How to make your summer holiday more sustainable? Are there simple steps to making your annual jolly greener? You bet. Reducing your carbon footprint starts with baby steps that will mean giant leaps for the planet if we all join in.
Stay closer to home
You might wish to go away closer and for longer, and Edinburgh Self Storage offers flexible self-storage deals if this means that you must leave something in our capable hands. Road trips can be fun, and Scotland boasts some wonderful routes.
Choose sustainable travel operators, and you can check this out by looking at their websites to see if there’s any mention of their sustainability policy.
Look for low-energy holidays
Low-energy holidays are getaways like walking or cycling jaunts that don’t involve hopping on a plane, or several planes, and by using public transport are greener. It’s also key to try to avoid overcrowded destinations because over-visited places can take a terrible toll on local environments and wildlife.
Fly smarter
We understand that staying in old Blighty isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, and there are ways to fly smarter. Take a direct flight and avoid domestic flights if you can, and travel light too. Every single kilogram you haul along with you beefs up the amount of fuel that your trip uses.
And save your booking and boarding pass on an app rather than printing them.
Head for destinations with green credentials
Iceland’s energy is generated almost completely from geothermal resources and protects its surrounding ocean with strict fishing regulations.
The rich biodiversity and protection of the Amazon rainforest has bagged Ecuador the world’s Greenest Destination award several times. You’ll find lots of eco-lodges there too.
The Netherlands has met over 70% of its environmental goals in the last 20 years or so – stuff like the improvement of waste management, air pollution, and nature conservation. And then there’s the cycling and over 15.000 km of bike lanes!
The city of Helsinki is on the way to a car-future by 2050 and increasing rail and cycling connectivity.
Torri Superiore, and eco-village in Liguria, Italy, is an example of a small community that values sustainable tourism and strives toward a low environmental impact for locals and visitors. The locals have used sustainable wood, eco-friendly paint, and local materials only for its restoration.
Treat your holiday home as you would your own
Staying in a hotel can be carbon-inducing. The room getting cleaned too much, using too many towels, using the little soaps and shampoos rather than what you’ve brought along with you. You can also wash things in the sink rather than use the hotel laundry.
Do they use solar power, wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, energy-efficient lighting, and low-flow toilets?
Eat and drink locally
If you stay put where you are by eating at local restaurants, it’s so much better for your sustainable tourist credentials rather than adding more miles to those you’ve already clocked up. Likewise, buying stuff from shops with a local provenance that hasn’t been imported, especially from the UK. The same goes for sampling the local wine.
Find the local recycling bins and use them.
And remember to pack your reusable coffee cup and water bottle, and bring containers for picnics and takeaways.
Respect Mother Nature
Holiday-head can extinguish common sense as you wander off the path of righteousness by trampling over flora in a way you wouldn’t dream of doing at home. Perhaps to avoid wee beasties, admittedly, but spare a thought for the flowers.
Sources:
carbonfootprint.com
jillonjourney.com
worldtravelawards.com
