7 Simple Tips Anyone Can Do to Green Their Air Travel

Aviation currently contributes about 3% percent of global carbon emissions, but air travel continues to grow at roughly 5% a year, meaning numbers of air passenger kilometers will triple by 2030. Most of us are conscious of the carbon footprint of flights, much less the air pollution factor as planes also emit nitrous oxide, and try to limit the amount we travel. But living abroad with small children means that unless we want to totally cut of interaction with extended family (and when the grandparents are this much fun, it's impossible) we have to find greener ways to travel and lessen our impact.

1. Choose your Airline Wisely

Virgin is blazing new trails as part of a $3 billion investment in energy efficiency. The company is experimenting with biodiesel and ethanol-fuels derived from crops-and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in ethanol-related businesses. (But don't expect to ride on a biofuel-powered jet anytime soon. The International Air Travel Association is hoping for a 10% mix of alternative fuels in member planes by as far away as 2017.)

2. Offset your Travel

There are a number of reputable organizations who will do this, and the key here is to look for third-party organizations, rather than through the airlines themselves as the regulations for offsetting are still not uniform and unless there are certifications in place, there is a huge conflict of interest for the airlines to charge a premium for the offset. Plus, third party organizations are more likely to be transparent about where your offsets are going towards and give you the flexibility to choose different green offsetting programs. At TerraPass http://www.terrapass.com/ a flight for 3 family members roundtrip London to Chicago will only cost $60 to offset.

3. Take a Non Stop Flight

Direct flights are better than those with stopovers, as frequent take-offs and landings use more fuel than when the planes are cruising. We also recommend avoiding airlines and airports with a bad track records for delays, which leave planes idling and spewing greenhouse gases for hours unnecessarily.

4. Use Electronic Tickets

Not only does this save paper, but given the recent discovery of BPA on slick paper (i.e. store receipts) it will also reduce the amount of energy and chemicals used to produce a paper copy that will only be later thrown away (or hopefully recycled). For those with iPhones, many airlines have apps that allow you to use your phone as a boarding pass, cutting the need to even print the e-tickets.

5. Don't Eat at Airport Food Courts

They use so much disposable napkins, silverware, cups. If you have time, go to a real restaurant that uses real silverware and cups - or...

6. Bring Food and Drinks

Not only cheaper, but packaging your own foods in tupperware reduces waste. Pack your water bottles and fill them up at drinking fountains.

7. Bring Your Own Toys to Keep Your Children Occupied

Airlines generally manufacture a set of kiddie bags in which they wrap a small set of crayons, toys and everything else included in separate plastic packaging which is extremely wasteful - and if your child is a follower of Murphy's law, as most are, he'll play with none of the toys in the kiddie bag. Instead, we bring a homemade cloth bag of favorite toys that we borrow from friends for the trip, library books that are "new" to our son and puzzles as well, which limit the amount of battery-operated, noisy activity that children have on the airplane.