What is Green Travel?
Travelling is an exciting and thrilling experience in anyone’s life. It is a chance to try new things, be apart of new experiences and have a generally boosted outlook on life. Green travel is about adopting green methods and practices which can help you reduce carbon emissions, save energy and money and leave nothing behind other than your own footprints. If you practice green methods while you’re at home, then it’s a great idea to take these same practices on the road to conserve energy for future.
Just because you’re traveling somewhere doesn’t meant that you have to give up all of the different green practices you take such care in at home. By doing this, you’ll also be effectively and positively contributing to the environment of everywhere you travel. Staying green while traveling is a very easy thing to do, and here you will find the 25 easy travel tips to continue staying green and reducing your carbon footprint while you’re out on a new and exciting adventure.
Trips can be a flurry of different places to go and people to see. There are events, concerts, and all types of exciting things to do. When you’re arriving to a destination, many people choose to take a cab or rent a car while they’re in town. If you will be traveling somewhere else the next day, try to stay away from this and map out a route on your own. This will help you reduce your emissions no matter where you go.
25 Green Travel Tips
Although it’s not advised to practice this line of thinking when you’re in a notoriously dangerous area, it’s a great school of thought to live by when you’re traveling somewhere well populated. Some of the great tips that come with being conscious about your carbon footprint while traveling include:
1. Opting to take a bicycle or trolley service to your destination. Although there are many cheap rental cars that are always available if you want to travel countryside but leave the car in the parking as it will help you save energy and finding parking can be a challenge for you in a big city.
2. Figuring out public transport long before your arrival so you don’t end up confused. Public mode of transport is also the most safest mode of transport in case you’re traveling out of the city or abroad.
3. Asking locals where you should go or what the best routes are to get to your destination on foot.
4. Speaking with a travel agent or someone at an airport who can help you find the best route without having to take a vehicle or another type of transportation that produces emissions.
5. Become aware of the recycling symbol on many products and only recycle those materials that you need to.
6. Instead of buying plastic water bottles, bring along a metal canteen or container that you can use to constantly fill up when necessary. This will help you produce less garbage and reduces your environmental impact.
7. Deciding to buy products that produce less waste. Products that generate more waste, send more trash to landfills which is harmful for the environment and surrounding areas.
8. Opt out of any particular parts of your trip that encourage waste in a way you think could impact the environment.
9. Reuse your towels and change sheets couple of times a week as it is a major energy drain for hotels and uses about 40% of the hotel’s total hot water consumption.
10. Turn off all lights before leaving the room. As of today, many hotels have advance punching systems that turn on the lights once you put your card in the slot and also switch them off when you take your key back.
11. Turn up the thermostat couple of degrees up during the summer and couple of degrees down during winter. This can save about 6% of the energy needed to warm or air-condition your room.
12. Take shorter showers and shut off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth to reduce water wastage.
13. Bring your own toiletries rather than using pre-packaged ones. In case if you do use hotel’s toiletries, take them with you and use them for rest of your trip.
14. Book flights with airline that recycle the waste created when serving food and beverages to passengers.
15. Eat local and buy local products. This will help you know the culture and more than that, the food will be locally grown and produced.
16. Before leaving for vacations, make sure that you’ve switched off all lights and unplugged all appliances as they can draw power even when they are off.
17. Do not print tickets if you can travel using electronic tickets. Either save those documents to your mobile devices or download them from internet when needed.
18. Recycle your waste by knowing your hotel’s recycling program. If your hotel doesn’t recycle, consider taking away plastic bottles with you and dispose them at recycle bin.
19. If your hotel doesn’t have any recycling program, make sure that you leave your feedback and give valuable inputs and encourage them as to how they can go green in future. Also, do appreciate if they offer any eco-friendly programs.
20. If you’ve purchased any printed guide books, either dispose them at appropriate recycle bin or leave it in the hotel room for future guests before going home.
21. Do not litter any garbage on the road. Place them at marked receptacles or take it with you and dispose them at appropriate location.
22. If you’re planning a road trip, ask your friends or family members if they are willing to travel with you. Travelling in group tend to make less of an environmental impact than individual tours.
23. Opt and enjoy low-carbon activities like rafting, trekking, swimming, horse riding, concerts, caving, theatre, mountain climbing and snorkelling
24. Always carry a eco-friendly bag when you travel or go for shopping. This will help you reuse it and sends less amount of waste to landfills.
25. Try to opt for shared cars or taxis. Its a great way to take care of this planet and make new friends.
By only choosing to buy things without a lot of plastic or paper waste, you will automatically be contributing less overall waste to the place your visiting. If it is unavoidable, you must always remember to recycle. Because some places you visit while on vacation may have different rules for disposal, make sure you become aware of them as your trip continues forward.
Just as if someone was visiting your home or town, you wouldn’t want them to be littering all over the place and making a mess of a very green situation. If you are ever walking through an environmentally friendly area, make sure that you leave nothing behind other than your own footprints. It is very important, especially in the age of environmental decline, to become aware of your own habits while you’re out traveling. Practice the same methods that you would at home when you’re in a new location; not only will it give you peace of mind when you leave, but you’ll know you had no impact.
By practicing these green travel tips when you’re travelling, you can help not only reduce the amount of emissions you contribute, but you may end up seeing far more of the place than you had originally bargained for. It can be a great way to broaden your surroundings while saving money at the same time.
