Examining the Carbon Free Vacation

James Post is a contributing writer for Earth 911. Become an Earth 911 contributor.

I believe everybody understands the dilemma of flying. On one hand it would be unfair towards all destinations relying on tourism; on the other hand the carbon emissions are of great concern.

I own a small resort called Paradise Bay in Grenada, one of the islands with tourism as main income. I am also a concerned environmentalist. So, I approach green tourism with a serious mindset. That’s why we developed our own version of a Carbon Free Vacation. Here’s a few highlights:

• To support renewable energy, Paradise Bay installed a 80 kW windmill that supplies over 150 percent of the energy requirement of the resort. Considering the cooking gas and diesel/gasoline use because of the resort’s operations and guest activities this makes the stay at least carbon neutral.
• To compensate the flights, we decided to plant trees in Ethiopia. While most carbon offset companies calculate with the sequestration only we also take into consideration that most of the absorbed CO2 will eventually be emitted into the atmosphere. For a return flight from the UK to Grenada we plant 38-40 trees, factoring in more then usual.

Besides the environmental effect of the tree planting there are also positive social effects: Due to the 97 percent deforestation poor people have to walk for miles to find wood for cooking dinner. Reforestation will solve that on the long term.

Then there is also an ecological issue: the once fertile soil washes away when there are no more trees, leaving a desert type of landscape. Replanting stops the process.

While we were doing this exercise we found that—even though we plant many more trees than established carbon offset companies—our cost to do so was still significantly lower than the “offset market” price.

Ultimately we decided to start up a new carbon offset company (Zero Carbon Travel) to let other travelers, hoteliers and tour operators benefit from this carefully designed and efficient program. I would appreciate to hear your comments.

James Post
jamespost@spiceisle.com
Paradise Bay Resort & Spa
www.paradisebayresort.net
001-473-405-8888