Last updated February 1, 2024
Contributed by The Eco Hub, a digital media company founded by journalist Candice Batista that connects conscious consumers to brands and companies that care about people and the planet. Visit them at theecohub.ca.
The environmental costs of global lifestyles have consequences worldwide: for planetary warming to be kept below two degrees Celsius, per capita emissions need to be 2.1 tCO2e by 2050.
If one person eats meat and takes one roundtrip transatlantic flight per year, they would still exceed the per capita emissions by 0.3 tCO2e. That is without assessing their other emissions.
Travel (yes, even wellness travel) has an incredible impact on the environment, so let’s dig deeper into the possibility of carbon offsetting.
When to Consider Carbon Offsetting for Your Travel
Carbon offsetting is the purchasing of offsets to balance out your emissions, which is met with some cynicism; one journalist likens carbon offsetting to purchasing absolutions for their sins, a “scheme that persuades us that we can keep on polluting.”
I agree: we need to be careful about greenwashing Carbon Offsetting to a point where travel is guilt-free.
Tip #1: Consider the 5 R’s of Waste Reduction
Before booking a trip, what if we consider each of the “5 R’s” of waste reduction?
- Refuse: Compile your list of easy no’s. The trips that don’t do it for you.
- Reduce: Plan! What trip am I considering, and why do I want to go? Will going far away make the difference I’m looking for?
- Reuse: Search for a great, local experience that you can return to on weekends away and quick, focused trips: enjoy the same place for a more profound, more meaningful experience each time.
- Recycle: Let go of travel concepts that don’t work for you. Maybe it’s traveling in large groups; maybe it’s going for a short time to a faraway place. Put those in the recycling: perhaps they’ll come back to you in another form, maybe not.
- Rot: You’ve saved more holiday time, the money and the energy for a big trip. Time to carbon offset.
Though you already have a way to manage a financial budget, being more intentional about travel can help assess your carbon budget.
By cycling through the first four principles of Waste Reduction before resorting to carbon offsetting, then you’ve likely reduced your air travel significantly and discovered more time and money in the process.
Tip #2: Avoid Flying
Moreso, avoiding flying is a high-impact action in favor of the environment, along with a planet-friendly diet, going car-free and having a smaller family.
One Swedish study found that you can have eight times more of an impact than recycling by avoiding one transatlantic flight. It doesn’t mean stop recycling: do both and maximize your impact!
Why Offset?
In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sounded the alarm: we need to cut global emissions by 45 percent within the next 12 years to reach the recommended climate change target. The conclusion of the report confirms that every fraction of a degree of warming matters.
Reducing coal and oil consumption and the dependence on fossil fuels will save people, food security, and livelihoods.
The IPCC report is further contextualized by the Carbon Majors Report, which listed the top carbon polluters worldwide.
One hundred companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions, and those 100 contributors are Carbon companies: coal and oil.
As consumers, we need to focus on areas in our lives where we rely on fossil fuels and eradicate them.
In the travel industry, policymakers are finally taking action: the UN is in the process of negotiating a Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, agreed on in 2018 in Montreal and to be implemented in 2021.
A policy like this will have a significant impact; however, it does not mean that we are free from responsibility with travel.
We need action in symphony with policy decisions; in the urgent state of the climate, giving careful thought to our travel choices and doubling up on carbon offsetting is not that outlandish an idea.
How to Carbon Offset
Carbon offsetting is the purchasing of offsets to balance out your emissions.
Although it is problematic to associate a dollar amount with environmental destruction, it’s also easy to say you’re committed to new action and then not follow through.
By monetizing a carbon calculation, you are allocating a portion of your budget to holding yourself accountable.
Tip #3: Offset Travel
Use a carbon calculator specifically for flights and offset your footprint. Once you know how much you need to offset, either purchase the offsets immediately or track the offsets and make a more significant investment in a project annually.
Not all carbon offsets are created equal, so do some research and get excited about your investment! Here are a couple of our favorite options that can maximize the impact of your investment:
Gold Standard: Links all projects to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and uses SustainCERT for its 3rd party certification, from the inception of a project to the final reporting stage. Search by project type (i.e. renewable energy, waste management, agriculture), by region or by Sustainable Development Goal. goldstandard.org
Less.ca: Owned by renewable electricity leader Bullfrog Power, Less was explicitly created to help travelers take action on air travel-related emissions with renewable energy projects.
Tip #4: Invite a friend!
Are you traveling with a group? Why not offer to calculate the group’s footprint and all pitch in to contribute to a project together? Make it easy for them, just as you would split costs for accommodation or a restaurant tab.
Tip #5: Work Toward Carbon Neutrality
After understanding your emissions with a carbon footprint calculator, you can also consider making adjustments in your home.
In the corporate world, many companies that rely on natural resources have started carbon insetting, where they build an offset into a company’s supply chain so that the supply chain is more resilient, for example, by enhancing land management practices with local farmers.
In your household, can you re-allocate the funds indicated by a carbon calculator to invest in your home’s resiliency and/or efficiency? Examples could be an insulation upgrade, installing solar panels, creating a system that catches and reuses rainwater for your garden or finally building a compost.
About Vacayou
At Vacayou [pronounced VACAY – YOU], we believe that travel has the power to change lives. The power to revive, rejuvenate and redirect your inner wellness warrior. And that’s why we’re here. Vacayou brings the world of wellness travel to you!
No matter how far or how adventurous, our team scours the globe to curate the best in wellness travel. But the booking process can often be time-consuming and complicated. We’ve made it much easier for you to search, discover, and book wellness and active vacations. With Vacayou’s Instant Book, your dream wellness getaway is now just one click away.
Start the trip of your lifetime today, with Vacayou. We are here to help create a healthier global community through wellness and active travel.
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