A few days ago, my friend Emily called me out. As a fellow traveler and someone who is worried about the environment, she asked me how I felt about personally contributing tonnes of CO2 pollution to the atmosphere. So I felt like I had to do some research. Comparatively, planes are pretty fuel efficient, getting 48 miles per gallon per seat. Cars and planes generate about the same amount in emissions per traveler.
Recently I discovered climatecare.org. It's a UK based website that encourages users to go "climate neutral." They have a simple video that explains their goals and how they go about the whole project. For my trip, I'd have to donate around $100 to offset all of my flights. I'm not going to donate right now, but if I come in under budget on my trip and have some money left over, this is something that I'd like to support.
Lonely Planet pays to offset all travel incurred by their staff and authors. It's just another reason I think they a completely legit company.
So, really whether I'm traveling by car or plane, I'm doing some damage to the environment. It's important to not get carried away, and I it's good to support charities like Climate Care.
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1 comment:
weeg, fascinating. 48 mpg/passenger? I feel a bit better, and am thankful that you've done a little of the leg-work for us. I'll be looking into the environmental impacts of more of my travel as well.
Travel is such a wonderful thing, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are the ways we get to stop and consider our environmental, social, and cultural impact.
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