Green travel ideas from two environmentally conscious travelers

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.

When planning green travel:

• Check out green lodging from outdoorsy to upscale.
• Explore green camping and hiking in your home state.
• Choose an area that fascinates you, and learn about preserving its biodiversity.

Ways to offset your carbon footprint when traveling:

• Choose not to have towels and sheets washed every day.
• 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.

Here are few eco-friendly lodging suggestions to get you started on planning your next green trip:

Post Ranch Inn Big Sur, California

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

Have fun and stay green!

Last month, Travel + Leisure ran a story on its Top 15 green hotels in the world and the associated press release was picked up by a number of sources including USA Today. The list was assembled by the magazine in collaboration with Conservation International, which is dedicated to environmental preservation and issues of sustainability. Current benchmarks for the hotel industry developing a level of sustainability involve their disposal of waste, reduction of water and energy use, and improving how the businesses interact with the local community.

The list is geographically broad, drawing hotels from a wide variety of regions and five continents. What isn’t quite as varied is the level of comfort and cost–which is certainly in keeping with Travel & Leisure’s target demographic. Three of the first five hotels listed have nightly rates that start at $700 and go up from there!

I can imagine how an average reader who saw this story in USA Today or Travel & Leisure might be alarmed to find the best green hotels in the world are ones that are well beyond the means of many eco-conscious travelers. Are “green services” in the hotel industry becoming just another luxury item hotels charge massive premiums for? I don’t have the answer, because the industry is just now starting to get mobilized on its environmental initiatives.

Tune back into this space over the next week and coming months. We’ll look at what the major hotel chains are doing in terms of green initiatives, and I will be going on a site visit later in the winter to the LEED Platinum certified new boutique hotel in San Francisco, The Orchard to see first hand what this is all about.