There are also other ways. Last year, I travelled on a two-month Interrail ticket between sits through Europe. Now I bought again a ticket: for ten travel days in two months. That was in the annual sale, I will use it this spring I think.
I have also discovered Flixbus as a way to travel through Europe. I am now in the Netherlands, as I will be moving here . Two weeks from now I will take a direct bus from here to Copenhagen, overnight, and then take a regional train to Sweden to go get some stuff. At stops like Bremen or Hamburg I then see buses going directly all the way to Rome or Tirana or Kyiv or Kaliningrad.
One current THS policy arguably conflicts with sustainable travel - Sit Cancellation Insurance.
“This Plan is offered at our sole discretion but in any event we will never pay Sitters under this Plan where” … “6. The Alternative Accommodation that the Sitter uses is further than 20 miles (32 kilometres) from the location of the original Sit.”
This makes complete sense for situations where the pet parent and housesitter reside in close proximity. But far less so where the distances are larger. A likely significant portion of housesitters seem to travel significant distances to execute a housesit. And some move from housesit → housesit → housesit, rather than primary residence → housesit → primary residence … so “staying home” is not an option if a housesit is cancelled.
Example: Pet parent cancels a housesit, shortly before start date. Housesitter travelling significant distance (e.g. international flight) to execute sit. Terms other than #6 of Sit Cancellation Insurance satisfied.
Decision: Housesitter choice … a) not travel to housesit proximity (THS Sit Cancellation Insurance void so housesitter incur financial loss). b) travel to housesit proximity (THS Sit Cancellation Insurance valid, hopefully, but needless travel is required)
An alternative term within the Sit Cancellation Insurance could maintain intended member insurance coverage but reduce/remove needless travel.
So far I have only done UK sits and I’ve been travelling by train with my bicycle, so apart from one (where I got a bus) all my sits have been within a few miles of a train station.
As a full time sitter for the last 6 months I have of course been travelling a lot more than I normally would, but given that’s what I’m doing I think it’s probably one of the more environmentally friendly ways I could do it.
I’ve read Jess Holmes’ book and to me a lot of the environmental stuff seemed like rationalising high carbon travel.
It’s an interesting discussion. There is no way that THS can take credit for “sustainability” practices. Pet ownership itself is problematic. Cats and dogs are carnivores adding to meat consumption which involves non-sustainable farming practices and contributes to greenhouse gases. Sitters travel to sits often by plane or car. A lot of the sitter wouldn’t happen if THS didn’t exist. Homeowners would likely be relying on local paid sitters, friends, neighbors, etc or traveling less themselves.
I recently had a discussion with an upcoming sitter about my use of paper towels, which she informed me she “won’t use.” We discussed the matter. It’s not a hill I was going to die on 12 days before a sit. I have alternatives for most uses but asked her about cleaning up vomit, hairballs, possible litter box mishaps, etc. She stated that while she uses something “reusuable” in her home, she did respect that it was my home and would use paper towels in those circumstances.
This led to a discussion about plastic bags for litter disposal. I’ve done sits where homeowners used the “compostable” green ones for dog poop and litter. But here’s the thing: How compostable are they really? Does this count as “sustainability”? Is this really more sustainable? (I made clear I was happy to allow accept her use of alternatives to the zipper lock plastic bags I use, but to keep in mind with the cat’s IBS the “lock in” strong bags really worked best. (She agreed.)
I’m not sure how THS as a matching site for sitters and hosts can foster sustainability other than blog posts about ways of cutting down on plastic use or options to consider when getting to a sit or getting around.
I think sitters or homeowners who have made certain decisions and lines they won’t cross, need to make those lines clear before sits are confirmed. I’m not judgeing anyone’s lines. But so many of us are NOT consistent. Many people forego meat at least in part because of environmental concerns, but have no issues having non-vegan dogs and cats. The sitter with the paper towel issue is flying to my home, owns a car, and lives in a town without a lot of mass transit options.
It’s possible someone could come up with a green version of THS, something that would require sitters to sign a pledge about how they are getting to sits. Something where homeowners would also need to be doing some sustainable practices in their home. This would be a very niche club.
I don’t think this is practical. The implication is that the international travel was “necessary.” It was always a choice made by both the person who applied and the host who accepted. The sitter may have made additional plans for the trip including having a sitter in their home, or renting or subletting their home, so at that late date not traveling might not be an option. The sitter may have already made travel plans with friends, paid for museum tickets, etc. The sitter may have other upcoming sits in the area so they might need to get their anyway.
Generally, most international carriers (the big ones) will allow change fees on most flights. Change fees aren’t that high so a sitter could choose to not travel and pay between $100-200 for a change rather than pay the $150 deductible on the accomodation insurance and the difference if the accomodation is more expensive.
Sadly this may be due to the options available to the HO, which in the UK can vary from one area to another. On my most recent sit, in an area with possibly the least options I’ve come across, I came home with items that I can recycle here (tetrapak, soft plastics, although I keep the latter to a minimum as they might not be recycled as much as were led to believe).
I’m glad to see this conversation - a lot of us care about our impact on the natural world, but there can be a weird kind of taboo around it in certain spaces! So thank you
I was a bit bemused to see TH getting BCorp accreditation as it actively promotes international travel, and most ‘pets’ have significant environmental impact - the production of their food, and the huge industry of animal accessories, most of which is harmful in its manufacture and/or disposal. However, I can imagine a lot of work has gone in around ensuring wellbeing. And, I have heard that BCorp has relaxed its criteria, as so many companies do when they grow in size and turnover.
For our part, we only do sits in the UK (and potentially mainland Europe), having stopped flying in 2007. We have an EV, and always appreciate it when HOs say we can charge at the house, it makes life a lot easier We always offer to pay.
As others have said, we travel as we live: when we arrive, we find our nearest wholefood store and stock up on organic goods, eco-friendly laundry strips (which I first came across on a sit), cleaning products, and toiletries. Not keen on having to use toxic chemicals when we can’t get supplies. Also we find charity shops to replace any clothing we’re running low on.
One thing that’s been great over five years of sitting is our Riverford organic veg box, which follows us round England! There are six distribution centres nationwide and delivery runs just about everywhere. You can pause deliveries, useful when we’re somewhere we can get organic fresh veg nearby. Or are invited to harvest from a delicious garden…
And then there’s having the conversation. We don’t impose our values on HOs, but if they’re curious, I’m always more than happy to talk about all things sustainability!
The main issue for me is when I’m asked to use toxic cleaning/laundry/washing up products. I try to travel with my own now. I’m sure many people don’t know the impact on waterways of what goes down their drains (even though e.g. Fairy Liquid quite clearly states!) or know where to get alternatives, and I’m usually not comfortable in this context to start lecturing on the subject!
This raises an interest point. It sounds like petsitting can be “more” sustainable – considering that it involves pets, which raises one’s environmental footprint a lot (but probably not as mush as say having kids). One could be a nomadic sitter in a set territory and travel around that terrirotory sustainably.
However, even this makes it easier for petparents to travel. And that travel will often be by plane. As pet parents, we travel more often – including flying – because THS allows us to use more money for travel because of the savings on sitters. So even by sitting sustainably, you’re contributing to someone else’s decision to travel by driving a non EV, or getting on a plane.
Many, I think most sitters, are actually non-nomads – though possibly most sits are covered by nomads. Don’t know if there is data on that. For many sitters who not nomadic, THS can increase the amount of non-sustainable travel they do. They are not likely to use an EV all the time from place to place. I’m an occassional sitter and fly or drive (low-emission/high milage) to most sits.
There is no question in my case that between sitters and sits, THS has contributed to my ability to travel non-sustainably and grown my carbon footprint.
Marion, interesting perspective. Your comments seem to apply to housesitters that have a home base. But there is a significant subset of housesitters that do so on a full-time basis. Your perspective and examples probably don’t apply to such housesitters.
For example, choosing not to travel works nicely when the housesitter can ‘stay home’ but less so when the housesitter is dependent upon the housesit for next accommodation. Where an overseas Pet Parent cancels a housesit then such a housesitter has to find alternative accommodation. They cannot stay home or travel later. Their choice is whether they book accommodation in current country/location (and have no THS insurance) or whether they book accommodation & travel to Pet Parent country (to qualify for THS insurance).
These are Qs that individual customers of such businesses should ask of the relevant company. It doesn’t seem like we on the forum should be doing due diligence on demand for each other.
It sounds like you’re asking the wrong party. It makes sense to ask the company. If you’re asking a forum member to provide you proof, where does that end? Who’d be willing to make recommendations if they’re suddenly held accountable for doing the business’s job for them? Like if I say I recommend X, that’s because maybe I had a good experience or they look good to me. But that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly responsible for doing due diligence on your behalf.
I think “lecture” would be a problem. Their house, their rules. But nothing wrong with stating a preference or maybe even in advance asking if they’d be amenable to trying some of these products during the list with a hint for them to buy them.
A sitter recently stated that she doesn’t use paper towels and suggested I buy a particular expensive brand of reusables. I wasn’t crazy about the suggestion. The context was my guide mentions that I have paper towels and rags that can be used as an alternative, and that I’m trying to use fewer paper towels. I actually chatted further with the sitter to ask about using “reusables” for things like cat vomit, hairballs, etc. She admitted that at sits she will sometimes use paper towels for those jobs but in her home uses a designated reusable.
I don’t know. I have done a sit where the HO traveled by bus to her boyfriend. Others where the HOs traveled by car, not that far away, to their vacation house or for business.
But yes, when I think of it, in about half of my sits the owners were travelling by plane.
. Two weeks from now I will take a direct bus from here to Copenhagen, overnight, and then take a regional train to Sweden to go get some stuff. At stops like Bremen or Hamburg I then see buses going directly all the way to Rome or Tirana or Kyiv or Kaliningrad.
