I love travel. And it’s safe to say, if you’re reading this, that you do too. But one thing you might not think about is the fact that airplanes are one of the worst polluters, sponsored by us, the travelers who fly. BUT, don’t despair, you can easily help offset your carbon footprint. For years, the idea of offsetting your carbon footprint has been very confusing to me, until I came across this website:
Accounting for approximately 5% of all global carbon emissions, travel and tourism is a significant contributor to climate change. A round trip flight from New York City to London produces just over 2.5 tons of carbon emissions. That’s over half the amount of carbon that the average person produces in year – just from one round trip flight. Every time you fly on a plane, stay in a hotel, ride in a taxi, or create waste, carbon emissions are being generated. While there are many ways that you can and should minimize your carbon footprint while traveling – from turning off the air conditioner to renting electric vehicles – no matter how sustainable your travel habits are, certain carbon emissions are unavoidable.
For example, my recent flight from NYC to Seattle (for a wedding) created 1.7499 tons of CO2 and the total cost to offset this amount of CO2 was $44.36 USD (roundtrip).
