Inspirational Travellers: Being Eco-conscious on Holiday

We produce more waste when we travel, without even realising it.

From throw-away food to mindlessly consuming as tourists, we’re usually less aware of our impact on the planet when we’re on holiday.

A 2018 study found that tourism accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

So, responsible tourism, which respects the environment, is a growing trend.

Here are some inspirational travellers we’ve found who can offer some tips on how to travel sustainably.

Minimising the impact of flying

Rebecca Burgess – 5 Tips for a Zero Waste Flight

Flying produces more carbon emissions than travelling by car or train. Some travellers try to avoid flying altogether, but sometimes there’s no real alternative to travelling by plane. Rebecca Burgess wrote this helpful post for The Travel Hack blog, explaining how to minimise the environmental impact of a flight:

5 tips for a zero waste flight

Choose the train instead

Mark Smith – The Man in Seat 61

Travelling by train is much better for the environment and generally much less hassle than flying.

Mark Smith, a former British Rail Station Manager, has a website devoted to train travel. The site is called The Man in Seat 61 and it aims to inspire and enable people to travel by train, by sharing information and advice for both domestic and international journeys. In this article Mark compares the carbon emissions produced by train and air travel:

Cut your CO2 emissions by taking the train, by up to 90%…

Taking an eco-friendly road trip

Katie and Ben – Two Wandering Souls

Road trips are a great way to explore a destination independently. But your vehicle still produces carbon, and what you do on your journey affects the environment.

Bloggers Katie and Ben write about responsible and adventurous travel and are big fans of road trips. This post on their blog Two Wandering Soles shares some excellent advice for reducing the environmental impact of road trips:

19 Eco Friendly Road Trip Tips

Travelling to natural places

Bret Love and Mary Gabbett – Green Global Travel

Ecotourism is a way of travelling which has a positive effect on the natural environment and on local communities.

The best ecotours take travellers to explore relatively unspoilt natural places, while supporting the local economy and respecting local culture.

Bret Love and Mary Gabbett are passionate about ecotourism, and they say that they aim to ‘inspire people to travel and live more sustainably’ through their blog Green Global Travel. This post on their site by author Michael Huxley with Bret Love explains the importance of responsible travel:

Why responsible tourism matters (and greenwashing sucks)

Support local communities while travelling

Pack for a Purpose

If you’d like to support local communities in a direct way on your travels, head to the Pack for a Purpose website.

The site provides information for travellers about supplies which they could take on their journey to donate to specific local projects around the world. Examples of items which are needed are school supplies, warm clothing and frisbees. Anyone can take part in this free scheme.

This post explains how you can get involved, in five easy steps:

Pack for a Purpose – Information for Travellers