Green travel ideas from two environmentally conscious travelers

Before you start planning a trip, you need to decide where you’re going, and since your choice of destination (and corresponding travel to/from) is a huge determining factor in the environmental impact of your trip, keep the following factors in mind.

Consider Local Alternatives: Every mile you travel in a plane or car emits carbon dioxide into the air, which is just another factor you should consider when evaluating the cost of the trip. Think of your carbon emissions just like you would a high-priced airline ticket. An expensive ticket might not keep you from taking a trip you really want to take, but it will make you think twice about how much you really want to go. When traveling long distances where your carbon footprint is going to be significant, think about how important the long trip really is to you and your family, and if you think the trip is dispensable or it might be easier to stay local, then look into a destination closer to home that might be a good alternative. If you decide to reevaluate your destination, the resources at www.Kango.com can guide you to a nearby destination that meets the criteria for activities, lodging and anything else that you’re looking for.

Travel Longer and Reduce Your Carbon “Jet Lag”: Another way to look at the carbon emissions you’ll produce on your vacation is like jet lag. You probably wouldn’t want to travel all the way to New Zealand for a four-day vacation, because you’d spend most of your time in the plane and you would suffer from jet lag the rest of the trip. Well, carbon emissions follow a similar rule. When you’re traveling a long way for a short visit, you’re contributing a huge amount of carbon to the atmosphere for a relatively small benefit. So you should save that international trip for sometime when you and your family can get a longer time off from work and school. For short vacation windows of a week or less, think about less ambitious trips. Slowtrav.com is a good resource if you’re interested in this philosophy, which they call “slow travel.”

Reward Environmentally Forward Destinations: All destinations are not created equal. Some countries and regions have shown a lot more sustainable and environmental foresight than others. Why not make your choice of vacation destinations on that basis? For example, in the U.S., California is showing leadership on renewable energy and is increasing its renewable energy portfolio standards. Internationally, Costa Rica currently produces 96% of its electricity from renewable sources and aims to be carbon-neutral through reforestation programs by 2030. Iceland has set a goal of transitioning to a 100% hydrogen-based zero-carbon economy by 2050, powered by geothermal and hydroelectric sources. If you switch on a light bulb today in either Costa Rica or Iceland, you cause less environmental harm than if you were to do so at home in the United States, and you can take comfort that you are spending tourist dollars in a place that deserves to be rewarded for its environmental policies. Check out the results of the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index to see how your dream destination country measures up on a range of environmental metrics. Finland is #1 out of 146 countries, and the U.S. ranks 45^th between Armenia and Myanmar. You can see the ranked list on Wikipedia or you can view the whole report at the official ESI site. National Geographic also rated 115 world destinations on their sustainability and stewardship and published the results in 2004. Another inspiring list of eco-friendly destinations can be found at the Independent Traveler website.

Make the Most of Your Trip: So you’ve decided on a destination. Your next step is to have fun. After you’ve bought your plane ticket and decided on offsets for your emissions, leave your guilt behind and enjoy your trip. Make the most environmentally-friendly decisions you can along the way (and you can see other sections of this guide for details), but don’t let anything get in the way of enjoying your vacation. After all, the two commandments of any environmentally conscious traveler should be to…

1) Reduce your environmental footprint as much as possible

2) Have the most enjoyable trip possible

And if I could sneak in a third commandment, it would be: gracefully share what you have learned with your friends so they can do more with less too!

So you’re planning a trip to Europe over the winter holidays, and you want to make sure you don’t have to cash out any of your 401K to do so (ouch!). Well, obviously a good idea might be to whip out an Excel spreadsheet and plan out a line item budget of your trip. Line items might include:

• Airfare
• Car Rental
• Accommodations
• Meals
• Entertainment
• Miscellaneous/Incidentals

Such an exercise is a great way to get you thinking about your budget and the costs that each part of your trip will incur. Of course, your travel won’t just incur monetary costs. There are environmental costs, as well, which aren’t necessarily factored into the prices you pay for your hotel stay, your meals, and your flight overseas. The line items for your environmental travel budget look like the following:

• Carbon dioxide emissions (from air travel, car travel, other transportation, and electricity use, see TerraPass for a breakdown of emissions)
• Other emissions from electricity generation and transportation (methane, sulfur dioxide, and particulates)
• Solid waste (including organic matter and recyclable materials)
• Water pollution (particularly if you travel to a developing world country, where your waste might end up in surface water)
• Deforestation (if the food you eat has been sourced from a farmer or rancher who practices slash-and-burn practices)

Unfortunately, we are so insulated from these costs that it’s difficult to assign them a value on our spreadsheet. Only with carbon emissions can we assign a real value and pay for those costs through a carbon offset program.

It’s these hidden environmental costs that inspired SimpleGreenChoices. As we continue on through the coming weeks and months, we will continue to show you many different ways that you can manage your environmental travel budget while still having the trip of a lifetime.

I’m an avid hiker, and one of my favorite organizations is Leave No Trace. It’s not so much what they do as an organization as who they are and the ethics they promote. For those of you who don’t know, Leave No Trace is a non-profit dedicated to low-impact outdoor recreation (see their blog here). In particular, they work very closely with the National Parks and National Forests to promote low-impact camping techniques. If you’ve done much hiking, chances are that you’ve probably heard one of the slogans associated with Leave No Trace, such as “Pack it in, pack it out”or “Take only photos, leave only footprints.”

The great thing about the idea of “Leave No Trace” is that the specific practices of low impact camping and hiking flow so obviously from their basic principles. The idea is to leave the wilderness the way you found it, and the ways you can do so are myriad, including packing out all of your trash, not feeding wild animals, etc.

(And just a sidenote on Leave No Trace: after reading LNT’s basic principles, you might think these are all no-brainers, but when I was up in the Sierra Nevada wilderness this summer, I witnessed some appalling behavior by fellow campers, including an unwelcome fireworks show - literally, fireworks! - at 10pm on the shores of Garnet Lake during a period of very high fire danger.)

I’ve been thinking about Leave No Trace a lot recently, because what we’re trying to do here at Simple Green Choices is quite closely related, actually. We’re taking this idea of minimum impact and applying it to ALL types of travel… all over the world. With that in mind, let me suggest the following six principles as the core of low-impact travel:

- Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions
- Minimize Waste and Recycle
- Help Protect and Preserve in Natural Areas
- Be Culturally Sensitive
- Respect Wildlife and Biodiversity
- Support Local and Environmentally Responsible Businesses

What do you think? Are we missing anything here? If so, post your comment here or e-mail us at simplegreenchoices@gmail.com.

There seems to be no clear, commonly-used label that describes how we can travel in a fashion that minimizes the environmental impact of our travels? Do you know what the difference is between “ecotourism” and “sustainable travel?” What about “zero-carbon” versus “carbon-neutral?”…I certainly wasn’t sure.

I figured the first step toward greening my own travel would be to understand the language and claims of all the glossy brochures and travel websites that I review every time when I’m planning a trip (or researching posts for this blog). With that in mind, we’ve created a little glossary of all these terms, to help us keep them straight.

Ecotourism refers to both the travel practices and the type of destination. It is travel to a natural setting or area of ecological importance that also works to preserve and sustain that ecosystem – both human and natural. The Rainforest Alliance has come up with a more detailed definition. Conservation International also has a whole website devoted to the promotion of responsible ecotourism. One thing to keep in mind about ecotourism is especially susceptible to “greenwashing” issues (see below for definition). If an ecotourist resort or tour operator is talking a good game in terms of being environmentally responsible, but is not properly conserving the land or providing for local communities, that businesses actions are especially harmful, because they are usually operating in a sensitive area. As a traveler, you should educate yourself and do your due diligence when researching companies that claim to be offering “ecotourism” services. Also known as: Ecotravel, ecotours, or anything “eco.”

Sustainable Travel is not limited to natural areas or ecosystems, but travel to ANY destination – urban or rural, coastal or mountainous, developed or undeveloped – that seeks to limit environmental impacts. The concept that defines sustainable travel is minimizing negative impacts when traveling. The UN and others define this as limiting negative impacts on areas both environmentally and socially, while making sure that travel contributes significantly to the local economy (and is not just spirited away by international tourism conglomerates). Also known as: Sustainable tourism, green travel.

Responsible Travel is very similar to the idea of sustainable travel with a bit more emphasis on social impacts and ethical concerns. This framework also emphasizes contributing to the local culture where you’re traveling by spending your dollars with local businesses (hotels, restaurants, etc.) or by possibly volunteering when visiting a developing world destination. A good resource on the web for more about responsible travel is Planeta.com. You can also check out the World Tourism Organizations Code of Ethics for Tourism, which has formalized standards for ethical travel in more detailed (if more convoluted) terms. One of the travel guidebook companies, Lonely Planet, has taken up responsible tourism as a cause and devotes a section of their website to instructing their readers on what they can do. Also known as: Ethical travel.

Carbon-Neutral Travel is an in-vogue term nowadays that refers mainly to the carbon offsetting schemes that have sprung up in recent years. By now you have probably heard of carbon-neutral businesses, movies, events, and households. The idea behind the term “carbon neutral” anything is that you offset the carbon emissions you produce by paying a company to invest in projects that save carbon emissions in another part of the world – for example, through planting trees or funding renewable energy projects in the developing world. For more information on whether you should offset your travel and how, see our section on carbon offsets. However, buying offsets to be carbon-neutral does not, unfortunately, mean that the business or activity you are buying the offset for is being as efficient as possible.

Zero-Carbon Travel is an oxymoron. Unfortunately, there is no way to travel without producing carbon dioxide. The mere act of getting in your car to drive to the airport starts moving the needle on the carbon produced on your trip. Although some people equate “zero-carbon” with “carbon-neutral,” there is a difference. Zero-carbon refers to the aspiration of producing no carbon in the first place. Solar power, for example, is a zero-carbon form of electricity.

Greenwashing is when the environmental claims made by companies in advertising or marketing to consumers do not hold up to close scrutiny. Because of the increased concern for the environment in recent years, “greenwash” has become much more prevalent, with companies exaggerating the environmental benefits of their products and services in order to gain a competitive advantage. Greenwashing is prevalent in the travel industry, with hotels, tour agencies, car rental companies, and many other tourism-related businesses making claims about their environmental policies that are distorted or exaggerated. Part of the reason this is possible is that there are very few organizations monitoring and certifying environmental claims in the travel industry. Greenwashing makes it particularly important for travelers to do their homework and ask lots of questions before booking travel plans such as green hotels or ecotourism resorts. For examples of corporate greenwashing, see the website for Center for Media and Democracy’s Sourcewatch.

Your Carbon Footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere because of your activities. In the case of travel, most of your carbon footprint is a result of transportation.

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!

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