As an avid world traveler, I always feel guilty about the emissions I contribute to the global warming epidemic. Should I forego all travel to visit family and explore new locations just for the sake of the planet? A logical option yet is not feasible for the majority of the planet’s inhabitants today. Despite being able to contribute to various carbon offset schemes like Climate Care and Carbonfund, I still feel I haven’t done enough to lessen my carbon footprint. The truth remains that there comes a point when consumers can only do so much. A vast portion of the responsibility lies with the companies providing the travel services. Over the past few years, many corporations have acknowledged their impact on the environment and are implementing strategies to reduce their carbon footprint.

This past Sunday, a landmark achievement in aviation occurred from a successful demonstration flight of the world’s first biofuel-powered commercial aircraft. The non-passenger Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 flew from London Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam, signifying epic accomplishments in ‘carbon-free’ flying. According to Virgin Atlantic, the fuel used in one of the plane’s main tanks constituted 20% biofuel mix of coconut and babassu oil resulting in a 30% decrease in fuel consumption. Additionally, the production of the biofuel is reported not to compete with food and freshwater resources. However, the full extent of the environmental impact of the biofuel production (carbon emissions, food shortage) is not known at this time but is an area of concern from various campaigners.

Virgin founder, Richard Branson, has set the goal of becoming the ‘greenest airline in the market’ and has expanded on this vision to include green ground transportation. In the United States, Virgin has partnered with General Motors Corporation to provide green limo service (from zero-emission fuel cell cars) for VIP passengers. Sustainable transportation has been the company’s focus since 2007 including accomplishments such as; a six-month trial commenced in June 2007 of Britain’s first biodiesel train, Virgin Voyager, developing a company Green Policy that further reduces the trains’ carbon footprint through renewable electricity, recycling and serving Fair Trade products onboard.

In an ideal world, all leisure and business travel would entail zero-emission transportation - by air, land and sea. The recent technological advances instill a bit of hope that we are progressing towards the quintessence of sustainable travel.

What if knowing your carbon footprint could be as easy as understanding your financial life? With free and easy access to resources (such as bank statements, online banking and Web 2.0 tools like Mint.com), our financial decisions are more informed, but what about our environmental choices? In many ways your environmental impact is just as critical as your finances. It affects your way of life, future, local economy, health, taxes and much more. If someone asked you to describe your carbon footprint, the last thing you would do is check the soles of your feet. In some ways, that’s what we’re forced to do. Not because we’re ignorant - we just haven’t been given the proper tools! With all the advances in information technology and the proliferation of social media, this information should be universally accessible.

Starting this Tuesday, Toronto is setting an example for cities worldwide by launching Zerofootprint.net. This project empowers Toronto residents with web tools to help measure and understand the impact their lifestyles have on the environment. Canada’s largest city made this project a reality by fusing the environmental know-how of Zerofootprint and the technology / business intelligence of Business Objects. While analytics and environmental insight are great, the real potential for this project is in the social networking features. Residents can quickly identify carbon myths, share them with neighbors and contribute to a community wide initiative to combat climate change.

Leading cities and residents around the world should take note. According to Toronto Zerofootprint homepage “Zerofootprint Toronto aims to be the model for other communities. To demonstrate the influential role of cities in achieving climate goals, Mayor David Miller has challenged his peers at the Large Cities Climate Initiative in New York to also Zerofootprint their cities. The underlying vision is to aggregate results of all participating cities, create joint initiatives, measure their achievements, and celebrate their successes. By joining forces, cities can have as much impact on the environment as an entire country.” Here in San Francisco we’re flooded with Internet startups and city initiatives like AlertSF. Maybe we should be paying attention to what our Canadian neighbors are doing and start implementing technology for sustainability.