Our Carbon Footprint

The Problem

A round-trip flight to Europe emits roughly as much climate-changing carbon, per passenger, as six months of driving. It truly is something we consider when we think about our carbon footprint on the world as a company. 

Attempting Solutions

We believe it's more honest and ethical to pay our share of the cost on the environment we are causing. So, at the expense of our profit, we're imposing a carbon tax on ourselves. And we're doing this in an innovative, forward-looking way that also improves the lives of families in the developing world. Here's how and why.

Scientists and development experts figure it takes about $30 of careful investment in environmental initiatives in the developing world to mitigate the carbon emissions created by one round-trip flight between the US and Europe. So each year to cover our climate costs, we'll "owe" a self-imposed carbon tax equal to $30 for each of our annual tour members. Most businesses address this issue by purchasing carbon offsets. We prefer to invest directly in climate-smart agriculture, conservation, and agroforestry projects in developing countries.

We are also always looking to try and use transportation types that incur a lesser carbon penalty on the environment, and although we are limited by what is available in countries, we always want to promote those types of transportation that is better for our world, not just better for our wallets.