1-800-346-6277Our Company > Carbon Neutral Travel
How can one gallon of gasoline produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide?
It seems impossible that a gallon of gasoline, which—depending on the blend—weighs about 6.3 pounds, could produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned. However, most of the weight of the CO2 doesn't come from the gasoline itself, but the oxygen in the air.
When gasoline burns, its components, carbon and hydrogen, separate. The hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen to form water (H2O), and the carbon combines with atmospheric oxygen to form a CO2 molecule with one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms.
A carbon atom has an atomic weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has an atomic weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen).
Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a gallon of gasoline, the weight of the carbon in the gasoline is multiplied by 44/12 or 3.7.
Since gasoline is about 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a gallon of gasoline weighs 5.5 pounds (6.3 lbs. x .87). We can then multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7, which equals 20 pounds of CO2!
Visit www.fueleconomy.gov for more information.
How You Can Get Involved
We ask that our guests consider offsetting the air and/or land transportation portion of their trip (from their home city to the starting point of the trip). It’s easy to do and surprisingly inexpensive. (For example, the cost to offset round-trip air travel from NYC to Flagstaff, Arizona is only $18 per person.) It’s also an easy way to help our environment and feel good about how you travel. If you choose to do so, O.A.R.S. will match your contribution, dollar for dollar, up to a combined 100% of your transportation and energy use impact.
1. Select your adventure.
When you book any adventure with us, you can feel good about how you travel because you know that the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that result from the trip itself will be automatically offset by O.A.R.S.
2. Decide if you want to offset your travel.
This is, of course, completely optional, but if you decide you’d like to participate we’ll make it extremely easy for you.
3. Use our carbon calculator.
In conjunction with Sustainable Travel International we’ve created a unique online carbon calculator that tells you how much carbon dioxide will be emitted as a result of your flight or land transportation between your home city and the starting and ending points of your trip. Simply enter your total miles traveled. The calculator will do the rest.
4. Make payment for your carbon offset amount.
When you proceed to checkout, Sustainable Travel International will calculate the total cost to offset your trip, less the 50% that O.A.R.S. is chipping in. It’s as simple as that. You can enter the payment directly through the website or if you prefer you can send a check to Sustainable Travel International. In most cases, contributions will be tax deductible.
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Join O.A.R.S. and Sustainable Travel International™ and become part of the solution…
Learn more about our methods of responsible travel
Click here to offset your carbon footprint
The Carbon and Climate Change Problem
Did you know that the average American is responsible for generating 50,000 pounds or 22.67 metric tons of CO2 per year? This equates to 136 pounds of carbon dioxide per person, per day! Carbon dioxide pollution stems from our electricity use, driving, flying and our consumption including the energy needed to produce our food, clothing, computers, etc.
In many cases one round-trip airline flight emits more carbon dioxide than your automobile does in a year! Fossil fuel-based travel is threatening many of the very same fascinating and beautiful places to which we want to travel. What can we do?
A Solution: Carbon Neutral Travel
There are many benefits of traveling responsibly, and we are certainly not suggesting that people stop traveling. Rather we are asking our O.A.R.S. guests to consider offsetting the carbon emissions they generate from traveling. This one environmental action would be a huge victory in the battle against global climate change.
To this end, we are pleased to announce our O.A.R.S. partnership with Sustainable Travel International, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping travelers protect the environment and address climate change through the support of carbon offset projects that are inspected, verified and certified by independent third parties including Green-e, the Gold Standard, CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) and the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance.
The last few years have represented a period of change in our country—an awakening to the significance of sustainability—where "being green" is not only cool, it’s expected. At O.A.R.S., we’re thrilled to see such progressive movement, but then again, conservation is the foundation of our company and the lifeblood of our future, so let’s hope the new attention to environmentalism isn’t just a fad; let’s hope it’s here to stay.—George Wendt, President & Founder of O.A.R.S.
How O.A.R.S. Offsets Your Adventure
We're proud of the fact that most of our trips are inherently low carbon-emitting, but we want to go further to offset the impact of our adventures. So, O.A.R.S. will pay to offset the carbon releases from the vehicles used to transport our guides and gear, any internal trip flights and all passenger transportation included in your trip, any propane we use on your trip and all of the electricity consumed by our office and operations facilities.
The process is a simple one: First, through Sustainable Travel International, we calculate the carbon emissions that result from your adventure — including flights, driving and flying. Then, we offset these emissions by purchasing certified Carbon Offsets or Verified Emission Reductions (VERs). By purchasing Carbon Offsets or VERs to offset or neutralize the carbon emission impact of your travel, you help “do-no-harm” to the planet while providing financial resources to develop new renewable energy projects such as wind farms.
Each year O.A.R.S. purchases approximately 700 tons of carbon offsets from Sustainable Travel International which has the same global warming offset impact as keeping 128 average cars off the road for an entire year.
Since 1969 O.A.R.S. has been committed to being a leader in the field of sustainable travel. Our goal isn’t simply to be one of the most environmentally responsible tour operators in the world, but to continually raise the bar and challenge other companies to raise their standards as well. From escorting congressional staffers, eco-celebrities and politicians on the waterways of the Western U.S. to establishing a model business for ecotourism operators in Fiji, O.A.R.S. is professionally committed to the cultural and environmental well being of the places we visit.
Through partnerships with environmental organizations such as Grand Canyon Trust, Idaho Rivers United, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Alaska Wilderness League, Friends of the River, The International Ecotourism Society, Leave No Trace and Sustainable Travel International, O.A.R.S. is committed to reducing our impact on the natural world and actively supports awareness, deeper appreciation and preservation of rivers and wild places.
Since 2006, O.A.R.S. has voluntarily offset 100% of the carbon emissions that result from all of our trip-related activities—from the day you arrive on your trip until the day you leave. The only aspect of your trip that we won’t automatically offset is your air and/or land transportation to and from the starting point of your trip.
Click here to offset your carbon footprint
