Practical steps you can take to travel more sustainably.
Sustainable travel is an important and challenging issue. Travel, by its very nature causes harm to environment, especially as a result of the typically large distances clocked up by backpackers on long-haul flights across the world. It is far too simple though to dismiss travelling as something that's destroying the planet. We hold the opposite belief – that travelling can be a force of good. By visiting different countries and experiencing different cultures, travellers understand that there is a true world community: by continuing to travel we are improving peoples' livelihoods and promoting the development of local economies as well as helping to conserve countries' cultural and natural heritages.
Travelling also makes us aware of the problems of those people less fortunate than ourselves. The world belongs to all of us and we all have a huge responsibility towards it. Cutting down our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment.
As we have stated there is no way of getting around the fact that many travellers take longhaul flights to reach their desired destinations. What can we do practically to reign in the effects of this?
First of all, rather than fly long distances, we could look for destinations of interest closer to home so that we can avoid flying. If you live within Europe then you have a vast array of destinations that you can reach by plane or bus, travelling on public transport and thus cutting down on your carbon foot-print. Likewise if you are from the States, Canada or Australia then you are lucky enough to live in huge and diverse countries in terms of people, landscapes and attractions. Why not hit the road within your own country by public transport and see what there is to offer?
If you do choose to visit destinations further away that you cannot travel to overland then of course you will have to fly. There are ways in which you can minimise your carbon footprint, and the most obvious of these is to offset your carbon. Many airlines are now offering to do this for you at the point of booking, but if you prefer to do it directly with a reputable company then we suggest that you look at carboncare.com.
This is fine as a starting point, but we feel that the situation with carbon off-setting is getting slightly out of hand. It should be a tool by which people look at their carbon footprint and seek to reduce it, but instead people are only paying the offset fee to ease their conscience and doing nothing to reassess their travel plans or travel more responsibly. For this reason we would advise you to think about how you can reduce your carbon emissions as well as offset the ones you can't avoid.
If you are on a round the world trip then think best how you can cut down on flights when you have reached the region in which you are planning to travel. Take buses or trains rather than internal flights – not only will taking public transport cut down on your carbon footprint, but it also means you are far more likely to meet and interact with the locals and experience life and destinations in-between that you may well fall in love with. The experiences that you have on never-ending bus journeys, full of livestock and without a toilet will be the ones that look back at when you get home with a smile on your face – they make for great stories too. Don't miss out!
If you do have to take a long haul flight to your destination then we'd recommend that you use a Carbon Comparison flight search like the one offered by responsibletravel.com. This will give you an indication of how much carbon dioxide your journey will produce and which airline has the least impact on the environment.
Protecting local cultures and helping local economies
We should all ensure that we are doing our best to protect the interests of the countries that we visit and the people who live there rather than lining the pockets of large corporations from our own countries. We want to help and learn about local cultures and peoples rather than exploit them. There are many ways in which we can do this, by promoting local businesses and fair trade practices, hiring local guides and doing our best to ensure that our consumption of local products, water etc is sustainable.
If you choose to travel with an organised group or on a tour then think carefully about which one you go with and choose one that has a written policy on responsibility and sustainability. Be sure that they support local businesses and minimise their environmental impact. Do not be afraid to ask questions of them before you book.
What you can do before you go:
• Read up as much as possible on local cultures and do your best to learn some of the local languages – respect the local people.
• Do your research to see if there are any useful gifts that you can take out with your for the locals i.e. pens and schoolbooks for the local children.
• If you have bought any new equipment (bags, cameras, clothes etc) please remove any excess packaging before you go thus easing the load on the destination country who might not have adequate waste disposal means.
What you can do whilst you're away:
• Buy local produce from local businesses and ensure that the money you spend stays within the community.
• Use local guides rather than guides shipped in from elsewhere.
• Please do not purchase any artefacts, hard wood products or endangered species –this sounds like obvious advice but you'd be amazed by how many people do.
• Respect local cultures and do not act in a way that will upset the local people – don't act drunk in public, ensure that you dress appropriately and behave in a manner that is a credit to yourself and other travellers: you won't be the first to pass through there and you certainly won't be the last so don't tarnish future travellers' experiences.
• Take public transport as much as possible as opposed to flying to keep your impact on the environment as low as possible and be sure to walk or cycle as much as you can to lower your carbon footprint even further.
• Use water sparingly as supplies of clean and treated water can be in short supply in many areas. Refill your water bottle wherever possible and don't buy new ones all the time.
• Ask questions of the locals and take interest in their traditions and cultures – you are not going to a zoo and you are not, we hope, just going to hang out with other travellers.
• In poorer countries, rather than giving money to random beggars, try instead to find charities and organisations that have been set up to tackle the problems of poverty and homelessness and give to them instead to be sure that the money is being spent in the right way.
What you can do on your return:
• Donate to local projects and charities in areas that made your trip really special – give something back to the communities that gave you such wonderful memories.
• If you promised to send someone a picture or stay in touch by email then please make sure you follow up on this – it can mean an awful lot to the people to whom you made the promise.
You will find a growing number of businesses while you're away that claim to be 'green', 'eco-friendly' or even 'eco-lodges'. Please do your bit to ensure that they are what they seem by asking them the following questions before handing over your hard earned cash:
• Do they have a written policy on sustainability? Any company that is serious about best-practice when it comes to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions will have one.
• How do they measure their contribution in terms of being sustainable?
• How many local people do they employ and how many of these are in management positions? If there aren't any then ask why not.
• What are they doing to protect the environment?
• Are they working with any local charities in this regard?
• What percentage of their products or services are sourced from within 20km of the site? Are they using as much local produce and people-power as possible.
• What are they doing with their waste-water and how do they heat their buildings (i.e. do they use solar power)?
• Do any guides that they employ come from the local community?
If the answers to any/some/all of these questions make you suspicious then you are better off taking your business to somewhere with better sustainability practices.
Community based travel is a great way to put money directly back into a community and meet the locals first-hand. These schemes are not however getting the marketing or sales they deserve, so check out responsibletravel.com’s database of such schemes and see if any are of interest.
As you can see from all of the above, sustainability and collective responsibility for our planet is a growing concern, and one that all travellers should do their best to help with. By taking the small steps listed in the paragraphs above you can help to do your bit to reduce our collective carbon footprint, put money back into local communities, maintain the respect of the inhabitants of the destinations we travel to and to have a great time in the process.
If you have enjoyed this blog then why not check out the funtotravel.info e-book which covers other green issues as well as giving practical advice on travelling the world? Click here to get yourself a copy.
