Jul
The Carbon Footprint of a LIP
One thing people may be concerned about with the LIP lifestyle is the effect on the environment - and to use the current ‘en vogue’ term, your own carbon footprint.
In absolute honesty, it is not something I’ve been overly concerned with since we started our journey - more focused on pursuing the lifestyle we’ve always dreamed of…but perhaps I should have been. I have paid the ‘carbon offsetting’ additional payment that expedia offers for all our flights booked through expedia so far (and that’s practically all of them) and that eased the minor feelings of guilt that fleetingly ran through my mind although I now read that the effectiveness of these is in question.
If you’re not familiar with what makes up your own carbon footprint, it generally comprises of 2 things:
- Your direct release of carbon (by burning fuels to cook, heat your home, drive your car etc.)
- Your indirect release of carbon (the carbon released due to the manufacture & transport of the things you buy, including the fruit & veg transported from halfway round the world so you can enjoy strawberries in winter)
It is estimated that the more developed countries use a disproportionate amount of energy - with heating, lighting, transport and leisure activities (such as travel) being the big culprits - compared with less developed counterparts.
Here are some interesting observations I’ve read whilst doing a bit of research about the topic:
- Short haul flights are technically ‘worse’ than long haul flights because proportionately more fuel is used in take-off and landing.
- If you like to buy the latest of everything, love shopping and often eat packaged convenience food, you should feel very, very bad.
- In developed countries, heating is the biggest user of energy, accounting for 70% of energy used.
- There are organisations such as Travel Foundation, which funds carbon reduction programmes in resorts around the world. It is currently working with operators in the Caribbean on an energy-efficiency scheme for tourist accommodation that will be the equivalent of taking 2,800 cars off the road.
Unfortunately, given the nature of life today there is no way you can eradicate your carbon footprint totally but as a LIP there are ways to help reduce it…even if you are flying halfway round the world every now & then.
Whilst the flights are clearly a big contributor to our carbon footprint, the following hopefully help make up for it a little:
- Choosing to stay in hot countries means that we don’t ever need heating (and we also try not to use air conditioning ever).
- Virtually all of the places we’ve stayed have used environmentally friendly, longer lasting lightbulbs and here in Grenada water is heated by the sun in rooftop containers…or you just take a refreshing cold shower.
- Buying local produce and avoiding imported (expensive) supermarket goods - this not only cuts down on transport costs but there’s the addition of all that extra energy in developed countries that goes into the marketing of each product (think of all those ad execs & brand managers sitting in their neon-lit offices with their laptops, burning the midnight oil trying to figure out how to sell you more stuff). On the other hand, Chris our local coconut man does no advertising, other than stand at his stall all day long and sell his fruit to passers by.
- Whilst we have needed a car this time in Grenada because our apartment is miles from anywhere and up a massively steep hill, next time we won’t use a car at all and will get the buses, walk or cycle (if we can hire some bikes long term). In all other places, we’ve walked or used public transport.
- Whether the carbon offsetting schemes are truly effective, only time will tell - but we will continue to contribute to them in the hope that every little helps. If nothing else, it has certainly made us more aware of the issue and will impact on any future routes and flights we’ll be planning.
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