Your Guide To Green

Just like eco this… and green living that… the travel industry is embracing the green movement with Ecotourism.  This makes perfect sense considering that when we travel, we consume.

And often when we travel we seem to have an “It’s vacation” mentality that usually does not include conserving. From the gasoline we burn to the extra long showers we take in our hotel rooms, to the land we affect in our comings and goings, the impact can be enormous. 

Ecotourism has looked carefully at the many facets of traveling and offers a variety of suggestions for greener travel. So just what can you do?  Rethink, respond and reduce while you still relax and rejuvenate!

Here are some quick and easy ways to help you travel on the green and make your vacation doubly beneficial:

•  At home – Unplug your appliances and TV’s, put your lights on a timer, turn off your water heater (a huge one), heating and cooling systems and stop the mail and newspaper deliveries.

•  Transportation – Take shorter trips, use the bus and public transportation, walk use a bike, take a sailing cruise, and visit www.terrapass.com to purchase carbon offsets for your travels. 

•  Lodging – Visit one of the many ecotourist resorts. Reduce water consumption by requesting NO daily change of sheets and towels. Take your own toiletries to reduce the hundreds of thousands of plastic disposable bottles used by hotels every year.

•  Along the way – Use a digital camera to save on film, pack lightly to reduce transportation costs and the weight you have to carry, respect the local ecosystems, refuse receipts, and support local economies.

Big or small, each one of these steps makes an impact.  I encourage you to take your vacation and enjoy your amenities, remembering my number one rule ’No Suffering Allowed”, and be aware of all the little choices and watch the difference you can make.