Travel Tactics for Eco-Minded Adventurers

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As we get deeper into the summer travel season, I imagine many of you are taking at least a little time off to spend with family and friends while connecting with nature and maybe even seeing a few new sights. So this week we share with you, 10 tips for more sustainable travel. Mindfulness and awareness can go a long way on this front, and supporting sustainable businesses along the way is a vote of confidence for the industry. We hope you enjoy your summer breaks!

*I will also be taking a bit of a hiatus this summer to visit family and friends in California over the next two weeks. So we’re pumping the breaks on SOHP to take in the sights of Cali’s redwood trees, beaches, and mountains. We’ll be back with your weekly climate action round-ups on August 30th.

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Ten Tips for More Sustainable Travel

Photo by Nils Nedel

Tourism contributes to roughly 8% of greenhouse gas emissions, but awareness of the significant impact on our planet doesn’t make it any easier to cut back. Many of us rely on travel to see loved ones. Many of us have a bucket list of new happy places we hope to encounter. Travel expands our minds, broadens our horizons, increases empathy for people unlike ourselves, and increases our appreciation for this vast and beautiful planet. I’ll even argue that growing this appreciation for our planet will inspire you to help save it.

So where does that leave us, eco-minded adventurers? Awareness is power. With that awareness, we can make simple choices to lessen our negative impacts on the places we love - while the aviation industry, rail infrastructure, and renewable energy sector get their acts together.

1. Assess Your Mode of Transport

Trains, planes, or an automobile? As a general rule of thumb, if you are staying closer to home try to avoid flying. Taking trains and buses typically emit lower emissions than driving a personal vehicle. If you do drive a car, try to carpool with friends and family heading in the same direction.

2. Book Non-Stop Flights

Take-off and landing are when airplanes release the most CO2. Direct flights also take the most efficient path. With a direct flight, you will arrive at your destination in one fell swoop and travel more sustainably. 

3. Pack Light For Planes

Those pesky luggage weight limits aren’t just to drive you bonkers. The more the plane weighs, the more fuel is needed to fly. If you’re a chronic over-packer, consider being more mindful of how many outfits you need for your next trip. Depending on the infrastructure of the water systems of where you are traveling next, washing your clothes isn't necessarily the better solution. So for more sustainable travel, try leaving that extra ‘just-in-case shirt’ at home. 

4. Don’t Forget Plastic It’s Not Fantastic

Bring your own water bottle and cutlery set while traveling. If you’re somewhere with potable tap water, refill your bottle instead of buying bottled water. Remember that bottled water is less regulated than tap, so honestly, there is no guaranteeing your bottled water is any better for you. Also, remember to refuse plastic cups and utensils from flight attendants or any other situation that might arise. 

5. Explore Efficiently 

If available taking a tour bus, public transportation and trains are more efficient ways to explore a destination than driving yourself or taking ride shares. Walking and biking are wonderful ways to see places as well. If you do rent a car, try out an electric or hybrid model.

6. Stimulate the Local Economy

Trying the local cuisine and patronizing local businesses instead of chains is a phenomenal way to stimulate the local economy and ensure that you are actually giving back to the communities you are visiting. The carbon footprint associated with local produce is also much lower.

7. Eco-Friendly Hotels

The best way to find out what a hotel is doing to decrease its carbon footprint is by checking its website. If a hotel is doing anything, they most likely will have it listed out in the sustainability section of their website. If you are working with a travel agent, be sure to let them know sustainability is a priority when selecting hotels and activities. Before checking out of your hotel, be sure to leave comments suggesting actions the hotel should be taking towards sustainability (i.e. no individualized plastic bottles of shampoo). Finally, hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door to keep your sheets and towels from being washed prematurely. 

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has created criteria for hotels covering four themes: effective sustainability planning, maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage, and reducing negative impacts on the environment. 

8. Prioritize Sustainable Locations and Activities

Economic development can be a big driver for advertising to tourists. Still, many places are not equipped with the infrastructure and long-term planning needed to sustain their ecosystems while benefiting their local communities. Before traveling to a destination, research how they are handling tourism and if the location is being overrun. Try to travel during slow seasons and prioritize locations doing the work to maintain their environments. Next plan for activities that fund sustainability like visiting national parks, ecotourism, and other accredited nature tours. If swimming or going into the water, be sure to wear natural sunscreens approved to be reef safe. 

9. Offset Your Carbon Footprint

Before offsetting the carbon footprint of your next vacation, remember that offsets do not erase the footprint of your trip. The flight will still release pollution into the air. Offsets are an ATTEMPT at best to create balance by helping to fund projects capturing CO2 (for example tree planting). Still proceed mindfully through your trip, even if you are off-setting. Lastly, be sure to choose an offsetting program accredited by a third party.

10. Relish Your Travels

Try picking one spot to travel to and enjoying that one place fully instead of cramming as many destinations as possible into one trip. Your carbon footprint for one trip can easily double itself with destination hopping. Taking time to dive into the food, culture, and natural wonders of a location can be so much more rewarding than a whirlwind trip. An abundance mindset that these other destinations will be available for you to visit in the future is a good start.

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Some Rays of Sunshine

The Headlines We’re Happy to See

Photo by Sean Oulashin

• Study shows nearly 70 percent of consumers are willing to sacrifice some element of convenience in order to travel more sustainably. - Read More

• Study shows that 81 percent of active travelers are willing to change travel behavior to reduce the impact on the environment. - Read More

• California Passes Law to Eliminate Small, Plastic Bottles in Hotels effective 2023. - Read More

• Boeing to establish an R&D facility on sustainable aviation fuel, and electrification in Japan. - Read More

• Major airlines to purchase Gevo sustainable aviation fuel. - Read More

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