I have a passion for traveling, whether it be by plane or by car, I absolutely love to travel. I've gone to many places not only this year but in the past years of my life. I know that going to places like Italy, Hawaii, England, and Russia have severely increased my carbon footprint, not only because of the plane flights necessary to get there, but also because of the driving involved in getting from place to place when we are finally in the countries. I know that I won't stop traveling, so in order to combat this I do a few things while traveling to try to reduce my already hefty footprint. When possible, especially in larger cities like London or Florence my family and I try to either ride public transportation, such as the metro, or to walk to wherever we want to visit. This helps us to get good exercise, contributes to the local economy, and helps reduce our footprint.

I completely agree with this. As I am in a family that loves traveling I also have a big carbon footprint. We travel many places both in car and on planes and although it is bad for our environment its hard to just stop traveling and there are things like you mentioned that can reduce my footprint but at the same time allow me to keep traveling,

I think that as long as you are making an effort to limit your carbon footprint, and if you are conscious about the effect it has on the environment, you should be able to travel without limitations. The important thing is that you are aware of your effect on the environment, which means that you can take other steps at home to combat your love for travel.

It is also great that you use public transportation while you are traveling, as it does come with all the benefits you listed above. I hope that we can improve our public transportation here at home so that more people use it on a daily basis. That way we can help our environment on a daily basis, rather than just on vacation.

I strongly agree with you because I am exactly like you. I love to travel and even though I know it has a negative affect on our earth, I still don't think I am able to resist it. I believe that there are many other ways to make up for taking planes, and every little thing counts. Turning off the heater or air conditioner when not needed or turning off the lights when there is natural sunlight are different steps we can take to make a change. There are many simple steps that might not seem like it benefits the earth at all, but simple things count. The more simple steps we take, the more our atmosphere will change, therefore as long as we keep an open mind and look out for things that might affect our earth, we will be fine.
Although the use of planes has a negative affect on the atmosphere, it is something we have to use in order to travel and there really is no other option or alternative. We can't just stay where we are forever. We need to experience what this earth has for us and if that means taking planes to the other side of the world, that is what we will do. We  just have to make sure that we are actually making an effort to make a change and pay attention to things concerning our atmosphere.

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I agree with you. My family also likes to travel a lot and recently we made a big trip to Italy for the summer. Being on a trip for about 17 always for the round trip was pretty bad for the environment. But when we got there it was so warm and pretty, we walked for almost half the trip. By walking we did not ride in cars a lot only when changing our location form city to city. We tried to walk everywhere we went especially since we were in cities that already had a lot of CO2 being released.
For me my transportation was the biggest number for my carbon footprint. This year in particular my family traveled a lot but usually we don't do long distance traveling. My relatives live in Delaware so we drive 20 hours trips in the car about three times year. The car we drive in doesn't have a big miles per gallon number so there's a lot of gas needed. I think if people in general looked for cars with a bigger number for miles per gallon it could make a big difference.

Travel is something done by almost everyone in the world. Travel by car can depending on you circumstances be very damaging to our atmosphere. If you are traveling on a road trip in a car you depending on you mileage are still contributing quite a few CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. However if you are traveling this same distance over land but on an airplane and not in a car it can be very damaging do to the amount of fuel used in a plane and the high speed this plane goes at. Travel also could be clean with green energy being used in cars that are going on road trips contributing 0 emissions. Soon as well developments in travel could be showing in the near future planes that are powered by solar panels. This would almost entirely eliminate plane emissions which would make travel much cleaner. Travel is soon to be very clean and is getting to where it needs to be on a clean scale, travel in the next few years will be very efficient.

Great conversation.  I have all but stopped flying around the USA.  I now take the train across the country and back at least twice a year,  It's beautiful, not too expensive, I meet interesting people and get a lot of work done.

I also *love* overseas travel, but after realizing how big a carbon impact I was having, I now do it a lot less than I used to. When I do travel overseas, I try to travel in one big trip (with one major roundtrip flight, non-stop if possible)  where I stay for longer in my destination, and like Ava I try to use public transit once I arrive at my destination.

Also, when traveling to Europe, this is what I do: I find the cheapest non-stop flight (let's say to Frankfurt) and then take the excellent European train system to whatever city is my actual destination.

I also love to travel, but as you pointed out, emissions from transportation are often a big impact on our carbon footprints. I think it's great you've managed to find alternatives for driving like public transportation, and I will also try to conserve energy and water while traveling abroad.

I agree with this statement as well, as my family is also big on traveling. Much of our family lives outside the state and country, in places like Oregon, Ireland, and Australia. I also love to travel and experience new parts of the world. Since my family lives so far away, we do not see them that often. It does bring up my carbon footprint, due to all the flights and long drives. I think that walking and using public transportation while traveling helps a lot. I will try to limit the amount of drives I take and walk whenever I can while traveling.

Transportation is definitely a leading contributor to my carbon footprint. Traveling is something that a lot of people don't want to give up, and for good reason. However, as you said, it is extremely important to do the small things when traveling to reduce your footprint, like walking to places, carpooling, etc. I would also suggest taking a train when traveling on the same continent. Not only is it beautiful (some of the views are incredible), but it is substantially better for the environment. After research conducted by Eurostar, it was concluded that taking a train instead of flying can reduce CO2 emissions per passenger by approximately 90%!

I agree that transportation can be a large factor to carbon footprint, especially through flying. I usually travel 3 or 4 places a year, and some of those are only accessible by plane. However, with closer cities, my family tries to take the bus or train whenever possible to have a lower carbon emission. When I have gone to a city or new place, my family and I try to take the metro, walk, or ride bikes as much as possible, which is also a great way to explore a new place. I think it is very important to try and use as little carbon as possible once you have arrived at your destination to help combat the carbon emissions from traveling.

I also love to travel. The last year I have taken a few flights, one of which took me to Japan. The trip was amazing and I definitely don't regret going, but I did feel guilty about the significant impact I was leaving by emitting so much carbon of such a long time (14 hours). When calculating my carbon footprint I was pleasantly surprised. My travel and transportation section combined with home, food, and purchases, created a carbon footprint still under the average for my area! I'm a vegetarian and live with other vegetarians and vegans. As a family we cut carbon emissions, just by eating differently. Along with this we recycle everything we are able, and compost food scrapes as well. I even live within walking distance to the school so I don't need to burn fossil fuels by driving. The realization that my normal lifestyle makes up for my common travels was great. If you love traveling and do it a lot, it's especially important to focus on making decisions which help cut down on carbon emissions.