The flight from San Francisco International Airport to London Heathrow is about 10 hours and covers about 5,320 miles (or 8,561 kilometers, if you’re not American). On the way back, the headwinds add an extra hour and an additional 0.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. My flight into London has already emitted 1.72 metric tons into the atmosphere, and my fast-approaching flight home will add another 1.73 tons for a total of 3.45 metric tons of carbon.

As a Californian going to school on the opposite side of the country, long flights are nothing new. In a regular school year, my flights to and from Boston would cover 3,095 miles each way, generating 1.17 metric tons of emissions per round trip. If I decide to make an extra trip back home each semester, I could emit just as much as an international round-trip flight without ever setting foot outside the country.

 

Internationally or domestically, 3.45 metric tons of carbon dioxide is a lot to offset! At home, I try to buy lots of locally grown produce from farmer’s markets – it’s less food miles, and it tastes much better. Although I haven’t been able to do that as regularly here, I have had the chance to try out some local Oxford produce, including heirloom apple varieties growing on the Worcester campus! Eating apples that were grown in the orchard outside my kitchen window is the definition of a farm-to-table experience.

Another way to offset emissions is to drive less, which comes as a given, as I don’t want to try my luck staying on the left side of the British roads. Luckily, Oxford is a walkable city with a bus network that’s easy to use and covers a lot of ground. Many people ride bikes (dodging cyclists on the street is an extreme sport), but I’m hesitant to buy one for myself because I’m only here for a short time. I’ll take a double-decker bus instead, and enjoy the novel experience of watching the streets speed by from the second floor.