Posted: April 21, 2021
Starting to plan that next trip? You’ll love the practical tips from global travel experts Natasha Martin, founder of Good Tourism, and Court Whelan, Director of Sustainability and Conservation Travel at Natural Habitat Adventures. Here’s a summary of their top tips. For the full story, watch the video here, recorded during our Tomorrow’s Air, Convene virtual event held earlier this month.
• Get to know some certifications and know your influence as a traveler. When deciding where to visit, learn to recognize the certifications for sustainable destinations: Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) certification is one to notice. This logo on a destination website indicates this place is working on sustainability in a serious way. Understand also that certification can be expensive and many destinations can’t afford it, so make it a point to focus on traveling sustainably at the destination as this is where you can make a big difference.
• Travel longer and slower. The longer you can stay in a destination and the more time you can take getting around once you’re there, the better for our planet. It also turns out that much of what makes a trip sustainable and easy on the environment, is also what makes a trip more interesting, and more fun. Have a look at the Adventure Travel Trade Association’s recent report, Work and Wander: Meet Today’s Digital Nomadsfor hints on which destinations are the easiest for those staying longer.
• Sustainable booking tools can make planning easier.The more travelers demand sustainability, the more services we find enabling it. The best thing to do when reserving a hotel is to ask the hotel about their sustainable policies. Sustainable businesses will be happy you asked and eager to share their efforts around water use, energy sources and use, waste management, and local hiring. These websites (as well as Adventure.travel!) make it easy to find and book sustainable travel providers
• Fly Economy and Support Airlines Using Renewable Fuels. Your flight might be the most carbon intensive activity in travel. When you’re booking check Alternative Airlines for airlines that use biofuels, and fly like a NERD
- N: Fly newer aircraft, such as the Boeing 787
- E: Fly economy
- R: Choose regular size aircraft, small craft are more fuel intensive
- D: Fly direct to avoid unnecessary fuel burn between take-off and landing
• Manage Your Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Consider carbon offsetting your flight through programs such as MyClimate and Atmosphere, and join the global collective of travelers helping to scale up important direct air capture technology to quickly remove and permanently store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through Tomorrow’s Air. Carbon offsetting helps reduce the amount of emissions entering the atmosphere; carbon removal technologies such as direct air capture will actively pull the CO2 that’s already in the air out and can store it permanently underground.
• Shop with Travel Businesses Who Share Your Climate Values. Travel companies are taking action for climate in various ways. The businesses in this list participated in Tomorrow's Air Convene (LINK TO ARCHIVED PAGE), an event bringing together climate conscious travelers and travel businesses and have taken at least one of the following actions.
Start planning your upcoming travel with companies like these!