 The greening of the travel industry, whether away for business or pleasure, is incredibly important. Here are some tips from EnviroCitizen.org to help you choose where to spend your travel dollars and how to green-up your trip:
1) Getting There by Plane : In terms of getting to our vacation destinations, we don't necessarily have to sacrifice air travel in order to leave a lighter carbon footprint. There are click-through carbon offset purchase options available online.
2) Getting There by Car (or otherwise) : It's good, green thinking to research whether you can forgo car rentals. Some hotels offer free shuttles to and from the airport and local activities. Since these shuttles are running regardless, using them cuts down on CO2 emissions. Bikes and public transportation are also great alternatives.
3) Once You're There : No matter the destination, there are easy choices you can make to travel greener without giving up accommodations you want on our vacations. For example, you can still turn off the lights in our hotel room before you leave for the day (it's surprising how many people don't bother). Ask if a hotel has a linen reuse program. These hotels usually have signs in the bathrooms that say something like, "If you want us to wash the towels, leave them on the floor." Also, you can check to see if there is a hotel at your destination of choice that participates in a water recycling or conservation program.
4) Time to Eat : Some hotels have restaurants that use locally grown, organic ingredients for their menu offerings. This not only cuts down on transportation costs, but assures a fresher quality of food, too. Eating locally but outside of the hotel is still more ecologically sensitive than Happy Meal at McDonald's for example. Inquiring about which of your destination's restaurants participate in this earth-friendly concept is an easy way to affect positive change while traveling.
5) What to Buy : No matter where you take your vacation, remember to "take only photos, leave only memories" (as they say). While buying unique crafts from local artisans is more expensive than buying the cheap t-shirts at the airport, doing so invests back in the community. It supports traditional craft-making as a sustainable job in that travel destination's economy. Sustainable tourism money translates into vacation destinations promoting the protection of their habitats' biodiversity.
EnviroCitizen.org has found that making informed choices as a travel consumer is easy. Green travel is also easy, once you realize you don't have to forgo your favorite vacation amenities to do so. Every little bit helps, after all.
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