Globetrotting tourists are leaving a giant carbon footprint on the Earth
It’s not just the getting there. Shopping, dining, hotel hopping all add to the tally.
Going green may mean staying at home.
Global tourism contributes about 8 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, researchers report May 7 in Nature Climate Change. That carbon footprint is about three times as large as tourism-related emissions estimated by previous studies.
The jump is largely because the new study doesn’t just tally up emissions from the traveling itself, like hopping a flight, going on a road trip or taking a cruise. It also looks at the impact of the goods and services that tourists enjoy, from food to shopping to hotel stays.