Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

By Lisa Rogak

Green is everywhere, especially when it comes to travel. Fortunately, you don’t have to travel by camel and live like a monk – unless you want to – if you want to bring your environmental consciousness with you on your next trip. Try a few of the following.

1)    Ditch the plastic bottles and thumb your nose at carry-on liquid restrictions with biodegradable toiletry sheets from Travelon. Just add water to these 100-percent biodegradable sheets and you’ll instantly have shampoo, conditioner, body wash, even shaving cream ready to go.

2)    Save yourself from lugging an extra bag filled with all the adapters and spare batteries you’ll need to charge your arsenal of electronic devices, with the EcoSol Powerstick, a USB-powered portable device that charges mobile devices quickly and easily. It’s compatible with all mobile devices, including cellphones, Blackberries, iPods, digital cameras, you name it. The Powerstick, which is designed and manufactured in Canada, also doubles as a back-up power source and comes with ten free adaptors. Get one at Bestbuy.ca and Amazon.

3)    If you have to travel frequently for your company, look into Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based group that launched a Corporate Carbon Offset Program in tandem with Air Canada. The program helps companies calculate the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions their employees accumulate in the course of business travel, and then purchases certified carbon credits to offset these emissions.

4)    Whether you’re flying for business or pleasure, it’s easy to figure your carbon footprint with the online carbon emissions calculator from Nature & Culture International (NCI), a non-profit organization. You can purchase carbon offsets through the group – and buy extra to offset your daily energy usage when you stay home – which will help increase environmental initiatives worldwide.

5)    Traveling to New York or San Francisco? Check out Hitchsters, a website that helps reduce the carbon footprint involved in getting from the airport to your destination while also saving you a few bucks. Here’s how it works: Go to the website to check for other travelers landing at the airport around the same time. Exchange a few emails and arrange to meet up so you can share a cab ride and maybe even make a new friend or two.

Related posts:

1. My Travel Resolutions for 2009
2. Travel to the U.S. from Visa Waiver Program countries
3. The Rough Guide Around The World

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