Green holiday with a climate-friendly CO₂ balance? With these tips for more sustainability when traveling, the eco-holiday works!
Prefer to go on vacation by train instead of flying, with less luggage and choose sustainable accommodation: these are just a few ideas for minimizing your own ecological footprint on vacation. You can read more valuable tips on how to combine vacation and environmental protection here.
Environmental protection and travel are not easy to reconcile, unfortunately the opposite is often the case. Because tourism is responsible for about five percent of global emissions. Nevertheless, there are sustainable approaches to at least reducing CO₂ emissions when travelling. These include: less air travel and more train journeys, little luggage and sustainable accommodation with organic food.
Compensate for CO₂ emissions
With every trip you should consider: the further away the holiday destination is, the higher the CO2 emissions caused. This includes long-distance travel by plane. For example, a flight from Düsseldorf to Mallorca consumes around 0.75 tons of CO₂ per capita, and even 3.65 tons of CO₂ to New York. To compensate for the CO₂ emissions, investments can be made in climate protection projects.
In the event that it is not possible to avoid long flights, donations can be made. There are a number of ways to offset the pollutant emissions from air travel. For example, investments can be made in organizations such as MyClimate or Atmosfair to support environmental projects.
Have you ever cycled on vacation?
Another alternative to air travel is to choose another means of transportation, such as a bicycle, train or bus. This brings the holiday destination closer, but the CO₂ footprint is also reduced and climate-friendly holidays are possible. There are also a large number of undiscovered places in your own country or neighboring countries that are definitely worth a visit.
With the night train to Italy or Croatia
A large number of popular holiday destinations in Germany and the rest of Europe can be reached quickly by train. These include the North and Baltic Seas, the Alps and Lake Constance. Also possible: a trip by night train to Italy or Croatia. In addition, the journey is much more relaxed – without any motorway traffic jams or driving stress. Early booking saves additional costs.
Leave the car at the holiday destination
Also good for the environment: leaving the car at the holiday destination. Instead of renting a car, the area can also be explored on foot or by bike. With a little research, apps from the local transport companies or even carpooling, the travel destination can be explored in a climate-friendly manner.
Sailing instead of a cruise ship
Cruise ships are among the biggest environmental sins in the tourism sector. In addition to enormous CO₂ emissions from the steamers, fine dust pollution, waste at sea, noise and a wasteful lifestyle on board also have serious consequences for the environment. Cruise ships are an enormous burden on the climate. If you still don’t want to do without water when traveling, the best thing to do is choose a sailing trip.
With the sailing boat, you can not only plan fantastic excursions on vacation, they are also a climate-friendly alternative to large ships. Sailing trips are up to six times more ecological than a ferry ride and around 18 times more environmentally friendly than a cruise. If you dare, you can organize a complete sailing trip to Corsica, the Balearic Islands, the Cyclades or Sardinia.
The limited space on a sailing boat alone ensures that the journey conserves resources. Because large water reserves have no place on the boat and electricity is limited. Extensive showers or night-long computer sessions are not even possible. Also for the supply on board mostly only fresh and local products are used, which have to be bought regularly.
Book sustainable hotels
You also have a choice of accommodation on the mainland and can book sustainable hotels or holiday apartments. Over the years, more and more organic hotels or farms have opted for sustainable operations. So mainly organic food is on the menu or even grown by yourself. In addition, these accommodations save water and electricity by doing without constant washing and lack of air conditioning.
Protects your back and the environment: Pack minimalistically
Another idea for a green holiday: pack sparingly and minimally. Resources are also saved by reducing luggage. Because if you pack less, you save weight in the car or plane and thus reduce fuel and energy. Also superfluous souvenirs and souvenirs from vacation, which later only end up in the attic or in the basement, are quite unnecessary.
Sustainable packing not only pays off when luggage is light, but is also important when packaging food and beverages. This means that snacks and meals can be transported in reusable containers when travelling. When traveling, plastic and disposable products should be avoided as far as possible. This sustainable idea applies not only when travelling, but also at home.
Not only food, but also soap and shampoo can be bought in sustainable packaging. Soaps can be transported in a net or can without any plastic.
Beware of harmful substances in sunscreens
When it comes to other hygiene and care products such as sun creams, you should also rely on ecologically harmless items. Organic sunscreens are not only better for the body, they are gentler than traditional products that damage coral reefs.
The UV filters octinoxate and oxybenzone in sun creams are of particular concern. When these substances end up in the ocean, corals, bleached by the filters, suffer. Many products also contain nanoparticles, which are eaten as micro-plastic particles by marine life and have serious consequences for the environment. The better choice: biodegradable and coral-friendly creams.
The issue of waste separation must not be neglected on holiday either. But collecting your own rubbish is not the only way to make an important contribution to the climate. If you want to do more to protect the environment, you not only take your own rubbish with you after a day of swimming on the beach or on a hike in the mountains, but also collect rubbish from others that is lying around.
Support local stores
Not only at home, but also when travelling, local shops and businesses should be supported by consuming mainly regional products and seasonal fruits and vegetables. This is a sustainable contribution to the climate and at the same time supports the economy in the holiday destination. Also effective in the fight against climate change: reduced meat consumption, even on vacation.
In addition, it is fun, especially on holiday, to stroll through markets and discover regional products and delicacies. The best choice is made with organic food from regional cultivation. These not only taste better, but are also a lot more climate-friendly. An idea: the good habits from vacation can also be continued at home.
When hiking: Use sustainable solar chargers
Excursions are the order of the day on vacation. But when hiking or cycling, there aren’t sockets available on every corner. Even better: If you need to charge your cell phone, tablet or camera, you can use sustainable solar chargers. These portable, self-contained power sources recharge when exposed to sunlight via a solar panel on the surface, then produce clean electricity.
The following, sustainable tip is not immediately applicable to everyone: travel outside of the popular high season. Families with school-age children are not free to choose their holidays. But everyone who can also travel outside of the school holidays should take the opportunity. Traveling without crowds is then not only more relaxed, but also minimizes environmental hazards caused by tourism.
A possible environmental hazard, which is exacerbated by mass tourism, arises from infrastructure that is only in operation in the main season. Outside of this time, the areas often remain unused and even delimit natural areas. Also important: Holidays outside of the high season support people in holiday locations with constant income throughout the year.
This article was written by Natalie Cada.