24 Dec More Sustainable Road Trips
As COVID-19 has put a wrench in travelers’ plans for the summer, many have opted to take road trips to safely social distance and avoid hotels. Here are some tips to sustainably travel on the road this summer.
- Plan your route ahead of time: Planning your route can make your trip more fuel-efficient by not having to back-track. This will also help you to keep track of your mileage and gas usage.
- Choose an energy-efficient vehicle: Although RVs and camper vans are comfortable and convenient choices for a road trip, they are not fuel-efficient. Hybrid or electric vehicles are the best option for fuel efficiency if you have the choice.
- Bring your own reusable containers: Bringing your own water bottles, reusable bags, and reusable containers are great to utilize during road trips. Getting water from campsites or public parks with a reusable bottle, or having reusable containers and bags for grocery stops will make your road trip more sustainable.
- Eat and stay locally: If stopping along the way, find locally owned and operated restaurants or hotels. This will ensure that the money that you are spending while traveling will help support the local economy.
- Leave places how you found them: At the places you stop along the way, make sure you are leaving places better than you found them. This includes properly disposing of waste and recycling when possible.
- Purchase carbon offsets: If you are interested in offsetting your carbon emissions from the trip, different carbon offset organizations allow you to donate money that will go towards sustainable projects.
Words: Marissa Almack
Image: Christopher Rusev on Unsplash