Getting Started on Green Travel
By: PJ on 06 04, 2008
As we have discussed before, green travel allows the eco-conscious to reduce their impact on the place they’re visiting – usually by patronizing environmentally friendly hotels or purchasing carbon-offset vouchers for flights or lodging. (Vacation is considered a time to splurge, but the A/C, jet fuel, and fresh towels add up!) In the past few years, thousands of green lodging choices have materialized in the US — from eco-camps on a wilderness preserve, to a Marriott that recycles and saves water, to a resort with solar panels. Countries with unspoiled natural beauty (New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Belize) offer green travel and sustainable eco-tourism in pristine jungles and rain forests.
- Explore green camping and hiking in your home state.
- Choose an area that fascinates you, and learn about preserving its biodiversity.
- Eat food grown by local farmers.
- Use trains over planes, public transport instead of a car.
- Plant an indigenous tree.
They say, “Take only pictures, and leave only footprints.” When you travel green, you tread much more lightly.
Sadie Cove Wilderness Lodge Alaska
Habitat Suites Austin, Texas
CESiaK, Mexico
Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa Napa Valley, California
FireSky Resort and Spa Scottsdale, Arizona
duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge Belize
The Ambrose Santa Monica, California
Alma Del Monte Taos, New Mexico
Finca Esperanza Verde Nicaragua
3 Responses
Adopt eco lifestyle to make our planet more green.
“eco” doesn’t always equal “green.” Check for good green policies. Example at http://ecoluxurylodging.com/e-policy-s.html#green_policy or http://www.greenvacationhub.com/greenquestions.php
If you want out of the mainstream touristy info on hiking Sedona, AZ, try http://ecoluxurylodging.com/sedona-trip-resources-hiking.html
You know, there are a lot of ways that responsible citizens can help to reduce damage to the earth - and ourselves in the long run. One easy thing is to pick “green” accommodations when available, not just those who say they’re doing something, but those who actually are. You can do this through a website I’ve run across recently, iStayGreen.org, where you not only locate green hotels, but rate them, which puts pressure on hoteliers to do as much as they can to be well rated.
Uniquely, the site features a social networking system, so groups with like interests can get together, advise each other and exchange information. It’s about time something like http://www.iStayGreen.org
came along.