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Today more than ever it is obvious to us how important it is to care for our environment and at Click&Boat it is as imortant to us that we do our bit to reduce water pollution and reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean.
Sailing, the holiday alternative.
Sailing is a holiday alternative that can be a lot less damaging to the environment with very little effort. When you think of taking a holiday or vacation, what mode of transport do you think of? Most likely you immediately think of taking a flight. Perhaps you think of a road-trip. Either way, both of these involve burning massive amounts of fuel. Burning fuel releases greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide into the air that we breath and the seas that we swim in. These same gasses block heat from escaping earths atmosphere and thus cause something we are all veyr well aware of – global warming.
We want to change this normality of taking a flight that often last several hours to arrive at your holiday destination. For many of us, especially those of us living in Europe and close to coastlines, there are holiday alternatives that don’t involve burning such huge quantities of fuel.
Avoid flying, start sailing…
According to the International Energy Agency, in 2017 humans added over 32 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere. Air travel contributes about 1 gigaton of this CO2 to the Earth’s atmosphere each year. Of course not even a global pandemic could stop us flying and it is not possible to ask the world’s population to just stop flying completely but there are changes to our flying habits that we can make.
You should always choose to fly on non-stop, direct flights. Taking off and ascending requires vast amounts of energy – significantly more than cruising at altitude. In other words, the less you take off the better. You should also only choose to use fly if your destination is a long distance away. From a scientific point of view, if your destination is less than 600 miles away then choosing to travel by train or car is much more efficient. This is especially the case when there are more people in the car.
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and its full of incredible islands and outlined by historic and beautiful cities. The Mediterranean Sea is less than a 600 mile drive or train journey from almost anywhere in Europe.
Once you arrive at your Mediterranean destination, instead of hiring a car for the week, you should consider renting a sailboat. Cars emit around 1 pound of CO2 every hour. So, although they are more efficient than planes when it comes to arriving at your destination, we should try to rely on them less whilst actually on our holiday. Sailboats on the other hand are powered by the wind. Once you are out of the marina, hoist your sails and allow mother nature to guide you to the next beach without releasing a single gram of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Keep our waters clean!
A sailboat adventure will give you a new appreciation for the sea. It is also important to make absolute sure that you leave nothing behind. Use reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones, use metal cutlery instead of plastic cutlery and use sun-cream that specifically states that it is safe for the environment. Make sure you recycle as much of your waste as possible from your holiday and try to leave the sea even cleaner than you found it to avoid future plastic pollution.
The oceans cover about 70% of our Earth’s surface and about 97% of all water on earth comes from our oceans. About 2% more is frozen up in glaciers and ice caps. We need to respect our oceans and seas if we want to continute benefiting from the beauty and life that they provide us.
At the end of 2020, Muriel from No Plastic In My Sea came to the Click&Boat HQ in Paris to educate us all on how to reduce water pollution and the amount of plastic in the ocean. Founded by citizens, lovers of the sea, parents concerned about not leaving an environmental debt to their children, the association No Plastic In My Sea aims to fight against plastic pollution and its consequences on the marine ecosystem. We now all use reusable, Click&Boat branded waterbottles as well as our very own Click&Boat tote bags instead of disposable plastic bags – perfect for a trip to the supermarket. We want to do our bit to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean.
“A boat cruise is a rare opportunity to connect with the beauty of nature. Unfortunately, the oceans and their biodiversity are threatened by plastic pollution. To preserve the beauty and balance of the marine ecosystem, it is essential to reduce our individual and collective consumption of plastic by at least 30%. Let’s start today so we can always enjoy our plastic-free seas tomorrow!” -Muriel, No Plastic In My Sea.