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Sustainability is something that we should always be aiming for when we travel now. Whether it’s how we travel, our habits whilst we travel, or the places we stay in and how they strive for sustainability, everyone should aim to make at least some elements of their trip environmentally friendly. 

It can be hard to want to travel, especially frequently, and remain sustainable and as environmentally friendly as possible given all the flying, driving, hotel usage and general consumption. But I’ve come up with a few ways – and trust me, this topic has been on my mind a lot lately – in which you can improve the sustainability of your trips.

You can’t always be completely sustainable

This is something you’ve got to realise when you’re considering travelling. You’re simply not going to manage to avoid certain issues and that’s alright, but you’ve just got to accept it before you plan so that you don’t get hung up over the things that you can’t change or eliminate.

Your transport

How you get to and from your destination, and how you get around once you’re there is probably one of the most influential factors in changing your level of sustainability. 

And obviously, certain methods of transport are worse for the environment than others – but how much worse and how can you actually avoid them?

It can be quite problematic that planes are the worst, by quite a long way, as they’re the easiest, quickest and sometimes the only way to get to certain areas of the world. So how much worse are they?

A popular route – London to Paris – has been calculated by EcoPassenger to determine the emissions of a passenger on each transport type.

Flying – 122kgs of CO2
Car – 48kgs of CO2
Train – 15kgs of CO2

So how can you most easily avoid flying?

Short haul flights should become an absolute no-go for everyone! Short haul flights are the least efficient way to travel possible, in terms of CO2 per KM. Luckily, they’re also the easiest journeys to substitute with a car, coach or train.

You can use Michelin’s route planner to determine the best driving routes, as well as rough petrol costs for your specific car. It’s a handy tool that’s helped me out a lot when planning road trips.

Coach travel’s an even better way to travel as the CO2 footprint of the vehicle is split by a large number of passengers – not the case with a small car for example. You can use these sites to get great deals and check for longer distance journeys

• Omio
• Flixbus
• The Trainline

Finally, there’s train travel – the best of the lot! Although, the most expensive of the lot too…

As I mentioned earlier, trains emit the least CO2 per passenger so it’s the best way we can make our travels more sustainable. If you want to book train journeys, have a look through these sites. They’re great for combining legs and getting the best possible prices.

Moving around once you’re there

Travelling around the area we travel to is another focus point for travel sustainability – and by making a few simple changes, we can easily lower our carbon emissions. 

• Walk wherever you can instead of getting a taxi
• Rideshare where possible and group together with other travellers when using taxis or cars
• Hire bikes – many locations are ideal spots for long bike rides and tours
• Use public transport – using trains, trams and buses are far better for the environment than individual cars
• Hire mopeds – in certain countries, such as Indonesia, it’s difficult to get around without a vehicle. Instead of using large cars, consider renting a moped which is far more fuel efficient and emits considerably less CO2.

Your Accommodation

The places you stay in also have another major impact on sustainability levels when you travel. Large hotels and resorts often don’t focus on what they throw away, how they source their energy or which products they use to fill your rooms.

That’s where eco-friendly stays come into play, and thankfully, it’s becoming easier and easier to find them. 

From sourcing their electricity using solar, wind or waterpower, to growing all food locally on-site, to recycling and implementing a zero-waste strategy, many accommodations now place their primary focus on being more sustainable – which is great for those of us who want to travel, yet remain environmentally friendly where possible!

Most hotels that put a strong focus on being eco-friendly will advertise it clearly, so they are often easy to find. What’s more is that these days, a lot of hotels have their own websites, so if you’re not entirely sure then you can read up more on there, or can always reach out to them with more specific questions on their sustainability situation.

One of the best ways to look out for eco-friendly and sustainable hotels is to use a hotel booking platform centred around these ideas. There are more and more of these useful sites – which will be linked below – that help you to easily browse a huge range of sustainable accommodations around the world!

By booking sustainable and “eco” accommodation, you can contribute to less waste, less energy consumption, and less CO2 emission. To find great accommodations like this around the world, check out some on this sustainable hotel booking site!

Make sure your general travel habits are also sustainable

One of the final areas in which you can improve your sustainability when travelling is your “general daily habits and activities”. Unfortunately, many of us tend to let the basics go once we are on holiday or travelling, however it can make a huge difference with just a few small positive changes.

Food & Drink

Eating and drinking is probably our largest daily impact when we travel. I mean who doesn’t love eating anything and everything they see when abroad? Sadly though, this attitude is one of the most damaging.

That’s not to say that we’ve got to limit our eating and drinking habits to only cooking ourselves, or only drinking water and eating grains – but we should at least try to keep an eye on consumption and where the food comes from if we really do want to be sustainable.

Again, this doesn’t have to be as hard as it sounds, so here are some handy tips on how to keep sustainability a focus in your travel diet:

• Use apps to find vegan and vegetarian restaurants (they usually have an environmental focus)
• Use Google Maps to locate restaurants in the nearby area that serve local food, or put a focus on sustainability
• Shop at local markets where food will be from the nearby area
• Avoid shopping for plastic drinks bottles, packaged foods or imported products
• Don’t continuously buy bottled water!! Try to refill your bottles whenever possible as it’ll save huge amounts of plastic

Waste

Fairly obviously, don’t litter or improperly dispose of waste. If there are recycling systems in place, use them! If there are composting systems in place, do it! Luckily waste is a pretty straightforward one when it comes to being sustainable, and it definitely has a huge impact.

Activities and Tours

This is one of the hardest, and oftentimes unachievable ways to improve your sustainability when travelling. I thought I’d still include it as there are some ways to make sure that your activities are as sustainable as possible, whilst getting the absolute most out of your trip.

• Choose tours and activities that focus on the local area
  • Local food tours
  • National Parks
• Hire local tour guides and activity operators – this will support the local system and will prevent you needing to travel further 
• Find better alternatives
  • Instead of going on a speed boat or large boat, find a smaller, more fuel efficient one, or take kayaks instead
  • Instead of driving around to various viewpoints, cycle to them or hike them
  • Instead of booking onto a large tour, find a smaller, local tour

So there you have it! These are the main areas in which we, as avid travellers, can remain as sustainable as possible on the go. Some things are easy to avoid, whilst others are next to impossible. 

But as always, every little helps, right! Even the little things you do can help to reduce environmental damage and keep travel destinations viable and wonderful. Below I’ll leave a summary of points that can be used as actionable tips when planning and travelling – let me know if it’s useful and if you’d like more of these at the end of future posts!

Here’s to helping the planet out as we explore it!

TLDR Tips Breakdown For Sustainable Travel

1. Substitute flying whenever possible – trains, coaches, cars!
2. Switch out short car journeys for hikes and bike rides
3. Book eco-friendly hotels online
4. Eat locally when you arrive
5. Shop at local markets for snacks and self-made meals
6. Be respectful with your waste and try to reuse whatever you can
7. Research and make yourself aware of tours and activities in the area
8. Book tours with smaller, local operators who care more about their environment
9. If you do HAVE to fly, pay to offset the CO2
10. Remember that having an awesome time and sustainability can go hand in hand!

The post How Can We Make Travel More Sustainable? appeared first on Centravely Travel Blog.

As most people know by now, our planet and climate are suffering under the immense pressure we put them through. Constantly extracting oil, gas and precious metals, over-using water sources, polluting the air with toxic gases…the list goes on! All of this means that the climate and eco-system we live in could be thrown out of balance and create a vast range of problems for mankind. 

How exactly do our actions correlate to harming the environment?

Although it’s fairly clear to see that our environment is deteriorating and that human actions are the largest contributing factor to this, it can sometimes be hard to understand exactly how our actions impact the world we live in. Why is taking the train better than driving? Why is eating meat environmentally unfriendly? Why is taking a hot shower worse than taking a cold one? Well, in this article, we’re going to find out!

Firstly, we know that taking large quantities of the earth’s natural resources is going to harm the future of the planet and prevent it from remaining as healthy as it could be. Of course, humans can’t survive without taking at least something from the planet, but we need to aim to limit this as much as we can. 

For example: cutting and burning down thousands of acres of trees and rainforests reduces the earth’s ability to absorb Carbon Dioxide – not to mention it wipes out the habitat of thousands of animal species. Therefore, we know that we need to avoid the loss of rainforests and trees, in order to help keep CO2 levels low, which in turn prevents the planet from heating up too quickly. 

The same can be applied to all natural materials; removing them from the earth creates an issue. That issue fuels the damage done to the planet, which harms our environment and makes it harder for us and animals to survive. Oil and gas extraction create huge CO2 and Methane emissions, both of which harm our environment in high quantities. The use of oil and gas also releases even more of these harmful substances into our atmosphere. Using even more water than we need has the most direct impact on humans – wasting the small amount of fresh water this planet has creates shortages for people in places all over the world, especially those who live in dry climates. This either means people go without water, or more drilling and more transportation has be done to supply the water to those areas. Again, adding to the problems.

One last major area that causes our planet problems is our material usage – plastics, glass, metals and paper. Certain materials are worse than others, in that they require lots of energy to be produced or recycled and take thousands of years to break down. Plastic, for example takes around 1000 years to decompose once it’s been produced! The production of these materials is harmful and the disposal often even more so.

So which things we do have which consequences?

Transport

Which transport methods we use has a huge impact on the environment, and which we choose can make a big difference! Different fuels, different levels of fuel usage and passenger capacity all lead to certain methods being cleaner than others. 

Land

Cycling is the best alternative – it produces no CO2. Your next best options are public transport – they split the CO2 usage between far more people than cars, leaving individuals with a much lower carbon footprint!

Water

Obviously, travel by sea is one of the least common transit methods, and choosing a boat with sails over a petrol powered one is even harder. But…that doesn’t mean it should be closed out as an option altogether!

Air

Air travel is unfortunately the worst – by a long shot. The amount of CO2 per passenger is almost double that of a car! Although it’s the quickest, cheapest way to travel long distances, always find an alternative if possible!

Diet

As you may already know, the way we eat has a massive impact on the planet. Not only does animal agriculture take up around 80% of all agricultural land in the world, but it also leads to unnecessary CO2 production. Lamb and beef, for example, produce 39.2kgs and 27kgs of CO2 per 1kg of meat. The production of 1kg of cheese produces 13.5kgs of CO2.

From this information it’s easy to see that cutting down on certain meats, and better yet all meats and dairy, helps to save a vast amount of CO2 emissions, which in turn would help to slow global warming and climate change.

Water Usage

Water is the single most important substance on Earth. Without it, no life can exist. It’s therefore crucial that we pay attention to the levels of water we’re using and wasting, so as to avoid a water shortage.

Although our planet is 71% water, only 0.3% of all water is usable to humans for growing crops and drinking. With an ever-growing population, we must make sure that we’re using the little water that we have, responsibly. Washing cars too often, taking frequent baths, and using washing machines and dishwashers too often, will all cause more water wastage that could easily be avoided. By paying more attention to water usage, we can prevent a serious shortage situation from arising.

Water is also crucial for plants and producing food – another way in which our overconsumption at home can negatively impact the environment and the world elsewhere.

Electricity Usage

Although the world is trying to switch everything to run off of electricity, it’s currently still a massive contributor to emissions. The main issue is how we currently produce electricity – mostly with coal and fossil fuel burning. The aim for the future is to innovate the methods of electricity production to renewable and clean methods such as wind and solar energy.

However, the way we use electricity still needs to change regardless – we need to stop overusing and wasting it, even if it becomes far cleaner in future. Using energy-saving appliances such as fridges, ovens and lights will really help to reduce the levels of electricity used per household. Switching appliances and lights off when they’re not in use is another great way to contribute, although it’s not going to help out as much as upgrading the devices themselves.

The way in which we live our lives has a huge impact on the planet, ultimately determining the health of it and the quality of life we are able to lead in the future. Without the majority of humanity becoming more sustainable and eco-conscious, the future of the Earth faces a vast array of threats. From a lack of water to survive from, to mass food shortages, to huge areas of land becoming inhabitable, all negative impacts will lead to a crisis for the entire population. Being more sustainable, consuming fewer resources and paying more attention to our environment will help us to overcome the challenge of climate change.

If you’d like to book a sustainable hotel or accommodation for your next trips, check out Ecotels! They offer sustainable, eco-friendly and vegan accommodations for you to choose from to help your next travel adventure be more planet-friendly.

The post Why Does Our Planet Need Us To Be More Sustainable? appeared first on Centravely Travel Blog.