Holidays
Holidays in faraway places are wonderful. Who doesn’t sometimes yearn for lively world cities and exotic cultures, for sun, beach and sea? But no matter how great such holidays are, they have a downside. We frequently travel far, often by plane or car. That produces a large amount of CO2. About a fifth of the CO2 emissions of private households are accounted for by holidays.
Air travel in particular places a heavy burden on our climate balance. A single flight, for example to South America, increases total annual CO2 emissions by as much as 50%.
So are there any alternatives to distant holiday destinations? Perhaps not directly. There are times when we simply feel like going away. But if we plan our holidays in a climate-conscious way, we can nevertheless save quite a bit of CO2:
1. Travel distance and frequency
Every hour less that you fly benefits the climate. And those who wish to fly far away can protect the climate by going away less frequently but perhaps spending longer abroad.
2. Choice of transport
Train journeys burden the climate much less than flights or car trips. Thus the same amount of CO2 is generated by a return flight from Zurich to Berlin as by travelling around the entire world by train. So the train is a climate-protecting alternative, especially for short and mid- distances. And European night trains even let you save time.
3. What do you expect of your holidays?
When planning your holidays, think carefully about what you expect from your trip, what you are looking for and whether you will really find it at your destination. Many places lend wings to our imagination. But in Switzerland and other parts of Europe too there are wonderful landscapes, cultures that you may not yet know about, sandy beaches and adventures that beckon. It’s ultimately up to you.
4. Compensation
If you nevertheless want to fly somewhere, you can compensate the CO2 generated by your flight. A corresponding sum of money allows you to finance a project that withdraws the resulting CO2 from the atmosphere again. One way of doing this is with a myclimate ticket.
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