Green Travel Gear
The paradox this post opened with is real and worth restating: seeing the natural world means burning carbon to reach it. What has become much clearer since is where the carbon actually is, and it is not in the gear.
The flight dominates everything. One long-haul return can outweigh a year of careful gear choices. That makes three decisions matter more than any purchase: fewer and longer trips rather than several short ones, the train where geography allows, and economy and direct rather than premium and connecting.
On gear itself, the rule that outranks the rest: manufacturing dominates the footprint of almost everything you carry, so the greenest pack is the one you already own. Repairing beats replacing by a wide margin, even when the replacement is made of recycled bottles.
Which is why the repair programmes are the story, not the materials. Patagonia's Worn Wear, Osprey's guarantee and their equivalents will fix gear of almost any age. Using them is free and is the most effective choice in this category.
What is genuinely better now than in 2009:
- Recycled fabric is standard, so it is no longer a reason to pay more.
- PFAS-free water repellency, now regulated in several markets. It wears out faster, so reproofing becomes a habit rather than an option.
- Certified down, which did not exist as a consumer choice and now does.
On offsets, which posts like this used to recommend without caveat: the evidence on cheap forestry offsets has not been kind, with many selling reductions that would have happened anyway. Treat them as a donation, not a cancellation, and never let one change which flight you book.