description.
I suppose I come at this more from a social-philosophical perspective where the modest families are still creating modest footprints while seeking to escape the soul-crushing grind of a lower middle-class existence. Their minor uptick in consumption, in my perspective, is far less obscene than the consistent high-level consumption of the higher class which casts a long shadow on the modest dreams of the lower classes. I even believe that it is to some degree far more necessary for the lower classes to find respite in down time in order to maintain better social stability.
That's just my notion.
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