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Offset Your Carbon Footprint the Next Time You Travel.
By Julia | March 10, 2010
This March, I am one of the lucky ones who is taking a tropical vacation to escape snowy Minnesota. I’ll be staying in Nassau (Bahamas) all week! Sun, surf and hot tubs here I come!
However, I will be hopping a couple of planes to get to my much-anticipated vacation. So, I’ll pack my American Tourister Luggage and fly to Atlanta’s airport for a layover and then on to Nassau. That’s over 2,300 travel miles, not including the shuttle I’ll be taking to and from the airport. Since this isn’t the greenest way to travel, I wanted to do something that would offset the emissions I will be contributing to.
The company Tera Pass provides a website where you can look up different travel situations and it will calculate your carbon emissions. You can then buy “offsets.” Your purchase is verified to reduce the same amount of emissions that your trip will output. This money goes to fund carbon reduction projects. There are 3 types of projects that Tera Pass funds: farm power, landfill gas capture and wind energy.
Let’s calculate my trip via plane: (I’m not sure of the make/model of my shuttle, so I’ll have to calculate those emission when I return)
- Minneapolis airport to Atlanta airport: 906 miles = 353 lbs carbon emissions
- Atlanta airport to Nassau: 730 miles = 328 lbs carbon emissions
- Return flight miles: 1,636 miles = 681 carbon emissions
Total emissions for my flight are 1,362 lbs and 3,272 miles. To purchase a standard 2,000 lb emission offset = only $11.90! I am taking my husband with me on this trip, so to pay for both of our offsets would still only be $24.
Tera Pass also allows you to calculate your emissions for your commute every day to work, as well as your wedding carbon footprint! So, the next time you’re taking a trip or just driving to work, know you’ve got the option to offset those carbon emissions.
Topics: Business Travel, Domestic Travel, International Travel, Luggage, Bags, and Travel Accessories, Trip Planning | No Comments »