We are passionate about nature and the animals within it – this is why we love travel and adventure. With that said, travel can certainly create a carbon footprint, so we are always very mindful about how we live and travel.
Water
While traveling it is very easy to consume many plastic water bottles per day per person. In the developing world (and even in first world countries) it can be difficult to find water dispensing facilities, this is why we travel with a water purification pump. The one that we use is MSR MiniWorks EX Microfilter, Water Purifier System but there are many others on the market – yes it takes a few minutes to pump water everyday, but you can take almost any kind of water – lake, river, hotel room and make it into crystal clear and healthy water quickly and easily. The key to a good pump while traveling is its filter -for us being homeless, it is our house water purifier and needs to have a filter that can withstand use for at least 3-4 months.
Another must have for us are water containers to carry the water that we just pumped – important to have a handle to easily attach to backpacks. Stainless steel coffee cups are another must as they are great for both hot and cold beverages and again eliminate the need for single use cups – since we are such minimalists we stuff socks and other such items in the cups when they are not in use.
Reusable items
We also have a few heavy duty yet easily collapsible canvas bags – for shopping and carrying extra “stuff”. We always take these bags along with a reusable take out container with us whenever we eat in restaurants. This way we eliminate the need for take out containers and the plastic bags that usually come with them.
Plastic straws
Plastic straws are very rarely recycled (especially in developing countries where it is hot and many people use them to sip on refreshing drinks – we get it). We have stopped using them altogether and have found that we do not miss them. If you do, we hear that traveling with bamboo straws is just like having the plastic one, just so much better for the
wild life that ends up suffering because of the plastic version.
Animals
As I stated earlier, animals and nature are our passion. This is why we try to support as many mindful charitable organizations that help animals as we can.
Soi Dog Foundation in Thailand is one of our favorites.
Education is key when it comes to raising awareness about what we should and should not do with animals. As an example, until one realizes what torture an elephant endures to be ridden, an elephant ride does not seem so bad.
NEVER RIDE AN ELEPHANT.Petting a cute lion cub also seems harmless and something most people would love to do. However, almost all of these
“sanctuaries” are no such thing. We always do our research in advance and vote with our money to help support organizations that are local and truly focused on the animal and not the profit from them.
Hotel Living
Since we live in hotels and Airbnbs we are very mindful about how often cleaners clean our rooms. We do our own cleaning for the most part, because every time the cleaners come in they change sheets, towels and replace plastic garbage bags – all of that adds up from a carbon footprint perspective.
We want to be able to lead this life style for a very long time – given how quickly the world is changing we want to make sure we do our part, so if you have any additional ideas about how we can be even more ecofriendly please do shoot us a message.
