Published 10/03/2021
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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
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!
