How to Travel Sustainably

Hello and welcome to my little slice of the internet. I am Inspiring Green. In this week's blog, I'll be talking about sustainable travel tips. I am traveling myself. These are some tips to not only help better the environment but also save you a bit of money. Thank you for being here today. I appreciate you.

Okay, so how does traveling save the environment? Well, it doesn't. But there are ways to travel with less impact. I hope that you try a few of the following ideas to lessen the impact you have on the environment.

Consider driving. Driving is tedious, but it's also tedious to take a plane. Planes also use a lot of energy via fuel. While they do transport a lot of people at one time, nowadays you often need a layover flight, which means you are taking more than one plane to get to your destination. While those flights are sometimes cheaper, that means more fuel is being used. Driving is a way to take you straight to your destination. Plus, with the way cars are improving, you'll use less fuel (because cars are more and more fuel-efficient). Plus, there are hybrid and fully electric cars on the market, making travel via car more and more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Some cars have an "econ" (economy) feature, meaning the car will try to run itself in a way that uses less fuel and can improve gas mileage, sacrificing higher performance to do so (so you probably won't speed up as fast). This is a great feature, in my opinion, and it is a great everyday way to better your gas mileage.

Use reusable travel containers. If you're like me, then you don't bring your whole shampoo bottle with you on a vacation. I purchased an airline-approved travel kit. Not that I necessarily did that explicitly for a plane, but instead as a way to take with me small amounts of the products that I like. That way, I'm not relying on a hotel to provide these products to me. It makes it easy to take my favorite products with me. some of these include shampoo, conditioner, leave-in conditioner, facewash, and mouthwash.

Reuse "single-use" packaging I got a free sample of a lotion in a small, 1 oz. container. I used it up quickly, but I realized I could take the lid off and reuse the container. I now have one for travel and another that I keep with me when running errands. Items like that are great to reuse because they were originally designed to only be used once. By reusing, you are keeping that item out of a landfill for as long as possible. There is a "travel section" in some retail stores' beauty departments. This section will usually have small travel-sized products. If you buy those, you can keep refilling them until they break, and can't be used anymore. This is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and environmental impact while traveling.

Travel together If you know that, say, you and a friend living nearby are traveling close to the same location around the same time, try to correlate your trips. You and your friend could carpool together for your trip. I would imagine that this doesn't happen often, but you and your friend could split the cost of gas and therefore save yourselves a bit of money along the way.

Save up for a great bag Instead of purchasing several mediocre bags (because likely they will break), opt for saving up for a higher quality bag. If you need a bag urgently, then do what you have to do, or borrow from a friend! However, by purchasing one good bag instead of several lower-quality bags, you'll be reducing your carbon footprint significantly. Not only does this save material and supplies to make the bag, but it also reduces the energy put into making, transporting, and selling these products as well. Something like this isn't always feasible, however. But budgeting can be a great tool to use to save up for higher quality items like those.

Use reusable water bottles I love reusable water bottles. They are far superior to plastic bottles, and yes, this is a hill I am willing to die on. Not only do they reduce the plastic put into the environment, they reduce the effort and resources used to make them and also to recycle them if they happen to get recycled. Also, plastic water bottles end up increasing microplastic levels in the water. It's a large loop - more plastic water bottles to avoid microplastics, more plastic water bottles are consumed and discarded, then more microplastics end up in waterways. I'll go in-depth about microplastics at a later time. Back to the topic at hand, reusable water bottles stop this problem or at least help alleviate it. I can't count how many water bottles I have stopped using because I have used reusable ones instead. If I had to calculate, I would say it cost me approximately $70 for all of my reusable water bottles combined. The rule of thumb is that the average person should drink a recommended 64 oz. of water a day. With lots of water bottles being 16.9 oz., the average person would need to drink four plastic bottles of water a day for average recommended hydration. One water bottle package - Kirkland brand, 40 counts, 16.9 fluid oz. - cost $25.09 on Amazon (for whatever reason, I couldn't find any on Costco's website) (Source: 3). That ends up costing $0.6275 per bottled water, which we will round up to $0.63. Four plastic bottled drinks of water a day for 365 days is 1,460 bottled water containers per year, equaling 7,300 bottled water containers in 5 years. At $0.63 per bottle, one year of bottled water is $919.80. Five years of bottled water will run you about $4,599.00. One month of bottled water is $76.65 for one person.

For a family of two, the calculations are as follows: one month - $153.30, one year - $1,839.60, and for five years - $9,198.00.

A family of four is as follows: one month - $306.60, one year - $3, 679.20, and five years is $18, 396.

In five years, the average family of four will spend $18,396.00 on bottled water. Almost $20 grand. Can you imagine what you could do with that? I sure could. This just goes to show you that every penny adds up, and just how much bottled water can cost the average American household. And, by the time you read this, these prices could change. Likely they will increase in price.

Bring some of your food IF you invest in a small cooler, you can pack some of your foods. Better yet, you can pack them up in sustainable packaging. A small cooler can run you X to X based on what I found. You can cut up some fruit and vegetables for snacks instead of grabbing fast food out on the road. Don't get me wrong, I still stop for some fast food. But by bringing my food, I'm not reliant on fast food for the whole day. I also bring some sandwich materials - bread, meat, and lettuce (no cheese for me). I'll stop for a restroom break and make myself a quick sandwich, saving me money as well as allowing me to eat what I want instead of what is quick. With a bit of planning, these ideas can make snacking on the road a lot easier and cheaper. Plus, if you're worried about what goes into the foods you are eating, bringing your food lets you know exactly what's in it because you made it. A 9-quart cooler made by Igloo from Walmart can run you approximately $10.88 (Source: 2), and a 9-quart cooler made by Coleman can run you $19.99 on Amazon.com (Source: 1). If you decide to bring your food, there are lots of sustainable options for you to choose from as far as packaging goes. I use a set that I found on Amazon for approximately $25 for a pack of 22 different-sized baggies, but other options can be found on other sites, of course. Some options are freezer, dishwasher, and microwave safe as well. I usually go for items like that because they are versatile and will make me more likely to use them. You can get snack-size containers and package up chopped fruits and veggies, or get a larger bag and include some lettuce. Then, when you empty each container, you can put them in the bottom of the cooler or a reusable bag and wash them when you get home. It is slightly inconvenient to travel with the reusable packaging back and forth, but if being eco-conscious is important to you, this is a great way to help care for the environment. These are just some of the tips and advice I have for traveling more eco-friendly/sustainably. I hope you found a few of them to be of use to you. Thanks for joining me in this corner of the internet. I appreciate your company. -Inspiring Green

Informal Works Cited:

1. Coleman Chiller - 9 qt. portable cooler, Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Chiller-9-Quart-Portable-Cooler/product-reviews/B09HMZT1C5

2. Igloo 9 qt. chest cooler, Walmart

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-9-qt-Laguna-Ice-Chest-Cooler-Red/681417013?wmlspartner=wmtlabs&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1872&adid=22222222277681417013_117755028669_12420145346&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9021300&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=681417013&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5ZSWBhCVARIsALERCvwhuKxe_IYKJEhE80yDJ2iSHzCEJQkO5lphKTt-u2w6h9VTOr7OeLAaAvMfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

3. Kirkland brand bottled water, Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signature-Purified-Drinking-Water/dp/B00QGMOJ4Y

Formal Works Cited:

“Coleman Chiller 9-Quart Portable Hard Cooler.” Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Chiller-9-Quart-Portable-Cooler/product-reviews/B09HMZT1C5.

“Igloo 9 Qt. Laguna Ice Chest Cooler, Red.” Walmart.com, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-9-qt-Laguna-Ice-Chest-Cooler-Red/681417013?wmlspartner=wmtlabs&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1872&adid=22222222277681417013_117755028669_12420145346&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9021300&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=681417013&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5ZSWBhCVARIsALERCvwhuKxe_IYKJEhE80yDJ2iSHzCEJQkO5lphKTt-u2w6h9VTOr7OeLAaAvMfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds.

“Kirkland Signature Purified Drinking Water, 16.9 Ounce, 40 Count.” Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signature-Purified-Drinking-Water/dp/B00QGMOJ4Y.