One Planet Guide - an interactive tool for sustainable travel
Distinguish between greenwashing and genuine sustainable engagement
With appealing illustrations, inspiring travel tips and well-researched knowledge, the "One Planet Guide" helps to classify the effects of one's own travel behavior and at the same time provides one or the other aha effect. He shows how to distinguish greenwashing from real sustainable corporate commitment, gives tips on how to save resources on arrival and on site as well as orientation on how to deal with hawkers or when visiting spiritual places. A total of 24 sharepics and intuitive usability invite you to share the collected tips on social media. In this way you can share the newly acquired knowledge with your friends and actively contribute to spreading the word about sustainability when travelling.Next to ours 10 tips for sustainable travel, we are always happy to be inspired by the work of other organizations and never stop learning. The One Planet Guide also provided new impetus. We asked Antje Monshausen, consultant for tourism and development at "Tourism Watch", our three questions.
1. What was or is your motivation behind the "One Planet Guide"?
Travel should be a great experience for both guests and hosts. With the "One Planet Guide" we want to enable a change of perspective that shows the positive and negative effects our travel behavior has on people and the environment in the travel regions. We hope that the sharepics and tips that you can collect will be shared by many, so that more and more people get motivated to travel fairly.
2. What is your advice to our readers: What can you do specifically for a better future?
A journey consists of so many steps - small and big: It starts with the preparation of the trip, booking and arrival. Then all the on-site activities follow – from choosing the hostel, going on a trip to a certain place, deciding whether to travel by public bus or a rental car, to interacting with beach vendors and waiters. With all these steps, we have the opportunity to make a contribution to ensuring that the local people are better off, that they do not become extras in our dream trips and that we use resources sparingly.
My top 3 things to do there are: buy as few plastic bottles as possible, explore the holiday resort without a cell phone or comparison portals, and stay at least three nights with private families in homestays. The nice thing is that this also improves the travel experience for you – more authentic and much more intense.
3. How do travel and sustainability go together for you?
Being on the road in a new environment, be it in a foreign city or naturally in nature, sharpens the senses and makes you more receptive to new perspectives and experiences. In my opinion, traveling awakens sensitivity to the environment in which one lives and ultimately one's own awareness of sustainability.
When it comes to air travel, however, we have to be honest: the climate footprint is immense and far exceeds what every person in the world is entitled to in a year. Every flight saved is therefore important. This is possible within Europe, but when traveling to Africa, Asia or Latin America it really means: Less is more. If you travel less often, stay longer and immerse yourself in the place more intensively, that is not a sacrifice, but a gain - for me and the people I meet. A long-distance trip is a great privilege that should only be granted every five to ten years.
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