Although airplanes emit various greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide poses the most immediate threat to our climate as it makes up nearly 65% of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
When it comes to eliminating your carbon footprint, one easy step is to offset your carbon emissions when travelling via air. So how do you offset your carbon emissions?
The first step to offsetting is estimating your carbon footprint. This can be done using the Carbon Footprint Calculator which estimates household carbon footprint. Specific to air travel, however, you can visit BlueSkyModel's air mile model, which roughly provides estimated carbon emissions based on mileage flown. For even more specific calculations, you can consider seat size, plane type, and varying cargo weights.
Carbon offsetting includes supporting projects that produce clean energy or eliminate carbon dioxide through various activities like planting trees. This allows polluters to feel better about their impact on the environment and ultimately works to discourage excess fossil fuel consumption.
When exploring ways to offset your carbon emissions, it is important to find high-quality carbon offsets. The best way to find high-quality organizations is considering suggestions from various trusted and well-recognized environmental organizations. These organizations include Gold Standard, Green-e, and Climate Action Reserve. On these websites, they provide various listings based on location and types of offsetting projects.
Additionally, most airline companies provide plans to decrease their carbon footprint, which often involves offsetting options. The Points Guy provides options offered by various airlines like Delta, JetBlue, and United.
Of course the best way to limit your carbon footprint is to reduce your fossil fuel consumption. If you are travelling domestically, it may be more environmentally friendly to drive or even take a bus or train. In addition, you can opt for more fuel-efficient aircrafts, or fly economy instead of business class.
Ultimately, it is important to research and find projects and organizations with verification and certification about how they use donations to offset carbon emissions.
Check out these resources for more information!
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