We know you're a busy bee, so here's a quick guide on how you can do your bit do reduce your carbon footprint when you travel.
Trans-sustainable
First stop: The airport. When booking flights, choose flights that don’t have stops off (when possible), as the takeoff and landing uses the most fuel! A lot of companies have carbon footprint offset programs, so prioritise using these companies.
For getting around new cities, one of the most stylish and freeing (both for you and the environment) ways to travel is by bicycle. Pack your day bag, and hire a bike with a basket on the front to take around a new city. You’ll see more of the city in less time, giving yourself more time to soak in all the new sights and leave you feeling pretty good about those carbon footprint-free days.
For popping between countries and cities, the train is a comfortable and often luxurious way to travel that is fast and friendly to the environment with less CO2 emissions, energy consumption, use of space, or noise levels. You can sit with your friends, easily store your luggage and enjoy the passing, painting worthy scenery, as you daydream about doing goood.
Eco-tinerary
Of course, everywhere you go there are always certain activities you want to do. A huge part of sustainable travel is sustainable tourism, which means making sure you are putting money back into the local economy. Our focus should be on “minimizing negative impacts [of tourism] and focusing on more positive ones, such as promoting cultural exchange and preserving local traditions”.
Look to local companies and companies that positively impact the community. You want genuine and passionate people to make your trip unforgettable for the right reasons! And be aware of greenwashing*. Going with locality is the best way to experience the culture, and that's why we all travel, right?
The Conscious Travellers non-diet
Eating is a big part of a sustainable travelstyle*! Try to buy local produce and go to restaurants that use local produce. This means that you’re not only supporting the locals but also that you’re not buying produce that has its own little carbon footprint journey just to get to your plate.
As the meat industry isn’t known for being sustainable, or go for free-range and locally produced meats when you do.
A small travelstyle (and lifestyle) choice that helps keep the conscience clear is using plastic-free products. You can achieve that luscious, silky hair with bar shampoos, conditioners and soft skin with body soaps, and it completely eliminates any need for silly little plastic bottles you need to constantly throw out.
When buying on holiday, buy what you fall head-over-heels in love with! Make sure it’s something you really love and can see yourself using/wearing so as not just to throw it out 6 months later when you go home.
Prepared Packing - Goooders Essentials
Try to be as prepared as possible. Take canvas bags that you can fold down for shopping or the goooders reusable water bottle rather using many than plastics ones, as only about 9% of all the plastic ever made has actually been recycled, so even recycling isn’t as effective as we like to think. Bring one of our goooders bamboo brushes or the completely degradable cotton earbuds, any of those things you might usually buy and throw out while on holiday. Being prepared will make your trip smoother.
Plan your outfits and choose clothes you can mix and match so that you are more efficient with the space in your suitcase.
Put that goooders mind to action for a tidy, well organised and thought-out travel bag that can mean the difference to the environment!
Sustainable travellers vocabulary:
*travelstyle - the way in which a person travels.
*Greenwashing - also called "green sheen", is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization's products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly.
