Global warming is a serious threat to our ecosystem and air travel is the fastest growing contributor to the problem. Casto regards travel as having a positive global impact, but we all have a responsibility to limit our personal impact on the environment. We have compiled a list of our top travel tips to help you reduce your impact while traveling:

• Pack lightly: more luggage means more fuel burned
• Choose an electronic ticket, when available: save a tree and a few dollars
• Email a copy of your itinerary to family members, house-sitters, etc. instead of leaving printed copies for them
• Request the hotel to reuse linens and towels during your stay
• Opt for more fuel efficient planes: newer planes are designed with this goal in mind
• Fly direct: if the cost is the same might as well save time and fuel
• Eat and drink local food and beverages – it saves in fuel and energy to move the items from the origin, and can make your trip more memorable
• Rent fuel efficient cars with high gas mileage and support “green” car rental companies
• Reuse hotel soap and other sundries - do not discard half used bottles
• Use public transportation to and from airports when available
• When traveling for business, share a rental car with a fellow employee going to the same location.  Not only does it save gas, it saves money as well.
• When comparing flights choose a newer plane rather than an older model.  Newer planes are significantly more fuel efficient.
• Turn the lights off when you leave your hotel room.   You wouldn’t leave them on if you were at home, so may as well turn them off when traveling.
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• If you hotel doesn’t offer in-room recycling, suggest that that they do.  Many hotels want to provide this service but are concerned about traveler reactions. By hearing from the public it will encourage them to offer the service.
• If the water in your location is safe, consider using tap water rather than bottled water at the hotel.  Most hotels are unable to recycle water bottles so they just end up in the trash.
• Examine the lights.  Many hotels still use incandescent lights which require significant more energy, and burnout more frequently, than newer CFL or LED lights.  If your hotel is using incandescent lights, please leave a message for the hotel suggesting they switch.
• More and more hotels are LEED certified (the standard in sustainable building design).  When comparing similar hotels opt for the one that is LEED certified.
• Learn to use the thermostat in your room and be cognizant when using the air conditioning.
• If you bring a newspaper with you on your flight consider recycling it in the airport. Most airports in the US now offer newspaper recycling stations in the boarding gates.