RCyyz

All of us here travel. Some of us here travel a lot. But none of us can really afford to ignore the carbon price of our travels.

How do you reduce your carbon footprint while travelling?

I'll start off ...

- If I'm going somewhere for a day or 2, I'll sometimes take my own liquid soap from a previous hotel stay. This way I don't use any of the stuff in the hotel.
- I always select Make A Green Choice from SPG / Marriott properties so I can reuse towels etc.
- At work, we automatically purchase carbon offsets for our airfares.

Anyone else?

margarita girl

Ditto for carrying my opened soap, shampoo, conditioner from hotel to hotel or even home until it is empty/used up.

I make a Green Choice even when there are no points involved. I put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on. It irritates me to no end when the hotel has a sign that says hang your towels if you plan to reuse them. I hang them and they replace them anyway!

I bring my own slippers and amenities (toothbrush, shaver etc). (Same goes for airplanes). Slippers can easily be worn for 3-4 months instead of 12 hrs! Also annoying when the hotel unwraps slippers and puts them by your bed during turn down service when I have no intention of using them since I have my own. I presume those go straight to landfill.

Water bottles is another pet peeve. Never use them. Bring my own and refill them from the 5 gallon container in the gym or preferably filtered water dispenser if available.

IHBvet93

In addition to my own water bottle, on my last trip I brought a leakproof, packable mug.

Every morning at the bed & breakfast, I filled my mug with tea or another hot beverage to bring for each day's sightseeing. It was good for the environment, and a way to save money.

zoned_post_meridiem

• Frequent use of Do not Disturb signs -- don't need my bed made by someone else every day.
• Carbon offsets through a trusted source. They're surprisingly cheap, even for long-distance flights, and hey, I get a few extra miles/points.
• Turn A/C or heater off when I'm not in the hotel room -- I think this is one people often overlook, and end up needlessly cooling/heating their room all day.
• And one last one, that will probably not be well received -- do we reeeeally need those J/F amenity kits, or do we open them, admire the cheap stuff given to us for 'free', use it once, then chuck it?

Great new forum idea, by the way!

SK2751

How do you get points for carbon offset? Do you mean via a CC basically?

zoned_post_meridiem

Yeah, just that. More of a tongue-in-cheek comment; the cc points for my $25 carbon credit are going to be negligible.

bitterproffit

I don't buy a lot of stuff. I travel instead. I figure spending money on travel is at least offset by saving the carbon emitted by producing and delivering consumer goods. I love to cook, so I don't eat out much. I buy food as little processed as a I can. I buy most of my clothes once a year in a single shopping trip. I consume most of my entertainment electronically (no actual books, etc). I conserve energy and water at home and recycle whenever possible.

I rationalize my travel by living as small as possible the rest of the time. I do try to use transit as much as possible when I travel. I don't buy a lot of things. I avoid single use items, etc.

To be fair, this isn't driven necessarily by carbon consciousness as much as saving money so that I can travel very well on my very modest income.

Shoople

I pass on the free water bottles that hotels give when you check in and I bring my own toiletries.
The Do Not Disturb sign stays firmly on my door during my entire stay regardless of if the hotel participates in green choice.
Additionally I opt for trains from the airport when traveling in major cities. Much easier, cheaper, and better for the environment than taxis, ubers, lyfts, etc.

mahasamatman

We've donated cases of these to local womens' shelters. They really appreciate them.

zoned_post_meridiem

It's what I usually do, if I'm on my return trip.

PUCCI GALORE

I agree with the A/c - although I usually find that it has been put on in my absence. I do turn out all the lights when I leave the room, and I do approve of hotels where the electrics only work of you are out of the room. I honestly think that hotels should reduce the charge if you agree to keep your towels and sheets. I am sure that many more people would do so if that were the case.

When I am travelling, I turn the fridge down to its lowest setting and only set the heating to come on when the temperature in the house falls below 10C. In Spain the A/c only goes on when the temperature at night is above 27C

email2markt

Only carrying necessary stuff when travelling has to be a good way of cutting carbon emissions. I wonder if there's some room for more innovation here?

For example, if you're travelling long-haul, I wonder if it makes more sense to leave your toothbrush behind and buy one at the destination? I wonder if airports will start seeing a ramp up in the trade of loaning / purchasing material things. The idea being the only thing you need to send half way around the world would be your body (and some garments for modesty ;-)).

cmcc

On this topic it is impossible for me to distinguish sarcasm for sincerity.

NeGourmand

I personally just bring a small pouch of laundry detergent in my pocket, and squirt some toothpaste in a reusable ziploc and carry it in the other pocket. That’s it for a 1-2 week Asia trip. Really all you need is to wash the clothes you are wearing every 3 days or so, and brush your teeth with your finger. As an added bonus, you can use a bit of laundry detergent to bathe and to condition your hair. It makes me so happy to think that Al Gore is able to use the carbon emissions that I otherwise would have made by carrying a suitcase with me. Maybe over the course of several years, my emission saving will be enough to fly the camera that snaps a great photo of the next global warming summit.

bitterproffit

Dude, if you want to live large, live large. But the intent of this forum is an exchange of ideas. If you don't agree with those ideas, move on. Not sure why you felt the need to go out of your way mock those on here that seek ways to reduce our carbon footprint while still traveling. Maybe just do your thing and let the forum exist without your mocking, would that be so difficult?