Environment and Charity

Every single human being has a carbon footprint, the size of which is affected directly or indirectly by our activities—from the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, to the way we choose to travel.

A carbon footprint is the amount of planet-warming emissions of any individual, business or nation calculated and presented as an equivalent weight in carbon dioxide (CO2).

As global population increases, so does the size of humanity’s footprint.

C02 is a greenhouse gas (GHG). For millennia, GHGs have helped keep the planet life-sustainably warm, as they collect the Sun’s heat, reflected off the Earth, and send it back down. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, however, humans, mainly through burning carbon-rich fossil fuels, have released enough C02 into the atmosphere to disturb the balance: warming up the globe.

This change in climate threatens all forms of life, the extremes being: droughts; famines; wild fires (more C02 released); oceans acidifying; species extinction; melting ice caps (GHGs released and sea-level rise); increased hurricanes; floods; and protective ozone layer depletion.

Therefore, the bigger the footprint, the bigger the problem.

Reduce and offset: every individual can make conscious lifestyle changes to reduce one’s carbon footprint in every way possible. Where unable, we can begin to offset.

At Children’s Flight Chaperone we understand travelling adds to one’s footprint. Some modes of transport emit less carbon, but, for the modern person, a trip from the UK to New Zealand via ship is an unlikely option; therefore, a positive action is to ‘carbon offset’ a portion of one’s travel emissions.

One way to offset is by planting trees, which absorb C02 from the air (and then to ensure they remain there—protected). Woodland Trust UK and One Tree Planted are charities engaged in helping to reduce the impact CO2 is having on our planet. (Please visit their website for more information on the amazing work they do).

Each time you travel with us, we donate to these great organisations. Upon booking, you can choose which one you would like us to donate to. Moreover, offsetting doesn’t have to be just for now: some people in the position to account for all of their present emissions are beginning to backdate, periodically offsetting when possible. For an idea of an average person’s annual carbon footprint, have a look at this blog post.