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By Elizabeth • June 25, 2009

Earlier this week, I published the Find Cheap Airline Tickets Cheat Sheet. As what usually happens when we mention anything related to airplanes, we get some criticism.

“Aren’t you green?” “Don’t you care about the environment?” “Flying is terrible.”

Yes, we agree that planes are the worst mode of transportation when it comes to their environmental impact. In fact we’ve written a lot about this including about how Airplane Air is Toxic, Principles for Choosing Green Transportation, and a Guide to Carbon Offsets.

So, this begs the question, are there green flights?

planes

 photo credit: Lara604 

Sadly, there aren’t. At least not right now. Perhaps in the future there will be green flights. It would be great to be able to fly all over the world without having a major impact on the environment. But, right now, there’s no such thing as a green flight.

So the best thing to do to make your flight more eco friendly is to:

Take a Non Stop Flight: When you take a non stop flight you’re using less fuel and thus there are fewer carbon offsets – this all leads to greener flights. (Check out our posts about the best search engines for non stop flights and our post about how non stop flights have up to 50% less carbon offsets)

Use Electronic Tickets: When you use a completely electronic ticket — eg on your PDA/Smart phone, you’re getting rid of all paper waste. Here’s an interesting article from the LA times about electronic tickets.

Search for Tickets Using Search Green Travel: With Search Green Travel you use Kayak to search, but we donate 50% of profits to environmental organizations.

Bring a Water Bottle: Don’t buy bottled water before boarding the plane. To have green flights we must stop drinking bottled water. If your looking for a new water bottle check out our smackdown of stainless steel water bottles to help you choose the best one.

What other tips do you have for green flights?