Travelling Climate Friendly

A new Costa Rican project enables tourists to mitigate the harmful effects of their flight to Costa Rica.
The project is called: Amigable con el cambio climático (Climate Change Friendly). CostaRicaVirtualGuide supports wholeheartedly this project. It takes the things seriously and is simple and concrete.

The idea behind travelling climate friendly.

Tourism to Costa Rica (what we encourage) brings with it harmful effects for the environment. Most tourists enter the country by airplane. Airplanes are among the most contaminating means of transportation because they emit large amounts of carbon dioxide. This causes the much discussed global warming.

The idea of the organization Amigable con el cambio climatico is quite simple: They plant trees in Costa Rica to mitigate the emission of (in this case) airplanes that fly from Europe to Costa Rica. Trees do have the characteristic that they absorb carbon dioxide and convert in (among other things) oxygen.

The absorption capacity of a tree during the years it grows into adulthood is known exactly. The quantity of carbon dioxide a plane emits during its trip to Ciosta Rica is known as well. So it is possible to calculate how many trees a person should plant as to travel ‘climate friendly’ to Costa Rica.

How can you participate?

Suppose: you’re travelling to Costa Rica. For the journey you undertake between Europe and Costa Rica, it is calculated that 4 trees will mitigate your part of the emission of carbon dioxide. Through buying a sticker 4 trees will be planted in your name. MiArbolito organizes the planting of native trees every week. That occurs on ‘strategic’ places: for example at places where soil hydrology is in danger. Or in biological corridors, which aim to interconnect protected areas.
The trees are looked after for three years. That is because during the first three years the trees are most vulnerable. It is by the way forbidden by law to cut trees older than three years.
On the website of Climate Friendly photos made during the planting days are published. Your name is mentioned on a participant’s list of the project. You’ll get the certificate by email.

By buying a sticker you can make a contribution to a more sustainable future!

Read more about the project at:
http://www.friendsoftsc.org

If you have any question, don’t hesitate to ask them at: ‘Ask q question to your  personal Virtual Guide’ at the home page.

(Climate Friendly works together with various Costarican organizations to ensure the success of the project: MiArbolito (grassroot organization that plants the trees), Universidad Nacional (the university gives scientific backup), AyA (institution responsible for water management in Costa Rica; this institution takes care for the trees during the first three (vulnerable) years), Tropical Science Centre (one of the oldest conservation organizations in Costa Rica) and Control Union (an international organization that certify the project and controls the results of Climate Friendly).