“In total, I think I calculated that I only emitted about 5% of the carbon dioxide that I would have emitted if I would have taken a plane.I spent 87 days, and it was one of the most amazing trips of my life. This was only possible by not flying (and) I’m never going to fly again.”

A dude who has dedicated his life to studying climate put his money where is mouth is when it comes to minimizing his carbon footprint when faced with an 8,000 mile journey from Amsterdam to Boulder to start a research job at University of Colorado. 9News reports van Dijk’s 87 day trip involved boats, busses, bicycles and trains:

“By stepping into a plane, you emit [carbon dioxide] into the atmosphere through that plane, through the exhaust that it makes and this affects earth’s bio-chemical cycles and through that, Earth’s life. I took a train from Amsterdam to Switzerland, then another train from Switzerland to Spain by bus, then I went on a ship. I arrived at the Bahamas and had to take three ferries, a Greyhound bus 24 hours to New Orleans, and then I biked to Boulder.”

Whatever your opinions are on the the carbon footprint of flying you have to appreciate this young scientists commitment to his treading lightly:

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