Traveling is fun! Traveling is awesome! Traveling is great! Yes it is!
However, traveling also comes with lots of pollution and exploitation. Being a frequent traveler myself, I feel responsible to contribute to sustainability and give back to the people who are affected by exploitation.
As I love to travel and don’t want to renounce it, those are the things I do to contribute to the environment that is affected by the travel industry.
Environment
- Use lose soaps instead of plastic bottled shampoo
- Deo roller in glass bottles instead of spray deodorant
- Food packed in boxes for reuse instead of wrapping my food each time in a paper
- Buy lose vegetables, if possible, and not wrapped up ones in plastic
- Bringing my own bags when going grocery shopping in order to not buy unnecessary plastic bags
- Use public transport where possible or use my bike – I don’t own a car
- Don’t print unnecessary things like plane tickets, but work with apps on your smartphone
People
- Join volunteer groups and events in my city or abroad in order to help the community, e.g. beach clean up, feeding the homeless, wrapping Christmas boxes for Africa
- Give higher tips when making use of services abroad, e.g. after a massage, in restaurants, free walking tours, etc.
In the end, nobody is perfect but integrating just small changes into your daily life has such a big impact.
It’s also about the right balance. You don’t have to renounce of anything, just keep it in a healthy balance and don’t overdo it. That’s all!
