Travel Philanthropy

Continental Airlines is my favorite airline because of all the ways I can earn miles towards free travel. Places like Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, Target, Netflix, Apple Store, ShopRite, Hilton, Marriott and the list goes on. Now, there's reason to fly Continental exclusively. It's partnered with Sustainable Travel International, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education and outreach services that help travelers and travel providers support environmental causes. The two are promoting travel philathropy to lessen the effects of travel pollution. After booking a ticket with Continental, Sustainable Travel International calculates how many metric tons of CO2 my flight uses and gives me the option to donate to reforestation, renewable energy or gold standard projects to offset my footprint. For example, I just booked a ticket from Albany to Dallas come this January. In return I was given the following information:

ALB DFW
Flight type Round trip
Total flight distance 2850 miles / 4587 km
Metric tons CO2 0.4282

Then, I was asked if I'd like to donate to the following causes in the amount listed to offset my trip:

$5.14 International Reforestation Projects
Projects to recreate critical forests and provide incentives to protect critical forest land and avoid the cutting of trees. Projects are designed using the standards set forth by the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance (www.climate-standards.org).

$13.46 U.S. Renewable Energy Projects
Renewable energy projects such as wind farms that are used to generate clean energy in the western U.S. Bonneville Environmental foundation provides STI with Green-e certified (www.green-e.org), 100% renewable green tags for this program.

$13.92 Gold Standard Projects
Renewable energy and energy efficiency projects are inspected and validated by Clean Development Mechanism accredited Designated Operational Entities including The Gold Standard (www.cdmgoldstandard.org).

$9.41 Combination of several offset Projects (calculated based on 25% Gold Standard, 25% U.S. Renewable Energy Projects, 50% International Reforestation Projects)

This option lets travelers continue to fly, support the economy and contribute to worthwhile projects. Naysayers will argue this technique simply cancels out global warming rather than effectively reducing it. In that case, do like I do and chose to donate 5% more than what is suggested. Hey, it's only a couple dollars more and it's start.