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Let’s be honest, the jetset lifestyle is hardly a poster-child for green travel. No matter how you slice it, heli-skiing and free-flowing infinity pools don’t do Mother Nature any favors. So what’s the eco-minded traveler to do? Short of holing up in your bedroom with the lights off, you can do your best to counteract the damage via carbon offsets: You calculate your emissions and buy an equal amount in carbon reduction programs (think tree farms or wind energy). It’s all well and good, but if timing the duration of every cab ride sounds more taxing than relaxing, you’ll need to find a responsible travel company who can do it for you.
Intrepid Travel, known for off-the-beaten-path adventures from Antarctica to Siberia, has just announced 38 new “Carbon Offset Trips” for 2009. (The operator aims to be totally carbon neutral by 2010.) Spanning five continents, the excursions include trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and watching the sunrise over the Serengeti. For each trip, Intrepid has calculated the impact of transportation, accommodation and waste. In general, the cost of offsetting that footprint adds up to a dollar per day (often less), and is tucked into the price of the trip.
Southeast Asia is the Australia travel company’s bread and butter (toast and vegemite?), and the nexus for most of its journeys. globorati recently took a test run of the new “Road to Angkor” excursion, which winds its way from Saigon to Siem Reap and Bangkok. We took mostly public transportation and stayed in conservation-minded hotels (where the electricity goes off when you leave your room — which, admittedly, isn’t great for charging cell phones and laptops). Don’t plan on luxe living, either: You’ll have to substitute the chauffeured Bentley with a cyclo taxi (pictured) and support local eateries over five-star cuisine. But after seeing the organically conquered temple of Ta Phrom (pictured), it’s nice to know you’re on Mother Nature’s good side.
read more: 04. Eco | 08. Journey
