How to TRAVEL responsibly and CONSCIOUSLY reducing the carbon footprint.
I don’t usually talk about this, but those of you who already know me, know that for me traveling is something that goes far beyond knowing a new place or culture.
For me, traveling is a unique experience that marks the rest of the life of the person who does it and that is howI want to transmit it to my clients, so recently in one of our trips I saw something that I did not like in a foreign group, they throwed the wrappers of some sandwiches on the floor …
I can’t handle that. I had no choice but to draw their attention.
It is necessary to raise awareness of sustainable travel without a trace.
Look, I’ve done some research and the World Tourism Organization estimates that 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by tourism and could be around 40% in 2025 if nothing is done to prevent it.
At Travel for Change we are aware of conscious and responsible tourism. If the place you visit has no trash can, please 🙏 keep the packaging until you find one.
In my travels, we always go to the restaurants that I know because I firmly believe in supporting the local economy, however if we happened to go to a bazaar, our boys bought some coffees and since there are no containers,me and my team carried a bag for deposits .
For more than 25 years we have practiced the Rule of the Three Rs: Reduce, recycle and reuse, something fundamental in order to reduce energy consumption, reuse materials and reduce waste to finally generate sustainable and ecological tourism , minimizing the footprint of carbon
My rules for a Sustainable Travel:
- Transportation
- The stay
- Consume
Transportation:
In this aspect, we are very clear, there is nothing better and ecological than walking.
We choose our routes so that we can go from the ranch to the point of interest by walking🦶.
Obviously, it is not always possible and there are times when we have to use transport, but when we have to catch the plane we always choose long routes with direct flights.
Stay:
I recognize that in this field it is complicated because I usually plan the stays personally in very specific places, there are so many years in lodging that the owners are almost family, and years ago there was no awareness as there is now. For this reason, I have told all of them to join the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), and I have to say that most of my friendly hotels are going to join the change.
Consume:
I already told you about the 3 Rs, I take it to the letter and my team too.
- Reduce. We try to reduce the consumption of direct products especially because we always support the local economy, but for example if in Portugal we buy, as we usually do, Pasteles de Belém we always use a single container.
- Re-use. We always use, for example, the Belem cakes container, once empty we keep it to throw away other waste and thus avoid the use of plastic bags. It is not always easy but with time and organization it is achieved.
- Recycle. When we dispose of our waste we always use recycling containers. There are times, depending on the country, that it is not always easy to find them but for this I use my local hosting team who is always ready to help us.
With this, what we want from Maria Mendez Travel for Change is to compensate the Carbon footprint in our trips.
