6 Simple Ways Every Traveler Can Follow to Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

Why is Change Required?

Any temperature level above the danger limit of 2 degrees Celsius means a terrifying rise in sea levels, glacier melting, increasingly harsh weather conditions for animals as well as humans.

To make any positive impact, individual contributions are required. This means that as much as every traveler remains careful before planning a trip such as packing all the essentials and buying international travel insurance to keep secure, it is now time to adopt an eco-friendly approach as well.

What is Carbon Footprint All About?

Carbon footprint is a phrase that is being increasingly used nowadays. In bookish terms, it refers to the combined amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) being released into the atmosphere as a consequence of the daily actions of nation-states, organizations, and even individuals. The quantity is measured in CO2e tonnes.

These CO2 emissions are plunging into the atmosphere leading to an alarming rate of climate change. The only way possible to mitigate such ill effects on the environment is to immediately take ownership of our carbon footprint contribution and reduce the output as much as possible.

Following are the 6 most common steps every traveler can abide by, to help the world move towards greener opportunities.

1. Wisely Choose Your Class of Travel

Everyone likes business/first class, right? They are embellished with luxury, space and come with delicious meals. They certainly do appear to be shiny from the outside, however, things are not quite the same from the inside. Hence, when it comes to CO2 emissions from a business class seat, the per-passenger carbon dioxide produced is substantially higher than per passenger CO2 emissions produced by flight passengers from the economy class

This is one of the prime reasons why you should travel from the economy class if you wish to take the first step towards reducing your carbon footprint as a traveler.

Economy class is quite similar to carpooling and public transport when it comes to traveling by air.

The per passenger share of such flights is substantially less as the CO2 emissions are spread amongst a large number of individuals.

2. Keep a Lookout on Your Travel Diet

Every year, livestock and its by-products share a massive 51% of the greenhouse gases emitted globally. This accounts for more than 32,000 million tonnes of CO2 annually, which is the most significant share of any greenhouse gas contributor. This is because of the carbon dioxide intense processes that are required to rear the livestock into edible meat.

If you avoid eating meat while traveling, your carbon footprint contribution will significantly drop. It is the single most important factor that one can look into to step towards a greener and more sustainable future.

3. Keep Flights Only an Option for Long-Distance Trips

We are not asking you to not go on vacations, everyone loves vacations and deserves to spend some time off work. The idea here is to keep carbon-intensive flights as an option only for long-distance travel such as intercontinental routes.

Aviation fuel is petroleum-based and extracting petroleum accounts for substantial C02 emissions. Hence, if you have decided to mitigate your carbon footprint as a traveler, you should certainly look for drivable locations and can even be covered using road public transport.

4. Only Pack Light and Reusable Luggage

Only packing single-use items in your luggage will make you contribute to a lot of waste during travel and in turn, increase your carbon footprint. Make sure you pack in an eco-friendlier manner.

You can start by packing a reusable water bottle so that you buy packaged water stored in plastic bottles as little as possible. This will help in cutting down on the carbon footprint of the manufacture and transport of the water bottle. You can accompany this with a Tupperware container as well.

Hence, smart packing for frequent travelers will work wonders in mitigating their carbon footprint by eliminating the need of disposing of single-use items during their travel and stay.

5. Make Public Transport Your Best Friend

This one should be a no-brainer for all of us. Using public transport instead of privately rented vehicles will not only save you from the burden of increasing your carbon footprint significantly but also let you explore the new destination a bit more than you would while traveling in a private vehicle.

Having said that, you can also look for energy-efficient and greener modes of transport such as Electric Vehicles. Bicycles on rent are also widely available across regions nowadays.

6. A Big No to Single-Use Plastic

Not only does plastic involve a carbon-intensive manufacturing process, but it also takes millions of years to decompose. This makes it the biggest enemy of our environment, and one of the prime contributing factors to deteriorating climate change. Following are a few steps things you should keep in mind about single-use plastic to reduce your carbon footprint while traveling.

• Every time you go to a store for buying everyday items, make sure that you refuse to buy items in a plastic bag
• Always pack a reusable, eco-friendly grocery bag when you are planning long-distance travel. This will save you from opting for single-use plastic every time you buy something, and also mitigate your carbon footprint
• Even if you can’t avoid buying an item contained within a plastic bag and would even not be able to reuse it, the best thing you can do is recycle it

Conclusion

We all try to make sure that we plan perfectly for our next trip. From our favorite clothes to ensure our safety by buying travel insurance online. Everything is taken care of. Hence, it is now time to start packing an environment-friendly approach too.

No matter how far you travel, if you have the right approach, reducing your carbon footprint will no longer remain a tedious task for you. Always remember – It’s the simple steps that go on to make a big difference.