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You love to travel, and you are pursuing a more eco-friendly lifestyle at the same time. You may have introduced some actions and choices to reduce your carbon footprint at home and at work. Try including some of them during your travels! These choices may sometimes be like the ones you already practice. But there are some more travel-related and will help you have more sustainable travel habits.
Some of the key elements that affect your carbon footprint are your travel habits and preferences. You can drastically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by changing them. The first thing to consider is to analyze the different means of transportation.
To have more sustainable travel habits, it is important to consider carbon emissions. Traveling by bus or train is a lot more efficient and eco-friendly than either by car or plane. They use a less significant amount of fuel and release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Another thing to keep in mind is capacity. Think about how many people can fit into a car versus how many people can travel in a train. Big difference, right?
This doesn’t mean you have to take a bus or a train to travel from New York to Mexico City. It rather gives us an overview of where we are situated and be conscious of our choices. This will guide you at the time of choosing destinations, so you can look for options closer to your home. If you still need to take a plane, consider routes without many stops and direct flights.
You can also decide on a sustainable destination. Or even consider a place that needs support. Here you can volunteer in environmental and social projects if you are up for it. If you still choose to visit popular places, consider traveling outside peak season. You can also think about staying longer in one place. This will significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
Once you have decided your destination and means of transport, you can still make some other eco-friendly choices for your travel. At the time of reservations, you can select an eco-friendly website to book the accommodation and services for your trip. There are some websites, like bookdifferent! that calculate your carbon footprint per night and include eco-friendly ratings.
You can also seek out local experiences. When visiting a destination try to ensure your money is kept in the local economy. This includes avoiding international and big chains and booking websites. Try your best to go local even as a tourist! This will also enrichen your trip as you will be in contact with the local culture.
To have more sustainable travel habits, you can also look for a system of verification while browsing online. This will help you determine if a business is simply greenwashing, or has met standards set by sustainability regulations.
Always remember the 3 R while traveling. Reduce waste. Reuse anything you can (like water bottles, and another packaging you may be carrying). And recycle whenever you can.