Flying produces the most greenhouse gases out of any form of travel, but a travel app wants to reduce your carbon footprint if you must get in a plane with a carbon calculator and by pledging to plant trees.
App in the Air is a travel app for frequent flyers, but the company wants to help ease the conscious of those frequent flyers who worry about the environmental impact. The app partnered with the nonprofit One Tree Planted to plant one tree for every flight that’s booked through the app.
So far, 10,000 trees have been planted since this new feature rolled out in December. Whether or not people choose to plant a tree when they book through the app, App in the Air will plant a tree regardless.
“Even eco-conscious people need to travel sometimes! It’s great to know that App in the Air makes it simple for travelers to plant a tree and have a positive environmental impact for nature, people and biodiversity,” Diana Chaplin, Canopy Director of One Tree Planted, said in a press release.
Aside from planting trees for flights booked, App in the Air has integrated a carbon-offsetting widget within the app, which can give travelers an estimate on how their traveling can affect their carbon footprint based on a “carbon calculator.” Travelers that offset their carbon footprint the most receive a Carbon Neutral Traveler badge.
“This is most definitely not about flight shaming but as frequent flyers, our community of course recognizes the environmental impact of aviation; so, we’re creating accessible tools to help flyers address long-term carbon reduction,” Bayram Annakov, AITA CEO and founder, said in a statement.
Simple ways that you can offset your carbon footprint when flying include choosing a direct flight over a connecting one, flying in a newer aircraft, flying during the day, and even by sitting in the economy class.
In a time when climate change is at the forefront of many of our conversations, people are becoming more conscious of how everyday decisions will affect the health of our plant.
If you shop more than you fly, you could use the free TreeClicks Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox plugin to make your purchases count. For every purchase made through one of TreeClicks’ 50,000 store partnerships, the company will plant a tree.
There are other ways you can off-set your carbon footprint as well, like merely switching up your search engine. Ecosia.org plants about one tree for every 40 to 50 searches on average.
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