Mode of transport: Cargo ship
Carbon impact: Negligible
The most obvious and climate-friendly solution is riding aboard a cargo ship, thousands of which cross the Atlantic each year. It’s a highly unusual means of transport, though not unheard of: In June 2018, fellow Swede Kajsa Fernström Nåtby took the 12-day journey aboard the freight ship La Traviata, at a cost of $100 a day.
While cargo ships don’t generally transport passengers, as Wired reports, they occasionally have “a handful of cabins for transporting real passengers, tucked away among the sun-dried colors of hundreds of freight containers.” It’s a headache to get aboard (paperwork, doctor’s visits, a specialized agent), but one perhaps worth the carbon savings. Speaking to the magazine, low-carbon shipping expert Tristan Smith explained that these ships emit much less greenhouse gases per ton than planes—and the effect of an extra passenger is as minimal as “a feather in a giant’s cap.”