May 30, 2005
Green Travel – Making Better Environmental
Travel Choices
We all hear the term “global warming” all the time.
During recent months I have started to read travel stories how the
permanent ice cap of Mount Kilimanjaro is melting, how ski resorts
in the Alps are going to be closing permanently due to lack of snow
fall, how glaciers are melting in the Arctic, how increasingly more
frequent and severe weather disturbances are disrupting tourism,
and on and on the stories go. Some of these stories even exhort
us to go now before some of these scenic places will be transformed
or gone forever. Climate change has now become an issue of concern
for global travelers.
Travel, of course, has environmental consequences. Long-distance
travel involves the creation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gases, airliners are some of the most intense pollutants in existence
today. In addition, wherever we go, we consume food and other services,
and we create waste. So what to do?
As far as airplane emissions are concerned, there are actually
a few concrete things we can do. There are ways of offsetting the
greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel by means of purchasing
trees that will be planted to offset these emissions. At Trees
for the Future, your US$40.00 will actually pay for the planting
of 400 trees which will help offset greenhouse gases. You will also
get a Global Cooling Certificate and bumper sticker. On their website
you will also see a list of partners, including lodges and bed and
breakfasts that are powered by renewable energy sources.
The
Rainforest Alliance actually offers a variety of information
to eco-savvy travelers. They also offer a sustainable tourism
certification to tourism establishments which is based
on methods for reducing the consumption of water, energy and other
resources, and to improve the management, handling and disposal
of waste. They even make a toolkit for best sustainable tourism
practices available for small and medium enterprises in the tourism
industry.
On their website, the Rainforest Alliance also advocates a number
of simple eco-friendly behaviours that we can all try to follow:
• Support local economies by seeking out locally owned lodging
and dining establishments, locally grown food and locally manufactured
products and crafts.
• Patronize green hotels whose managers have programs that
save water and energy.
• Stay on hiking trails. Clean up your own mess and dispose
of waste properly. Keep a distance from wildlife.
• Travel by mass transit as much as possible.
• Avoid vehicles with two-stroke engines such as jet skis,
scooters and certain boats, which are enormously polluting.
• Be culturally sensitive to local customs, greetings, dress
codes and food habits.
• Treat others with the same respect that you would ask for
in your own community.
Other eco-certification programs for tourism operators and tips
for eco-savvy consumers include the following websites:
- Terra Choice
- Green Globe
21
- Environmental
Choice
- Green Seal
- The Global Ecolabelling
Network
- The Climate
Neutral Network
Another interesting website is Future
Forests: it advocates a “carbon neutral”
lifestyle, in order to neutralize our impact on the environment.
Future Forests have been proving people with a variety of environmental
gifts since 1997. You can dedicate a tree, for example, for $10.00.
You can even plan carbon-neutral weddings with Future Forests.
One neat thing about their website is that they offer a really
cool carbon
emissions calculator that allows you to calculate your anticipated
flying or driving emissions. I thought let’s check this out,
so I entered some assumed data for a flight from New York City to
London, England.
Instantaneously I found out that this flight would produce 1.22
tonnes of CO2. The calculator also tells me if I dedicate 2 trees
I can make this flight carbon neutral. Alternatively I would be
able to supply 2 energy saving light bulbs to a small community
in the developing world. Both options would be £30. I also
checked their carbon emissions driving calculator. If I travel 400
km (250 miles) every week in a car with an engine size between 1.4
and 2 litres, I would generate 4 tonnes of CO2 a year, which would
take 5 trees to offset.
In addition to planting trees, you can also purchase “carbon
offsets”. A "carbon offset" is actually
an investment in a project or action with the goal of eliminating
greenhouse gas emissions. Offset projects come in many varieties
and may include tree planting or reforestation, building retrofits
(i.e. installing more efficient heating/cooling systems) or wind
power projects.
According to the Better
World Club's website, this is the way it works: you can book
a flight through Better World Travel - Members and get a free carbon
offset for their US domestic flight ($11 value.) If you book a flight
through the Internet, another travel agency or airline, send them
a tax-deductible donation to offset the CO2 emissions from your
flight. ($11 for domestic flights or $22 for international flights.)
So the good news is there are indeed ways of counterbalancing
the environmental impact that we all have, even while we travel.
Ireland Travel
While you are thinking about the best methods of green travel, perhaps you should consider another form of green travel with Ireland vacations.
When you look into travel
in Ireland you'll be prepared for all the options. There's also ways to
budget travel Ireland.
Want to have a home in Canada? Put some thought into buying a
timeshare for sale
in Canada and you can visit every year! Interested in getting a
timeshare
somewhere else? Check out this site a view thousands of
great timeshares throughout the
world!
Interesting books on sustainable tourism:
|