Green travel ideas from two environmentally conscious travelers

At some point, we’ll address the carbon economics (and benefits) of driving versus flying. But for now, let’s assume you’ve chosen to fly—either because it’s convenient or because it’s the only way to get where you’re going. That shouldn’t be the end of your decision-making process. If you want to reduce your flights’ environmental impact, consider the following tips when booking:

Minimize connections: Most of the fuel used up during a flight is burned during takeoff and landing, so it stands to reason that the more connections you make, the more emissions will be produced on your behalf. Try to book a non-stop flight if possible, which will save you the hassle of layovers, as well.

Fly during the day: Studies have shown that the greenhouse effects of airplane emissions are twice as bad at night than during the day. Again, in this case, environmental concerns may overlap with convenience, since many people prefer to fly during the day anyway.

Offset your emissions: When you do fly, research carbon offset schemes and consider offsetting your plane’s emissions. It’s not a silver bullet, since the atmosphere would be better off if you didn’t fly at all, but it’s better than doing nothing.

Choose airlines based on their performance and environmental commitments: Use your purchasing power to show the airlines that their environmental policies matter to you. For example, Southwest Airlines is one of the few airlines that offers incentives for its flight attendants and cleaning crews to recycle cans and bottles. Continental Airlines was commended by Fortune magazine in 2007 for their energy-efficiency initiatives. In Britain, there is even more competition between airlines to be considered the “greenest.” Virgin Atlantic’s Chairman, Richard Branson, is famous for drumming up celebrity attention for climate change, and Virgin recently announced an upgrade in their fleet and a research program on biofuels for aviation. Easyjet, Ryanair, and British Airways have also been promoting their environmental initiatives

Fly in newer, larger, and more fuel-efficient planes: It’s almost an ironclad rule that newer planes are more fuel efficient. The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner promises to be an industry leader when it hits the market, but in the current fleet, the 777, 747-400, and A330 are the most fuel-efficient planes. Call and ask the airline what planes they have flying the route that you are booking.

Ask lots of questions – generate “consumer pressure”: The environmental issue that airlines are most concerned about is their profits. That is to say that if airlines start to worry about losing customers over their environmental inaction, they will act. As a consumer, you can make a real difference by asking questions of everyone at the airline to generate pressure that will resonate up to the boardroom. Ask whether they recycle, what their environmental policy is, and how fuel-efficient their planes are. And if you don’t get satisfactory answers, switch airlines.

For more tips: See Time Magazine and The Observer.

Now that Yen has explained a bit about the ground that we’re hoping to cover with SimpleGreenChoices.com, I want to start my own participation on this blog with an assumption that I think we all can agree on: our travel has a profound impact on our lives and the world around us.

Some of the impacts are overwhelmingly positive. We escape from the stress of our daily lives and get to experience a new place with fresh eyes or settle into the comfortable routine of an old familiar haunt. Sometimes we go to experience another culture or learn more about the natural world, or even to teach our kids about their world and expand their horizons. Our interactions with others from different cultures and places helps to foster cultural understanding and make the world a better place. And the dollars that we spend on our vacations can help to sustain local communities and protect the world’s most beautiful places. Travel even keeps our global economy running, accounting for $7 trillion in spending in 2007 alone and more than 10% of the world’s economy, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

But our travel can also have a negative impact. Car and plane emissions account for a disproportionate percentage of the global carbon dioxide emissions that are warming our planet (and potentially threatening the very destinations we travel to). Many people alter their habits and produce more waste on their vacation either because of the circumstances or out of a relaxation of their normal environmentally conscious habits. Although tourism development and growth can benefit communities and natural resources, it can also tax them. If development is not done in a sustainable way, the cultural and natural heritage of a magical place can be lost in all the bustle of tourists coming to see those very resources.

In other words, travel is a double-edged sword, and the amazing power of those $7 trillion spent by travelers every year hangs in the balance every time you and I are on the road spending them one by one (sometimes faster than we would like…).

As Yen said, our goal is to consolidate all the best and most useful knowledge on improving the environmental impact of travel to enable you to make smarter, more sustainable decisions every time you set foot outside your neighborhood.

But before we get into the details over the upcoming weeks and months, I think it’s worth us all stopping to consider our own travels up to this point. Is your net impact a positive one and why?

I believe that climate change and other forms of environmental harm are occurring largely because of us (“us” being the 5 billion humans) and I believe that, collectively, we can make a difference by individually making simple, aff ordable, hopefully even convenient, everyday decisions. But I am more then a little unsure about what those simple, everyday choices are, and neither asking friends nor searching the web has helped me find unbiased sources which help me understand my options in layman’s terms. It’s not always easy to “do the right thing”, but I know I can certainly do more if I better understand what everyday behaviors I can change to most significantly reduce my environmental footprint while also balancing my own personal needs and preferences.

That’s the purpose of this blog. Not to evangelize or to convince. But to *try* to help ordinary consumers like you and me to understand our options so we can make informed choices.

So, what do I know about identifying and making sustainable choices? At this point, no more then the average consumer. But I’m passionate about the topic of minimizing my negative impact on our environment by doing little things that might add up to something bigger, and I thought to leverage my experience in leisure travel as a way to begin. Oh, and I found a partner, Tom Mercer who is as experienced in travel, is a better writer, and even more committed to the environmental sector.

Of course, for most of us, only in an ideal world is travel truly an everyday choice, but it’s what Tom and I know best, and it’s where we can meld our passions for travel and the environment. And as we invest to research, distill and share information to help us make informed choices, we hope to invite experts in other domains to expand our expertise and the breadth of topics we cover here at www.SimpleGreenChoices.com.

This blog isn’t about Tom and I. It’s about how we can all do little simple things and it’s about us all participating and discussing how we can accomplish this. So, please share your comments and reactions; your suggestions on other topics that deserve our analysis; introduce us to experts to invite to post here; and post directly yourself.

Let’s begin the journey together toward understanding and making the simple green choices that balance sustainability with our realistic needs and constraints!