Flying and sustainability in remote working travel.

Let's face it. Flying is a common way for many of us remote workers and surfers to get around. But what's the impact of all that? And more importantly what can we learn from this and adapt into our daily lives?
​
Here are some statistics for forms of transport. The numbers below are for grams of CO2 emissions, per passenger kilometre.

• Trains (carrying a 156 passenger average) – produces 14 gCO2 (per passenger kilometre)
• Small Car (carrying 4) – 42 gCO2 
• Big Car (carrying 4)  – 55 gCO2 
• Bus (carrying 12.7) – 68 gCO2 
• Motorbike (carrying 1.2) – 72 gCO2 
• Small Car (carrying 1.5) – 104 gCO2 
• Big Car (carrying 1.5) – 158 gCO2 
• Ship – 245 gCO2 
• Plane (carrying 88) – 285 gCO2 

In terms of getting around then flying is not beneficial for the environment. We'd be better off driving across the planet in our own car refuelling hundreds of times. As a side note, cruise ships surprisingly are also pretty horrendous because the amount of fuel needed by a big cruise ship to cover a distance is remarkably large, even though they transport more people.

Flying as a trend though is becoming more and more popular. As a business we are actively encouraging people to move around by displaying properties all around the world in all these incredible spots. We don't stipulate how you travel to our partner locations but there's an assumption the majority of it often involves some flights. 

What can we do to reduce our impact with flying?

"When it comes to flying, there is a hierarchy, a bit like the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy."
(withmanyroots.com got it pretty damn right with their paraphrasing of Lucy Siegle at the Guardian)

"First don’t fly, second fly with the most efficient airline (always in economy) and lastly offset. "

How does that translate to easy takeaways for our lives as digital nomads who love to surf, follow swells, friends and seasons?

1. Stay somewhere longer
2. Look for alternative transportation options, and consider traveling more slowly if you can go overland, via train, bus, bicycle, walking, car or on a sailing boat then do that.
3. Fly less within those countries or locations you are staying. Always avoid local flights where alternatives are possible.
4. Plan to stay in places that don't force you to take flights for visas and visa extensions
5. Choose direct flights where possible, take off and landings use a lot of fuel, so the cost reductions on multiple lay overs are not good for the planet.
6. Research the most efficient airlines and book with them
7. Where you do have to fly, offset your flights by  choosing schemes that help protect current rainforests. The biodiversity and carbon sequestration withheld in a protected old growth rainforest is way larger than that of a newly planted forest. There has been a lot of confusion around this topic in recent years but the latest research shows just how important it is to protect our current rainforests first and foremost, followed by planting of new forests. 
8. Lastly, Coworksurf will assume the worst, assume you haven't read this or need to still fly. We will automatically offset your travel carbon with every booking through our new platform. This will be done through a number of schemes like offset.earth, and our own documentaries to raise awareness around these issues. Please also follow https://www.instagram.com/treehumans/ and for added viewing we recommend this documentary below: Fools and Dreamers. I had the pleasure to spend time with Hugh and visit the Hinewai reserve. It's an incredible space with a wonderful energy. It shows what's possible when we simply allow nature some space.

Much love to you all. Don't be hard on yourselves for having flown a lot. The last thing we need is another thing to feel guilty about, but we can grow from this. We're all learning and we're learning together. Please comment below and start the discussion. What have you been doing, what else should we be thinking about?