Blog – Page 7 – Plan Zero

Impacto social

Sustainable travel: Leave destinations better than you found them.

We love travelling and helping students from all over Spain travel abroad to study in English, but above all, to become #changemakers. It’s not just about organising study trips, but about understanding our journey through the world and the impact we have on it. Traveling leaves a mark on the person who travels and on the destination they reach. We want that mark to be as positive as possible. What about you? How can we travel sustainably and create a positive impact? Our goal is to help each Plan Zero student acquire the most sustainable lifestyle and travel habits possible. We recently published an article on how to prepare a sustainable, zero waste suitcase, the first step when we are starting our journey. But we don’t just want to reduce our negative impact, we also want to make an effort to make each trip have a positive impact. For this reason, today we are starting a series of articles with tips for sustainable travel. Does this sound familiar to you? Keep reading… Sustainable travel: basic rules The three basic rules for sustainable travel are: Studying abroad with a positive impact on destinations Today we want to focus on a basic tip for sustainable travel: leaving destinations better than we found them. Tips that are useful for our daily life in our environment, but that we should not forget when we travel. Step 1. Don’t leave the destination worse than you found it. It may seem like a simple tip, but our daily habits can leave a trace in the form of rubbish wherever we go. For this reason, routines such as saying no to plastics and single-use products or separating waste for proper recycling can be applied in our daily lives, and also on our travels. We know that plastics, especially disposable plastics, are a huge environmental problem. The Garbage Island, also known as the plastic continent, is an example of the damage that humans have done to the ecosystem through their consumption habits. Sometimes we can cause damage unintentionally or even with well-intentioned motivation. An example of this is feeding the local fauna or taking home something from nature as a souvenir: shells from the beach, volcanic rocks, flowers… It is best not to intervene in ecosystems so as not to cause unexpected damage. Step 2. Leave the destination better than you found it. The fundamental path to sustainable travel begins by not creating a negative impact, that is, not leaving the destination worse than when you found it. But we can go further and try to leave a positive mark wherever we go. For this reason, at Plan Zero we want to promote habits and activities aimed at improving the natural environment and raising awareness about the footprint we leave behind. Which one would you like to start with? Getting ready to go out? Don’t forget to put a bag in your purse, fanny pack or backpack to collect everything you find that shouldn’t be there: cigarette butts, papers, etc. Then you can throw it in a bin or, if possible, separate it in the different recycling containers. It doesn’t have to be a special day, introducing this habit into our daily life will allow us to keep our surroundings cleaner almost without realizing it, even on the way from home to the supermarket. When travelling abroad, there are a lot of activities to do. Reducing the amount of waste we take and collecting all the waste we may have produced on any excursion is essential, but we can also take advantage of the opportunity to clean up beyond our own waste. Try to always leave the place cleaner than it was when you arrived! Activities organized during study abroad trips can be the perfect opportunity to raise awareness. As we have mentioned, every moment is an opportunity to leave our surroundings cleaner. But also, organizing an exclusive cleaning event can be a great idea to introduce this habit, and that is what we do at Plan Zero. Beach, park, riverbed clean-up, etc. are among our favorite planned activities for group trips with a monitor. But we also encourage each student to find their own time and organize their pick-up event with their group of friends. Can we help you organize it? If you’re into sports, this could also be the perfect time to leave your destination better than you found it. Plogging is an activity that combines running and picking up litter. It started in Sweden and has quickly spread around the world due to the climate emergency and growing concerns about pollution. Its proponents also claim that this activity improves physical activity. Picking up the rubbish you find forces you to perform arm and leg movements that enrich the workout. Are you up for it? Traveling leaves a mark As you can see, reducing our negative impact is just as important as having a deeper perspective that helps us generate a positive impact. And every moment is an opportunity! We just have to educate our gaze with sustainability in mind. If you want to travel abroad to study, at Plan Zero we will help you to ensure that this experience leaves a positive mark on you and the destination you choose. Find out more on our website. Ready?

Impacto social

How to pack a sustainable zero waste suitcase

We love to travel, don’t we? And the first thing is to pack your suitcase! But, did you know that from this moment on you can make your trip more sustainable? That’s why today we want to talk to you about how to pack a sustainable zero waste suitcase and start your experience as a #changemaker. Benefits of preparing a sustainable zero waste suitcase You may never have thought about it before, but what we pack when preparing a sustainable, zero-waste suitcase can make a big difference for several reasons. First, it’s a very important reason! Filling the suitcase with things we don’t need adds weight to our luggage. A weight that increases with the transport we choose and that means greater fuel costs. On the other hand, what we choose to take on our trip can determine our impact on our daily lives. And a responsible lifestyle must also be maintained when we travel. Therefore, we are going to look at some tips to make your suitcase weigh less, but also to choose some “essentials” so that your trip has the least possible negative impact from the very beginning. Here we go! How to pack a sustainable zero waste suitcase You surely know the 3Rs of sustainability: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Well, let’s use them to prepare our sustainable zero waste suitcase, reducing what we need to include in the suitcase, choosing what we can reuse and ultimately facilitating recycling. 1. Create a “capsule wardrobe” Clothing is probably the part that gives us the most headaches when it comes to packing a suitcase. We fill it with “just in case” clothes that we might not wear on the whole trip. For this reason, the concept of a “capsule wardrobe” is great for us. Don’t you know what it is? This is a way of creating versatile and diverse looks by combining very few pieces of clothing. In other words, choose basic items that can be combined with each other to create a large number of looks with very few items. Neutral colours or choosing a closed colour range are usually good strategies to be able to dress the whole trip with the least number of items possible, but without your look being boring! 2. Choose solid hygiene products Hygiene or cosmetic products, such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc., in solid form have two advantages when preparing a sustainable, zero-waste suitcase. On the one hand, products in their solid form usually last much longer than the bottled alternative, usually months, which helps reduce the use of plastics in packaging. And if your trip is short, you won’t need to buy them at your destination. On the other hand, solid versions won’t give you any problems at the controls for the plane and you won’t have to worry about the amount of liquids allowed. 3. Don’t forget the zero waste essentials Remember to bring your refillable bottle so that it will accompany you throughout the trip and avoid buying plastic bottles. At the airport you can take it empty and refill it later. Another essential is a cloth sandwich holder. It doesn’t take up any space in your suitcase and you’ll forget about aluminum foil for all the picnics and excursions that await you on this experience. Remember to always carry a cloth or mesh bag on hand to use for any daily purchases and avoid plastic bags. And finally, take a bag with a set of reusable cutlery and a couple of stainless steel straws. Bamboo cutlery is in fashion, but keep in mind that a set of cutlery you have at home also works. Remember to reuse before buying new things! 4. Protect your suitcase without plastic If you want to protect your suitcase before checking it in, you can opt for a reusable fabric cover. They come in different sizes and designs and are easy to fit. You can use it as many times as you like and you’ll avoid using a lot of plastic that can’t be recycled later. If you’re worried about security, you can use seat belts so that no one can open your suitcase during the trip. 5. Carry your tickets on your mobile phone Whether in PDF or in an app, you can always avoid printing your tickets and boarding passes by carrying them on your phone. The same goes for maps or guides to your destination, which you can replace with digital guides, reference websites or apps. But don’t forget, digital waste also pollutes. Delete documents and apps you no longer need from your phone when you’re done with your trip to reduce your digital footprint. Traveling leaves a mark As you can see, every little gesture counts when planning a sustainable trip and being an active part of the change we need. At Plan Zero we want to help you make this experience leave a mark on you, but not on the planet. Discover our commitment on our website.

Useful Information

Connectors Plus is now Plan Zero

Connectors Plus is now Plan Zero Did you know that it’s been eight years since we started our journey? Eight years! They’ve flown by, but they’ve also brought us a great number of challenges and lessons. Experiences that have led us to reflect, as we ask all the people we help study abroad to do, on where we are and what the next steps are that we want to take. And the answers to this reflection have been transcendental! Our birthday comes with a surprise We celebrate our birthday with a rebranding to define the new stage that lies ahead. An evolution with a spark of revolution. Because we are still the same but we feel the need to express it differently and show ourselves as we are in a totally open way. And above all, because contributing our grain of sand to the achievement of a better world has always been in our DNA. We believe in progress towards a more prosperous, empathetic and tolerant world, where society is committed to both its own future and that of others. A world where people’s abilities are put at the service of the common good. For this reason, we want to help young people discover and understand the world in which they live through international educational experiences of cultural immersion and the promotion of a responsible lifestyle. Studying abroad is much more than just travelling, it is a transformative experience that helps shape the citizens of the future. Our purpose is clear: to help young people create a better world that guarantees their future. We believe in youth as agents of change We have no doubt. Young people have the potential to face the great challenges we face as a society. And despite what you might think, young people know that these challenges are solved with a global perspective and by contributing their individual abilities to the community. For this reason, we want to bring together the entire community of #changemakers: those people who want to change the world right now. Are you joining? Connectors Plus is now Plan Zero. New name. New identity. This new stage requires a new image, and a new name! That’s why Connectors Plus is now Plan Zero. We keep our pin as an identifying symbol, because we do not want to lose the connection with all the years of experience acquired. This pin also helps us to situate ourselves, to ground ideas and people in a specific place, makes us present here and now, and also marks the objectives we want to achieve. It helps us connect the present and the future. In addition, we are giving our visual and verbal identity a new, more dynamic and youthful aesthetic. We are betting on a more active and committed character, because as Einstein warned, we cannot expect different results by always doing the same thing. And at Plan Zero we want to revolutionize the international education sector. Are you curious to know more about our new name? Here you will find a clue about our new name. You will see that it is very related to our way of understanding study abroad. Because we don’t have a dream, we have a plan. Traveling leaves a mark In you, in society and in the planet. Our plan is for this international experience to be the bridge to achieve a more sustainable society and planet. Do you want to know how? We tell you in our impact section. Do you want to know more? Do you want to be part of the #changemakers community?We are waiting for you!

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