Climate Action Partnership with Tomorrow’s Air

We are thrilled to announce that Yugen Earthside has officially partnered with Tomorrow's Air, a pioneering climate action company specializing in carbon removals. Today, we stand united in our commitment to combat climate change and lead the way toward a more sustainable and resilient future.

When booking through Yugen Earthside, $10 per person will automatically be allocated toward Tomorrow's Air for carbon removals. This went into effect on April 1, 2023.

Climate action through carbon removals

At Yugen Earthside, we recognize the urgent need to address the global climate crisis, especially as a travel company. Our dedication to environmental responsibility has always been ingrained in our values, and we continually strive to treat the world around us with care and respect. Through this strategic partnership with Tomorrow's Air, we are taking another significant step toward fulfilling our mission of making sustainable travel easy.

We hope to lead by example and inspire other travel companies to take similar action in combatting the climate crisis.

Carbon removals use innovative technology to take existing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and store it permanently elsewhere. This extraction process makes a tangible contribution to slowing climate change. Generally, carbon dioxide either gets stored in the soil just below ground or deep underground where it is compressed to form rocks.

Because carbon removals are removing CO2 from the atmosphere today, they surpass the effectiveness of traditional carbon offsets, which work to reduce or avoid emissions from occurring in the future. You can read a full breakdown of the difference between carbon removals and carbon offsets here.

By aligning ourselves with Tomorrow's Air, we are demonstrating our commitment to the climate and our accountability as a company operating in the travel and tourism space.

Implementing carbon removals

We debated the best way to implement this partnership with regard to the $10 carbon removal contribution per person:

• Do we set the $10 carbon removal contribution as a traveler opt-in or opt-out feature?
• Do we add $10 for carbon removal contributions on top of our prices, or list it as a 'Service Fee'?
• Do we automatically cover the carbon removal contribution without changing our prices or adding a fee?

This is because one of our main priorities with this partnership is to make it easier for people to travel sustainably - which means simplifying things for travelers and just doing what is right.

Beyond carbon removals: our other climate actions

Partnering with Tomorrow's Air to include carbon removals with trip bookings is just the latest step we've taken to act responsibly and inspire impact. We're proud to share some of the other climate actions we are currently undertaking:

1. Integrating Carbon Offsets into Checkout: We have implemented a seamless process for customers to offset the carbon emissions associated with their trip. At checkout, travelers can (quite literally) check a box to include carbon offsets in their trip booking. This add-on is completely optional, albeit encouraged. Carbon offsets are done through Sustainable Travel International via meaningful, science-backed initiatives.
2. Becoming a Certified Net Zero Company: We have obtained certification as a net-zero company through Ecolytics, validating our efforts to reduce, offset, and remove carbon emissions from our company operations.
3. Donating at least 1% of Gross Profits: We firmly believe in giving back to social and environmental projects that support the further development of sustainable travel. Through our commitment to donating a minimum of 1% of gross profits, we actively support projects that promote sustainable travel and conservation efforts.

Together, these initiatives attempt to create a holistic and robust climate action strategy that reflects our responsibility as a travel business. We value continuous improvement and will seek new ways of addressing the climate crisis with other innovative solutions, technologies, and partnerships to further strengthen our impact.

Who is responsible for climate action?

Ultimately, responsibility for climate action lies with all travelers and all people. It's our planet.

When it comes to such a monumentally important topic, it can feel overwhelming. In these cases, we find it helpful to think about what we can control and what we cannot. We urge governments, tourism boards, businesses (from big corporations to boutique travel companies), and travelers to take action. While we have less direct influence on governments, tourism boards, and other businesses, we can control what our business does and we can influence what our travelers do.

Travel businesses play a pivotal role in shaping a sustainable future, and we are optimistic that it will become increasingly normal for companies to take climate action. With each one that does, it will contribute to a growing ripple effect that fosters greater environmental consciousness and action across industries.

Thank YOU for prioritizing climate action when you travel

We want to express our deepest gratitude to all our travelers who book through us and thereby prioritize taking climate action in addition to having an incredible experience. The more travelers that trust their adventures with companies acting responsibly and enabling them to do the same, the better.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing authentic and responsible package tours while simultaneously prioritizing the planet and local communities all over the world.

Read the full partnership announcement between Yugen Earthside and Tomorrow's Air below.

Climate Action Partnership Announcement

Inspired by nature and in recognition of travel’s opportunity to help when it comes to our climate, Yugen Earthside is joining Tomorrow’s Air, supporting climate action education and accelerating the development of carbon removal with permanent storage.

We learned that alongside conventional carbon offsetting and natural climate solutions, new carbon removal and storage approaches are also needed to help us clean up the trillion tons of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The reality is that even if all carbon dioxide emissions were to halt completely right now, Earth’s warming would continue due to the high levels of carbon dioxide already stored in the atmosphere. The only way to permanently reverse warming is through carbon removal.

Therefore, beginning in April 2023, Yugen Earthside is incorporating a $10 contribution to Tomorrow’s Air into all its trips. Yugen Earthside traveler contributions support:

• Inspiring traveler education about meaningful climate action 
• An order for 10kgs carbon to be removed and permanently stored 

How It Works

The Tomorrow’s Air portfolio of carbon removal innovators includes pioneering companies selected for their technical and hybrid nature-tech solutions that can help restore our climate: direct air capture company Climeworks, Pacific Biochar, and Eion enhanced weathering.

Traveler contributions support climate-conscious travel education and directly fund carbon removal provided by these companies. 

With direct air capture, carbon collectors capture carbon dioxide from ambient air. Air is drawn into the collector with a fan, and adheres to a filter within the collector. Once the filter is saturated, the collector is closed, and the temperature is increased, releasing pure carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is dissolved in water, just as a soda machine makes sparkling water.

This water mixed with carbon dioxide is then injected deep underground into basaltic rock in Iceland. The basaltic rocks release metals that mix with the carbon dioxide in the water and turn this carbon dioxide into stone. The process safely and permanently removes the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere since rocks cannot leak out of the ground. The entire process is powered by geothermal energy.

About Pacific Biochar

Pacific Biochar captures and stores carbon dioxide by stabilizing natural processes of decay in organic matter and keeping it safely in the ground. The biochar created is used in soil applications. Biochar can help enhance the overall health of soil by helping hold plant nutrients in topsoil. It also supports increases in crop yield, and can also help conserve water used for crops by improving the water retention of the soil.

About Eion Enhanced Weathering 

Eion’s novel process speeds up the natural process of chemical weathering that causes the breakdown of rocks and minerals, storing carbon dioxide along the way. Eion applies crushed silicate rock - olivine - to soil. Through existing moisture and acidity in the soil, the crushed rock dissolves, resulting in carbon dioxide being pulled from the atmosphere into the solution. The bicarbonate ions that are formed as part of the process over time make their way to the ocean. Once they reach the ocean, they improve ocean alkalinity and remain at the bottom of the ocean for 500,000 years.

Yugen Earthside Travelers Are A Valuable Part of the Solution

As a global community, travel holds immense potential to support our society’s transition to sustainability. Millions of travelers along with countless travel companies around the world form a potentially powerful collective to embrace climate-conscious travel and support innovative carbon removal solutions that will be needed alongside our forests, oceans, and soils to absorb and store carbon dioxide.

Through their stories and perspectives as well as through their direct contributions to carbon removal with permanent storage, Yugen Earthside travelers are building the carbon removal movement and providing vital funding for pioneer carbon removal solutions. 

YugenEarthside travelers are encouraged to share their personal travel stories and perspectives with the Tomorrow’s Air community and are invited to 

• Follow Tomorrow’s Air on Instagram @tomorrowsair_
• Sign up for the Airrow Bulletin for travel insights and carbon removal highlights
• Join the collective as a Supporter, Leader or Champion member

We All Share the Same Air

Carbon dioxide is extremely well-mixed in our atmosphere: emissions from one part of the world mix in with emissions from other parts of the world. When we reduce the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide—regardless of where on Earth the reduction occurs—the entire atmosphere, and all of us on Earth who are protected by it, benefit.

Let’s band together to restore our climate.