There is a lot to learn with Low Cost Travel, but with The Low Cost Travel Mag, we’re bringing you all the latest jargon and definitions so that you’ll be up to speed when planning your next trip.
Low cost, Low emission
The most cost efficient way of travelling that takes into account the environment and therefore produces the least amount of emissions of atmospheric pollutants.
Low Cost Travel
Low Cost Travel, also referred to as, Eco travel, or eco tourism, takes a responsible approach to tourism, ensuring that steps are taken to conserve, protect and encourage local wildlife and the surrounding community. Through energy efficiency, education, and ecologically sound day to day living, eco-friendly hotels and resorts seek to support the local environment and build awareness of it and its inhabitants.
Why Should I Be Interested?
The negative effects of mass tourism are well documented, from carbon emissions to a decline in local wildlife, and the rise in popularity of eco travelling signals a sea change in our approach to holidaying. Put simply, if we don’t take action now, in the short term local communities and environments will suffer, and in the long term, we are destroying the planet for future generations.
Isn’t Low Cost Travel and Eco Travel Holidays Still Few and Far Between?
Not at all! There are now many low cost, eco-friendly hotels all around the world offering a fantastic hands-on approach to eco tourism. Whether you plan to travel far and wide or stay in your country of origin, you’ll find some wonderful people running some equally wonderful hotels.
What Can I Expect From a Low Cost Holiday?
The best low cost, eco-friendly hotels seek to educate their guests, offering information about the local community and explaining how they work to support the environment. Don’t think eco travel means sleeping in tents on the bare earth – depending upon where you go, you’ll find amazing hotels, stunning scenery, delicious local produce and a real taste of the local culture. Best of all, you’ll have made a contribution to the local community, and that’s a holiday memory to treasure.
Is Low Cost Travel All About Holidays?
When we think of low cost travel we do tend to focus on tourism, but in fact the benefits of eco travelling extend to our day to day lives too. Daily commutes and unnecessary car journeys all contribute to negative environmental impact, so local awareness is critically important.
Where Can I Go For More Information About Low Cost Travel?
The concept of eco travel is growing in popularity, and has been since the late 1980s, so there are plenty of great resources around to help you find out more. Here at The Low Cost Traveller, you are able to find abundant information on Low Cost, Eco-friendly Travel. We want to show you that it is possible to save money on trips as well as save and cultivate the environment. We are aware of travelers growing demands to travel responsibly so we make it our mission to bring the latest and upcoming information to your door step so that you can save time and energy researching. The Internet is, as always, a fantastic research tool, and you’ll find books around the subject at your local library as well.
What are Environmental Footprints?
An environmental footprint is a measure of what we as humans, demand on the Earth’s ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earths ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste.
Once you know how the size of our environmental footprint, it is possible to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle.
For 2006, humanity’s total environmental footprint was estimated at 1.4 planet Earths – in other words, humanity uses environmental services 1.4 times as fast as Earth can renew them. This shows you once again that we need to drastically change our lifestyles for our Earth to be able to support us.
How can I reduce my Environmental Footprint?
It is relatively easy to make a few small changes that will drastically reduce your ecological footprint. If you are willing to invest more time and energy, you can reduce your ecological footprint even further.
One of the main ways to reduce your ecological footprint is to change the way you use energy. If you rent your home, try purchasing energy efficient light bulbs, and remember to turn off electronic devices when you are not using them. If you own your appliances, think about purchasing a gas stove, a more efficient fridge, or an on-demand hot water heater. High efficiency washers and dryers can also help to reduce the amount of energy you use, and make your utility bills cheaper. If you own your home and want to reduce your ecological footprint, seek out alternative energy sources like solar panels and windmills.
To reduce your ecological footprint away from home, think about how you get from here to there. Use public transit more, or ride a bicycle when the trip is short. Try walking instead of driving. Source your food locally to reduce the amount of energy wasted transporting your food from distant locations to the supermarket. In addition to being better for the environment, buying local food also supports the local economy.
Making your ecological footprint smaller can also be greatly assisted by the three R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Try to reduce the amount of resources you use by purchasing items with minimal packaging, and avoiding products you do not use. Reuse empty containers, take advantage of thrift stores, and find creative ways to bring new life to old belongings. Finally, recycle unwanted items, either in curbside recycling or in the form of donations to thrift stores.
To reduce your ecological footprint even further, think about more extreme lifestyle changes. Live in a smaller house, or share the space in your house with more people. Change your diet: animal products are far less efficient than plant products and require far more energy to produce. Fly less; commercial airplanes are a huge source of carbon emissions damaging our environment. Start growing a garden, and encourage others to do the same.
Whether you make small or large changes to reduce your ecological footprint, they will make a difference. Showing other citizens how easy it is will also encourage people to explore ways to reduce their own ecological footprints, and lead to less consumption in general. While it might seem difficult at first, your changes will make a positive difference in the total amount of resources available on Earth, and will make human life more sustainable
Sustainable development
The idea of sustainable development grew from numerous environmental movements in earlier decades. Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” However, the record on moving towards sustainability so far appears to have been quite poor. The concept of sustainability means many different things to different people, and a large part of humanity around the world still live without access to basic necessities. This shows us just how vitally important it is to be responsible when travelling. When travelers have a voice and demand certain practices, travel and tourism around the world listens and evolves in order that they might fulfill your expectations.
What are Green House Gasses?
Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the main cause of the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In our solar system, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth’s surface would be on average about 33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present.
The burning of fossil fuels since the beginning of the Industrial revolution has substantially increased the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Carbon accreditation program
There are two markets for carbon offsets. In the larger, compliance market, companies, governments, or other entities buy carbon offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit.
In the much smaller, voluntary market, individuals, companies, or governments purchase carbon offsets to mitigate their own greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electricity use, and other sources. For example, an individual might purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by personal air travel. Many companies offer carbon offsets as an up-sell during the sales process so that customers can mitigate the emissions related with their product or service purchase (such as offsetting emissions related to a vacation flight, car rental, hotel stay, consumer good, etc.).
Offsets are typically achieved through financial support of projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the short- or long-term. The most common project type is renewable energy, such as wind farms, biomass energy, or hydroelectric dams. Others include energy efficiency projects, the destruction of industrial pollutants or agricultural byproducts, destruction of landfill methane, and forestry projects.
A carbon accreditation program is often an independent company that you provides other companies such as airports with a common framework for active carbon management with measurable goal-posts. They perform assessments and recognise efforts to manage and reduce carbon emissions from company operations. Performance recognition is ensured with four levels of accreditation: mapping, reduction, optimisation and neutrality.
Editorial Director
