8 Tips for Sustainable Travel to Make the World a Greener Place
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Travel is an incredible experience, but unfortunately, many aspects of it can negatively impact the environment and local communities.
From transportation to hotel stays, travel contributes to carbon emissions, environmental destruction, and cultural disruption. The benefits of sustainable travel are undeniable as they can help significantly minimize these negative impacts, ensuring future generations continue to enjoy the world's beauty for decades to come.
If you've been curious about how to travel sustainably, this guide shares some ideas to help you become an eco-friendly explorer. Here are our eight top sustainable travel tips that can help make the world a greener place.
1. Embrace Slow Travel
Slow travel, the practice of staying in a single destination longer than a few days, is one of the most sustainable ways to see the world. Extended stays allow travelers to engage more deeply with the local culture while supporting a community’s economy and reducing carbon emissions.
Studying abroad is an excellent example of slow travel. When you study abroad in high school, you become an active participant in a local community and culture instead of a passive tourist popping by only to snap a few photos.
2. Choose More Sustainable Ways to Travel
Transportation is an essential part of traveling—how else would we get from point A to point B?
However, transportation contributes about one-fifth of the world's carbon emissions. One meaningful way to offset our carbon footprint when traveling is to choose more sustainable modes of transportation.
While flying is necessary when going overseas or long distances, it's better to take buses and trains when possible. Nearly 12 percent of carbon emissions released from transportation come from aviation whereas rail travel is responsible for less than 1 percent! Train and bus travel offer additional perks, too. Although slower than flying, they don't require early arrival for check-in and security and are often more affordable.
Our summer abroad programs for high school students are designed to have our participants become comfortable with using public transportation in their program destination.
3. Support Local Businesses
Supporting local businesses may not seem like an obvious way to be a more sustainable traveler. However, this ensures your tourist dollars stay within the community instead of flowing to foreign investors, which helps boost the local economy. It empowers local business owners to source goods and services regionally, cutting down carbon emissions on foreign imports.
Supporting local businesses also encourages the production of authentic products that preserve the cultures and traditions unique to a specific place.
4. Respect Local Habitats and Environments
Respecting the environment is of the utmost importance when traveling to preserve local habitats and natural beauty. When venturing into nature, it's essential to have as minimal an impact on the local environment as possible.
Also known as "leave no trace," be sure to always stay on designated paths; take all trash with you; avoid disturbing wildlife; and leave plants, rocks, and natural items where they are.
5. Pack and Travel Light
Packing light is one small way to travel more sustainably. That's because heavy bags or multiple suitcases require more energy to haul from you and the mode of transportation you take.
While new travel gadgets can be tempting, many are unnecessary and add excess weight to your bags. It’s also a good idea to pack only the clothes and shoes you need. Be thoughtful of what you pack and leave the extras at home.
6. Pack Reusable Travel Items
Reducing single-use plastics is another way to become a sustainable traveler. Although sometimes unavoidable, there are several ways to reduce plastic waste while traveling.
For example, carrying a reusable water bottle and drinking local tap water (where safe) can significantly save on plastic bottles (and money!). Refillable toiletry bottles are easy to fill with the products you already have. Solid soap and shampoo bars eliminate plastic use and can help lighten your suitcase. Reusable shopping bags are also a convenient way to reduce single-use plastic when shopping abroad.
7. Select Eco-Friendly Accommodation
Hotels are responsible for excess energy, water, and carbon waste. While it's difficult to avoid them when you're away from home, choosing a hotel dedicated to sustainability is a big help!
Choosing hotels that limit housekeeping, source eco-friendly furniture, and encourage guests to use towels and sheets more than once can also make a difference.
But beware of greenwashing. This is when companies appear to be eco-friendly on the surface without taking any meaningful steps toward sustainability.
8. Decide on a Destination Less Traveled
Choosing somewhere less traveled offers a chance to broaden your horizons while helping reduce overtourism in some of the world's most popular destinations. Overtourism is an increased influx of tourists in places that don’t have the infrastructure to handle such high numbers. It can cause negative impacts on the environment, local communities, and historic landmarks.
High numbers of tourists can also take away natural resources from locals who need them to survive and cause increased pollution and waste. Additionally, it can cause habitat destruction when tourism infrastructure like roads and new hotels are prioritized over local environments.
How to Learn More About Sustainable Travel and Local Conservation Efforts
Check out our high school summer abroad STEM programs. These programs allow U.S. high school students to travel to incredible locations to investigate global sustainability challenges and discover modern engineering solutions.