{"id":12189,"date":"2015-06-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures?p=12189&preview_id=12189"},"modified":"2025-02-27T00:49:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:49:31","slug":"world-environment-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/world-environment-day\/","title":{"rendered":"7billiondreams: make your pledge for World Environment Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an old African proverb that goes something like this: \u201cIf you think you are too small to make a difference, you\u2019ve never spent the night with a mosquito.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the thinking behind World Environment Day\u2019s latest initiative, 7billiondreams. Make small incremental changes to your lifestyle \u2013 cycling to work, going vegetarian for a week, using tap instead of bottled water \u2013 and multiply that effort 7 billion times, once for every man woman and child on the planet. It\u2019s called consuming with care, and when we heard about it we jumped on board right away.<\/p>\n

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Image Aurimas, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Intrepid has always done things a little differently when it comes to travel. Right from the start we said we wanted to be a responsible business<\/a>, to leave the world in a better state than we found it and give back to the communities visited on our travels. To that end we offset all the carbon emissions from our trips and offices. We signed up to the UN Global Compact, which means our policies and practices align with UN guidelines on things like environmental protection and animal welfare. We also set up our own not-for-profit, The Intrepid Foundation<\/a>, to support grassroots community projects around the world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been predicted<\/a> that if we keep consuming at our current rate, by 2050 we\u2019ll need three planets to sustain us. But there are still things each of us can do to give our planet, the only one we\u2019ve got, a hand. They\u2019re not big, earthshattering, or dramatic, but their effects can be. Here are a few ways you can consume with care.<\/p>\n

Go vegetarian once a week<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s no secret anymore, eating animals isn’t\u00a0particularly good for the environment. Livestock by-products and their transport account for 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions<\/a>. Meat production and grazing now covers over 45% of the earth\u2019s total land, and it takes about 20 times less land to feed someone on a vegetarian diet. Going meatless for just one day every week can make a massive difference. Over a year you\u2019ll cut your carbon emissions by about as much as not driving your car for a month.<\/p>\n