Can You Make Up for the Carbon Footprint of Travel?

Steve and I try to be good environmental stewards in our daily lives, but I’ve been avoiding giving serious thought to our travel carbon footprint. I mean, we travel a lot. Is it even possible that other life choices could make up for all the flights we take or is that a fantasy I’ve been harbouring to justify that window seat view from 30,000 feet multiple times a year? I decided to find out.

Calculating Your Air Travel Carbon Footprint

Using the Less Emissions Calculator on Air Canada’s website, I reviewed our travel in 2018 to see the damage. We clocked in at approximately 75 tonnes of CO2 for the year. I did not travel with Steve last year as much as I usually do (gulp).

Now, we could purchase carbon offsets at a rate of $32/tonne to atone for our travel sins. For a trip to Boston, which Steve does several times a year, it would cost $53.83 for both of us per trip if I tag along. The purchase of carbon offsets funds activities that reduce heat-trapping gases entering the atmosphere (e.g., planting trees). It’s about keeping things equal between emissions and reduction of gasses.

Climate experts seem to agree that making efforts to reduce emissions should be the aim rather than offsetting them if you want to make a real difference. Alright, so maybe other aspects of our lifestyle could make up for our footprint.

Car Ownership and Driving

Steve and I got rid of our vehicle about three years ago in favour of joining a car coop. Our motivation was convenience (no maintenance, no insurance, no hassle) rather than sustainability, but hey, the environment doesn’t care what your motivation is.

Steve and I work from home in downtown Winnipeg. Most of our recreation and other activities are within walking distance, so we do not drive a lot – maybe 2,000 kilometres annually. That calculates to be less than .40 tonnes of CO2. Not too bad! The average Canadian driver travels 20,000 km/year resulting in a footprint of 2.9 tonnes.

Building a car produces emissions too, so that’s a factor as well.

Living Small

We live in a 111.48 m² (1,200 sq. ft) condo in a 95-year-old building. Compared with someone living in a suburban single-family detached home, we use three times less energy. It is far more sustainable for a city to grow up rather than out, the latter requiring the building of new infrastructure. Apartment living is more energy efficient because shared walls mean lower heating costs. Yay for density!

Lifestyle Choices

We have a bunch of lifestyle practices we undertake that probably don’t have a significant impact on the environment, but every little bit helps, right?

• We reduce – we shop with reusable bags and are making an effort to avoid single-use plastics. A few months ago, I ditched plastic shavers and bought a safety razor and blades. Every time I shave my legs now, I make a blood sacrifice to the environment (I hope to improve my technique before shorts season).
• Diet – I think I’m better about this than Steve is, but we try not to eat meat a few days a week. Beef has the highest carbon footprint with all that methane gas cattle produce, so we indulge in that form of protein less often. During barbeque season we fare less well. Startling fact: A University of Manchester study calculated that a breakfast sandwich from a fast food restaurant consisting of bacon, sausage, and egg produces about 1,441 grams of carbon dioxide – the equivalent emission of driving a Honda Civic sedan nine kilometres!
• Going old school – In warmer months, we hang our laundry to dry rather than use the electric dryer.
• Being introverted – Ok, I’m not sure if being introverted has a lower carbon footprint, but in researching this post I came across the fact that texting creates less CO2 than a voice call. I hate talking on the phone and exclusively text unless forced to pick up a call. Score!

More Sustainable Travel

Once that nasty plane ride is out of the way, we carry over our lifestyle habits from home to our destination. That means we take public transportation, walk, or use a bike share as often as possible. We stay at an Airbnb more often than we stay at a hotel. That means we can prepare a few meals ourselves rather than eat out, which has a higher carbon footprint.

We also choose our vacation destinations based on where Steve travels for work. This reduces the number of flights we take as well as their duration. Come on that counts!

The Big-Ticket Earth Saver – No Kids

Steve and I did not choose to be child-free for environmental reasons, but it might have saved our bacon (maybe literally–can we eat more bacon now?). This article in the Guardian cites a Swedish study that calculates that each child born contributes 58.6 tonnes of carbon to a household annually. Wow, that’s a more than a few plane rides!

Hoping for a Solar-Powered Plane

Through no effort to be virtuous, the lifestyle of convenience we’ve chosen turns out to be a bit better for our dear old earth than that of an average human couple. Seriously, I don’t think it adds up to “offsetting” our plane travel. Those emissions are still in the air because of our work and passion for travel.

Examining our carbon footprint has been interesting, and it’s made me more aware of and motivated about things we can do to reduce it further. Is it naïve to hope for the feasibility of a solar-powered plane in the future?

If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to Tag Along Travel? Twice a month, you’ll receive an email with links to recent posts.

PIN IT

Follow my blog with Bloglovin