Why I No Longer Do Far-Distance Travel

When I was finally old enough to travel on my own, I became aware of some of the issues involving traveling when it came to the environment. The average person produces around 4.5 tons of CO2 a year (Gössling 2). And a decent chunk of it can come from travel with it averaging at 0.25 tons CO2 per passenger per hour flying (Carbon Independent 22), 0.05 tons of CO2 per 120 miles driven (United States Environmental Protection Agency), and 0.07 tons of CO2 per passenger while using long-distance train travel (Katz-Rosene 6). By traveling from NYC to Seattle would take 9 hours and 50 minutes, and by flying this route twice I would go over the average tons of CO2 produced in a year at around 4.9 tons. That’s not even what I would consider an exceptionally far distance, and with some foreign flights going even longer I could exponentially increase my CO2 emissions for the year. Deciding not to travel far distance was easy, but it was important for me to fill the void left by eliminating long-distance travel. So over 2 years I’ve been exploring my local area from my home state Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New York. Through this I have either explored or have researched fairly extensively on the places I’d enjoy, and I have found more than adequate places to spend my time throughout the year.

What I Consider Short-Distance Travel

What I consider short-distance travel is any method of traveling that produces only around 0.05 tons of CO2 per the entire trip. So anything under 120 miles of travel through car or a short distance trip via train meets the sustainability goals I have personally set for myself.