Of all of the decisions we make to reduce our carbon footprints as individuals how we travel could potentially be one of the most significant. Air travel is especially harmful to our environment making up roughly ten per cent of our carbon footprint worldwide. If travelling to Europe why not travel via the Eurail Global or InterRail, this would produce less than a quarter of emissions compared to the same journey by plane. For travelling to some destinations flying by plane will be unavoidable so when you do have to fly make the more responsible decisions. For example, during a flight it is the taking off and landing that create the most carbon dioxide emissions so do try to take a direct flight. If you have to change it will mean your carbon footprint increasing quite a bit.

 Although travelling on a water vessel does create far less carbon dioxide emissions than flying it does still need assessing and areas for improvement identified. There are many ideas in the pipeline with most travel companies under pressure to become more ‘green’. There is a Scandinavian company developing a new concept that goes by the name of ‘Orcelle’, this would be a mode of water transport that only omits water vapor and steam. Some industry experts have heavily criticized the design, saying it will never work. Companies who run and/or own large shipping companies are being made aware of the savings that can be made (in carbon) just by ‘slow steaming’. This method is simply moving at a slower speed and in turn using the fuel that is burnt in a more efficient way, there are special techniques that have to be followed but it is believed to be fairly effective. There are other technical adjustments that can be made to lower the rate at which a vessel will burn fuel; these are being adopted by shipping companies.

 For on the road vehicles, there have been big changes. If you are using a private motor vehicle, bus or coach there is the opportunity (depending on the vehicle) to use ‘green fuel’ such as bio-diesel. Vehicles that run on electricity instead of fuel are also an option. When travelling with companies look for companies that are actively involved in being ‘green’. A good example of this would be the ‘Big Green Coach’ company.