Calculating the environmental impact of travel

Curious about how your budget flight from Paris to Berlin affects the atmosphere?

Climate Care, an organization from the United Kingdom “was set up to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” A tool on their website allows you to enter in your current location and destination to calculate the total emissions (in tons of CO2) generated by your choice of transportation. For instance, a return flight from Paris to Berlin by plane generates 0.19 tons of CO2.

The company also gives you the option of paying your way out of environmental purgatory – or offsetting the pollution generated from the flight via your pocketbook.

“Offsetting means paying someone to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by the same amount that your activities add. In this way you can ‘neutralise’ or ‘balance’ the CO2 added by your activities.” Climate Care takes a small percentage out of each payment, the details of which are explained in their FAQ.

That flight from Paris to Berlin would cost you an extra £1.40 (or $2.60 USD – to convert to a currency of your choice, try XE.com.)

Or you could just take the train instead!