 Whether you’re taking a much-needed family vacation, a honeymoon, or a business trip, you can make your vacation more eco-friendly. For starters, consider vacationing at a resort that uses renewable energy, such as solar or wind, to power its facility. Other resorts that claim they are green also implement other steps to reduce their carbon footprint (and yours, if you stay there) and protect the native ecosystem.
Many hotels employ experts in relevant fields, such as marine biology, to ensure their hotel treads lightly on the local ecosystem. Some hotels are built to fit within the ecosystem, like hotels that are built on stilts to allow animals to freely roam on the grounds without disturbing guests. Any truly green hotel will get a portion (or all) of its energy from renewable sources. Some even have solar panels or wind turbines on the grounds.
Eco-friendly hotels usually implement a recycling program, and the greenest resorts also recycle their gray and black water. Many hotels forgo the use of chemical pesticides, and the best of the best use biodegradable cleaning products.
Green hotels usually buy local produce or grow it themselves. These hotels also benefit their local communities by investing time and/or money to local conservation efforts. Finally, green hotels tend to offer educational materials (whether in the form of a pamphlet, a few cleverly placed signs throughout the property, or optional classes) to their guests to highlight the efforts of the hotel.
Once booking your reservations at your eco-friendly hotel, strongly consider purchasing carbon offsets to compensate for the estimated ton of carbon dioxide that will be emitted during your flight. Most carbon offset programs compensate for your emissions by planting trees or generating renewable energy. Planting trees acts as a sort of sponge that will soak up your emissions, more or less. The idea is that by planting, say, 30 trees, the trees will live long lives spent absorbing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen to the air.
It’s an imperfect solution, but at this point, it’s all we’ve got. On the bright side, most organizations that plant trees as a means to offset your carbon don’t charge much for the service. One organization charges $30 to plant 300 trees on your behalf (if you’ve ever planted a tree, you know that the 10 cents you are giving them to plant one tree is a great deal). For air travel, many organizations charge between $1 and $10 to offset your trip. It’s a small price to pay for peace of mind and guilt-free traveling.
You could also purchase wind certificates. Many organizations allow customers to purchase certificates to offset your air travel emissions, where a certain amount of clean energy is produced on your behalf. That clean energy then prevents energy created by fossil fuels from being used.
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