• Heartfire Journeys (HFJ) will research a reliable and robust nonprofit in each country we visit that has a program to mitigate carbon emissions, share this information with our travelers, and ask them to consider donating to offset their air travel emissions.

• HFJ will make a donation to the designated organization for our own air travel emissions, as well match at 50% any traveler’s donation to that organization, up to $250 per trip.

• HFJ will provide a link to a carbon calculator, as well as recommend an average amount to donate that will generally represent the carbon being put into the atmosphere by each of our round-trip flights. 

• HFJ will be a proactive resource for travelers and other travel companies for how to best mitigate their travel impact on the environment.

Background to this initiative from Patricia:

As a diehard environmentalist, I am well aware that the trips I offer require travelers to take long, international flights, and that these flights emit damaging carbon into the atmosphere and contribute to the climate crisis. I have struggled with whether it might be more environmentally responsible to just not offer my trips at all. In my heart, though, I feel deeply that travel opens our eyes to the beauty and fragility of our Earth, opens our minds to the richness of diverse cultures around the world, and opens our hearts to the kinship of all humanity. In other words, I think the tradeoff is worth it, especially in today’s climate of divisiveness and “othering” — but only if I can address the environmental cost of travel along with its benefit, acknowledge this aspect openly, and help educate both myself and my travelers about the impact our travel is having. 

When I started my research for this policy, I thought it would be a slam-dunk: I could just purchase carbon offsets for my trips, and/or recommend an offset company for my travelers who were also concerned about the changing climate. I just needed to find the best company. But the more I looked into it, the more I found the answer was not that clear-cut by any means. I’ve learned about all the ins and outs of carbon offsets – additionality, Gold Standards, REDD projects – and also their huge potential for “green-washing,” when companies boast about addressing their climate impact but in reality just make miniscule donations. I’ve also talked with folks working on alternatives to offsets, and learned about the many downsides of the carbon offset business.

I’ve also read as much as I could about the actual effects of air travel on the atmosphere, why flying is getting such a bad rap, and how complicated it is to try to measure the carbon footprint of a flight accurately. There are so many variables to this equation (how many legs in the flight, how many seats on the plane, how high and how far the plane flies, whether my seat is in economy or first class, etc.) that I get a different result with each carbon calculator I try. On top of that, if I were to purchase offsets through a carbon offset company, I am offered a different amount to pay per ton of carbon based on which project I choose to support! It’s enough to make one’s head spin! But what is not under debate is that flying is one of the largest contributors to climate change that each of us can individually control. According to some sources, one transatlantic flight is equivalent to driving a car for 6 months. Again, the variables are exponential, but it gives one a general idea of the impact.

So after all this research, I’ve concluded that purchasing offsets is not the way I want to go. Travel guru Rick Steves has also looked into this issue, and decided against carbon offsetting too. Instead he has funded a $1 million-per-year “Climate Smart” portfolio through which he can invest directly in projects that are mitigating the environmental toll of travel (https://www.ricksteves.com/about-us/climate-smart). These funds are taken from his own profits, and represent a voluntary carbon tax of about $30 for each of the 30,000 people that will travel to Europe with him each year.

I however do not take 30,000 travelers around the world with me (thank God!), but this direct approach is in alignment with the best of the opinions I received. Cutting out the for-profit carbon offset companies allows any donations to go much farther when they’re given directly to the nonprofits doing the work on the ground. I also want my carbon dollars to support a nonprofit in the country we’ll be visiting, one that operates a program that sequesters carbon in some way – such as planting trees or protecting existing forests – or that reduces emissions, such as installing efficient cookstoves or methane capture projects. So I commit to researching a reliable one in each country we visit, and share that program with my travelers for their consideration if they choose to join me in offsetting their flight emissions in this way.

I would love to hear your comments about this new venture!