Low impact travel is a mainstay when it comes to your own sustainable travel. Whatever locations you've picked, how you travel can make the difference.
• Pack Light
Bring less baggage to physically lighten the load on the plane. It may seem a small thing, but as Business Insider points out, ‘the lighter the aircraft, train, car, or boat, the less energy is needed.’ The more people who are proactive in their choices to travel more mindfully, the larger the impact.
• Fly Direct
According to Climate Action Accelerator, ‘choosing direct flights over connecting flights considerably reduces emissions. Indeed, a large part of a plane’s fuel consumption occurs during take-off and landing.’ Nonstop flights also decrease the number of detours caused by stopovers, providing a more direct flight path.
• Take it slow and go for longer
Here are A’ARU, we are advocates of slow travel. Life Unhurried puts it best, describing slow travel as ‘an approach … that embraces meaningful connection and authenticity. Seeing places through the eyes of a local; taking time to savour the sights, tastes and sounds of a landscape; or simply just being. It almost requires a complete redefinition of the very concept of time.’
• Spend Intentionally
Ask yourself where and to whom is your money going? Where are the items you’re purchasing coming from? How is your spending supporting a circular economy? In other words, is your spending supporting a linear ‘take-make-waste’ mindset, or encouraging conscious consumption?
• Reconsider First Class
In a study by World Bank, it was calculated that first class flyers have a carbon footprint up to seven times higher than that of the average passenger. According to Mossy Earth, ‘If the space taken up by first-class seats was used by economy class seats the number of passengers on the airplane could increase such that each one would be accountable for a smaller share of the total fuel per passenger.’
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What A’ARU seeks to do is refreshingly simple: to open the door to reliably better travel choices that everyone can trust.
