Sustainability and Our Off-Roading Lifestyle

[Frederic]

I’d like to open a thoughtful discussion among us off-road enthusiasts about a topic that, while often overlooked or even considered somewhat taboo in our community, deserves our attention: the environmental impact of our shared passion.

As we all know, our regular dune drives, overlanding adventures, and off-road excursions contribute to our individual carbon footprints—often in ways we don’t fully consider. From the fuel we burn to the overseas shipping of custom parts, vehicle maintenance, and other resource demands, our hobby has tangible environmental consequences.

Lately, I’ve found myself reflecting on a few important questions:

• Are we truly doing everything we can to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy this planet as we have?

• Can we look ourselves in the mirror and honestly say we've made a sincere effort to reduce our impact?

• Will there come a time when we transition from petrol-powered 4x4s to more sustainable ways of exploring the desert—such as electric off-roaders, bikes, or even hiking?

• Is the change I make simply a drop in the ocean—or could it inspire others to act as well?

To give a concrete example, a V6 petrol 4x4 driving approximately 10,000 km per year emits around 300g of CO2 per kilometer. That’s roughly 3 tons of CO2 annually, accounting for approximately 15% of an average individual's yearly carbon footprint. And let’s be honest—this is a hobby, not a critical necessity.

There are tools and methods available to offset this impact, such as investing in reforestation or supporting verified carbon offset projects. It’s something worth exploring and discussing within our community. You can learn more at carbonfootprint.com.

Beyond offsetting, we could also consider alternative activities that still foster our sense of community: hiking and camping trips, stargazing gatherings, and social meetups that don't require long drives or burning excessive fuel.

Interestingly, areas like Al Qudra—once a favorite nearby off-roading spot—are now harder to access due to increasing vegetation. As a result, we often find ourselves driving an extra 50–60 km just to reach open dunes. Maybe this, too, is a subtle message from nature.

I hope we can have an open, mature conversation about this. I’ve never considered myself an environmental activist, but as I grow older, these concerns are becoming harder to ignore.

Let’s talk, share ideas, and see how we can evolve our passion in a way that respects the world we explore.

[Jose Luis Campos]

Great topic @Frederic,

I am also somehow concerned about sustainability. Not a fundamentalist but I think about that (probably because I'm also getting older😁).

I believe many others in and out of Carnity are also. So, following what you mentioned about offseting our footprint, I suggest that Carnity could have an option in its fees for, whoever wants, pay a little extra to offset our drives' carbon footprint. And with all the money gathered, Carnity would invest in a platform to offset, and could inclusively mention that in its marketing material. A little bit like the airline tickets with an extra payment for who wants to offset that flight's carbon footprint.

 Just food for thoughts.

 

Edited April 7, 2025 by Jose Luis Campos

[Zubail]

Find people who are littering in desert and dig them there..

I believe there will be time, and I think not so far away when we will be exploring not only desert withouth carbon footprint.. maybe they will make soon with help of AI new compact power generator, AKA Iron Man

Edited April 7, 2025 by Zubail

[topgear]

I am not a green activist by any stretch of imagination but more of a petrol head, which conflicts with the former.  I do camp a few times a year to enjoy what nature has to offer.  Carbon footprint notwithstanding from our drives, I do not my little bit by not throwing rubbish in the desert when I am out and about. Some years back, there were desert clean up drives organized to clean up the desert. Small initiatives but it is a good one. Perhaps, we could reintroduce such initiatives during the cooler months. 

[Myrko]

Interesting topic @Frederic

In my line of work, shipping, I see recent and future international legislation to compensate for the fuel used transporting goods. The main question that is still a bit vague is what is done and where these funds end up. From what I can see so far, is that the idea and facilities how to contribute are there, yet the end result of these contributions are unclear to say the least.
I feel that until that question remains unanswered to my satisfaction, for my personal fuel usage I will not be participating in offsetting my carbon footprint by purchasing available credits just yet.

Current alternatives directly usable for petrol/gasoil engines are rather limited and sparse in availability. On top of that there are significant concerns how "used" used cooking oil is and how sustainable large palm (FAME), corn/sugar plantations (ethanol) are, if used for fuel purposes.

At the same time the "green" EV evolution seems to be in line with various government initiatives. However, as long as countries are still very reliant on fossil fuels, read coal, to produce the electricity that is required for these, I feel that if looking at source to final usage, petrol is probably not the worst pollutant overall. Taking in account the effect of mining coals and or materials for batteries the environmental impact seems worse. Recycling of special minerals at this point are also quite labor and energy reliant, so the effects on those should not be underestimated.

There are ofc various initiatives in the world producing electricity on a more sustainable way: solar panels, wind or water turbines, but also these all come with some (negative) impact on local fauna or flora, disregarding the resources required for manufacturing.

In short, I think the main area where the required resources should be assigned is R&D. Not for quick fixes or moving the source of pollution to another area or further up the production chain.

What that means for me personally; keep myself informed on latest developments and ensure I implement improvements over which I have immediate control: change lightbulbs, more efficient heating/cooling, put in energy measuring points, turn off appliances when not in use, absolute no littering, recycle as much is possible and try to plant another tree!!

Edited April 7, 2025 by Myrko

[Mike M.]

Thanks for opening the floor for such an interesting topic @Frederic. You have my vote, as a rule of thumb, for anything above and beyond just steering the wheel on sand for 4 hours. For any event within your list of suggestions, consider me as the first one to sign up. 

From my perspective, I would look at it beyond the sustainability lens as it will eventually become a bi-product on how we evolve our hobby with the outdoor.

I will share my 2 cents hoping to trigger some ideas on how to take things forward, under the main umbrella of your topic. Here goes: 

What I think complements the hobby of "Steering the Wheel on sand for 4 hours a.k.a Dune bashing is a sense of purpose. I call it Purposeful Driving. Purposeful driving can range from anything ranging from Theme drives such as the one led by @DP1011 to clean up pink rock, to driving to remote places (Overlanding) or adventures of any sort (Driving is the just the means of transportation in this case.) 

On a personal level, my objective of learning how to drive on sand was to benefit from the outdoors of the UAE. While this remains my objective to date, I have noticed many outdoor enthusiasts start with the same objective and then get stuck in Dune Bashing mode probably because it becomes their new comfort zone or they are genuinely drawn into this activity. I think based on the number of people who are stuck on Dune Bashing is the former reason (Just a personal opinion).

Trying to keep this as short as possible or this might end up to be a rant of 5 pages, the point I am trying to make is to invite drivers to think of the concept of "Purposeful Driving" and think about what was the original idea(s) that got them to learn how to drive on sand and re-focus on those ideas. By doing so, what is intended to achieve with sustainability becomes a bi-product.

Hoping that the above is taken with an open mind and by no means am I criticizing the hobby of dune bashing. I do it with Carnity as well, almost on a weekly basis, but all I am saying is that I do it to keep my driving skills sharp for the other things I like to do, that have a purpose. Once we establish purposeful driving, then that will have a good impact on the carbon footprint and different kinds of hobbies and events will emerge from it. 

Just my 2 cents...

Edited April 8, 2025 by Mike M.

[Zubail]

@Mike M. you've nailed it! 100% support!

[Mike M.]

10 minutes ago, Zubail said:

@Mike M. you've nailed it! 100% support!

Thanks @Zubail. Just supporting Freddy’s point from a slightly complementary viewpoint and hoping it can infect other drivers too  

[Sandeep N]

I am no expert on this but this is always such a touchy topic and mine is usually always an unpopular opinion on it. I really liked how @Myrko articulated what he believes.

4x4s in the desert - may qualify as an environmentally irresponsible hobby - but it is a recreational activity i willingly sign up for every weekend. I can't own a 4x4 and feel guilty for owning one. 

So much of our personal carbon footprint is beyond our control (the building we live in and the energy it uses, gps via satellites we use which were put up in space by rockets, construction of the roads we use everyday, the military planes that our government uses - they burn at least 2-3X the fuel used by commercial aircrafts, and a popular president used them for a deportation exercises). The CO2 due to our personal fuel consumption is very negligible when put together in context with everything else.

One must feel good about reducing their fossil fuel consumption, no doubt about that. But one mustn't be bogged down if their cars burn more fuel than the other. Not contributing to the CO2 already there in the atmosphere is as good as not adding  galons of water you stored into the ocean (exaggerated).

i consider climate change, carbon footprint very different from sustainability. Again - i am no expert on the topic - this is just my opinion.

My views on the CO2 situation are kinda skewed but i am all for preserving what we have. It disturbs me when i notice plastics or construction debris dumped in the desert - i cuss when i see them. I agree with @Mike M.'s  purposeful drive idea - it will add to a sense of fulfilment/accomplishment to the drives. That can definitely be a means to add a sense of environmental responsibility to our otherwise environmentally irresponsible hobby.

Edited April 8, 2025 by Sandeep N

[JeromeFJ]

Thanks for opening the topic @Frederic.

I had a similar reflection some time ago on this topic https://carnity.com/forums/topic/17863-carbon-footprint/

It was more related to offsetting emissions, but obviously the most impact-full action is the reduction of the emissions first. For this, driving with a purpose ( @Mike M.) , mixing driving with other activities (hiking, cleaning, photography, wildlife watching, star/ moon gazing),  or just chilling and enjoying life are good directions !