Though traveling is essential to enriching one's personality, it comes with its downsides. The greatest of these is greenhouse gas emissions. We know that electric vehicles have the promise of minimizing these emissions in the future. Still, for now, most modes of inter and intra-country travel is based on means of transport that run primarily on diesel and petroleum- whether it be airplanes, ships, cars, or trucks. In 2020, more than one-fourth of the total Greenhouse gas emissions came from transportation.
Therefore every traveler and travel organizer should be well aware of these things and should look to have the minimum of impact on the environment. Sublime Trails is one of the companies which ensures that it makes its travel as environmentally friendly as possible. We work closely with organizations that monitor your carbon footprint during travel and also support neutralizing your footprint. There is an ancient saying about nature “ when you walk in the forest, you should do so gently as to not even disturb a blade of grass”. Although keeping up with this old adage might not be easy, we try to make sure that we abide by it and not strain the environment.
In addition to the impact that the means of transportation have on the environment, there is also a high degree of waste that is generated when traveling. Especially when you are trekking to the remotest corners of the world, we see a prodigious amount of plastics and cans enter these regions. Since these areas do not have any option but to resort to burning these wastes, there are a lot of toxic wastes are produced. Sublime Trails collaborates with the regional organizations of the places where you are traveling to make sure that the waste are recycled. Furthermore, for objects that cannot be recycled, we team up with local communities to figure out a way to do away with the waste that is the most environmentally friendly.
One surprising fact about the traces of greenhouse gas emissions that we generate is that the animal husbandry industry is a major source of greenhouse gases. As a result, we encourage our travelers to switch to a vegetarian diet instead. We are not imposing upon you to do so, but letting you know that the smallest changes that we make to our lifestyle can have a positive impact on the environment.
Travel should be as sustainable as possible. After all, we would like to ensure that the future generation also gets the opportunity to experience the pristine Himalayas and the unique lifestyle that is there. Therefore we believe in not infringing upon the values of a place and the community there.
When the news of the terrible waste at Everest Base Camp in the form of many oxygen cylinders and trash cans surfaced, it was a shock to all environment lovers around the world- not least Sublime Trails. So we teamed up with Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee to ensure that the amount of waste was reduced as much as possible. We also try to educate the locals of the place to adopt alternative ways to deal with waste. And those methods might include natural decomposition (wherever possible, in cases such as plastic), mulching, chipping, and composting.
Sublime Trails also organizes tree plantation programs in various parts of our country- teaming up with Youth organizations or environmental programs aimed at replenishing the areas that are devoid of trees. This not only helps in countering deforestation that is on rising around the world- but also helps places become more aesthetically pleasing and counter rising pollution levels.
Promoting the use of EVs is another way in which Sublime Trails is helping travel become environmentally friendly. We use Electric Vehicles to transport the people who choose to travel with us. We also encourage our travelers to cut out on travels that involve the use of flights and take a longer approach of trekking/ hiking to reach a place (only if this accords with your schedule). Cutting down on your flights will show you alternative ways of reaching a place and also increase your sense of attachment to it.
Sublime Trails monitors the activities of the National Parks regions where you might be traveling. With that, we often participate in awareness campaigns that are organized by them so that people learn that it is not simply the visible components of our travels such as the landscape or vegetation- but the invisible forces such as wildlife in those regions that contribute to its rich ecosystem. Some of the wildlife are endangered too. So we believe that people and travelers alike should take part in every activity that is organized for the safety of these beings.