How Finding A Travel Buddy Can Help Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
There are a growing number of travelers who believe that adventuring alone is the best way to do it. It gives them complete control over their journeys, allowing them to take their preferred routes. And, while traveling alone has numerous advantages, the main disadvantage is the negative impact it has on the environment.
For example, it’s estimated that the overall contribution of the tourism industry to global warming is between 5.2-12.5 percent. If you break this down even further, it is estimated that 72 percent of CO2 emissions from tourism are caused by transportation and 24 percent by lodging.
In this post, we’ll show you how finding a few travel companions can considerably reduce your carbon footprint.
Reduce Fuel Usage
If you buy or rent a car and drive it alone as a solo traveler, you are simply burning through fuel. Finding travel companions to share your travels with is a lot more fuel efficient, and inexpensive for that matter.
Consider the following scenario: you are planning four long road trips around Australia. At the same time as you, two other solo travelers are planning similar trips around Australia. Now, instead of using three vehicles for 12 different excursions, if the three of you grouped up, you’d only need one car and be using about one-third of the fuel.
If the numbers are calculated using an average gasoline car, each car would emit 771 pounds Co2e. By travelling in a group and sharing a car, you will be able to lower your carbon footprint by 6,168 lbs CO2e over the course of these four road trips.
Reduce Electricity
Unless you’re hiring a motorhome, you’ll almost certainly need a place to crash at the end of the night. And if you’ve already opted to share a car with your travel partners, sharing a room can help you minimise your total electricity usage during your trip.
Most hotels can comfortably sleep four people, and even the tiniest vacation rentals can sleep two people. Even if you only share a room with one other person, as a pair, you can lower your electricity consumption in half for each night you share a room.
Reduce The Amount Of Waste You Produce By Traveling In A Motorhome
You get the best of both worlds when you rent or buy a motorhome with a travel companion. You save on fuel and use less electricity throughout your journey because you won’t need to arrange accommodations. Motorhomes aren’t the most practical means of transportation everywhere, although they are quite useful when backpacking in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and The United States.
These countries’ campgrounds have stringent waste disposal regulations. In New Zealand, for example, there is a programme called “freedom camping” that allows you to camp for free in a tent or campervan on public land.
New Zealand has over 500 freedom camping locations, each with different rules and regulations.
The rules for freedom camping in New Zealand are simple:
- Dispose of waste correctly and ensure that all waste is removed and the campsite is clean for the next visitors.
- Always use a public restroom or, if one is accessible, the restroom in your vehicle.
- Conserve the environment by recycling and using designated recycling bins wherever possible.
- If you’re travelling in a motorhome equipped with a toilet and other waste water systems, make sure to discard them at designated dump stations.
Every country has its own unique set of rules and regulations, but they are all geared around leaving the least amount of waste possible.
When you travel in this way, you are forced to consider your waste more carefully. You want to produce as little as possible because it is not only better for the environment but also easier for you to deal with.
How To Find A Travel Buddy
So what if you can’t find a trip companion? You can try using online travel forums, subreddits, or Facebook groups to connect with others in your area. Hostels are also an excellent method to meet other solo travelers. You can also find a travel buddy by using GAFFL. You can connect with travelers from over 170 countries through GAFFL, so you’ll never have to worry about traveling alone.
Author bio: This article was written by GAFFL. GAFFL connects solo travelers with similar itineraries to explore destinations together. Whether you are backpacking in Asia, road tripping in Australia, or exploring national parks in the US, simply type the destination you are traveling to, find travelers who are going there at the same time as you, connect with them, plan trips, meet, and travel together.