Greener Living: Travel [« homepage]

We tend to travel a lot more these days and this is usually using cars, busses, trains and planes. Not many of us walk or ride a bike any more. This is partly due to the fact we have more mobile lives; we work further away from home; our families tend to be spread out more etc. It's also partly due to the ease of international travel to warmer countries and the globalization of business. However, there are ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint, some more obvious than others:

Walk or cycle more.
Get the bus.
A coach uses less CO2 than a train or a plane.
Drive the smallest car you can - try and buy one without A/C and all the mod cons - you don't really need them.
Commuting: Refer to the At Work page for ideas.
Drive at a sensible speed, it uses less fuel.
Empty all unnecessary things from your car - just keep the spare wheel, tools and other emergency items. I.e. take out the baby seat or pram if you aren't taking the kids - i.e. driving to work.
Only half fill your car's fuel tank if you use it for short journey's around town - the car uses fuel to cary the fuel around.
Go on holiday in the UK - there are some great holiday destinations here and you can drink the water!
If you have to fly, try and take as little luggage as possible.
Carbon Offsetting: It is possible to buy into carbon offsetting schemes which claim to offset the carbon used by your 'fossil fueled' travel with initiatives such as planting trees or educating people in emerging economies to live more sustainably. However, I think these sorts of initiatives should only be used if you absolutely have to travel. The best way to reduce carbon output is not to 'offset, but to not travel at all. The article says it much more succinctly than I.


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Greener Living: Travel [« homepage]