Summer is a time for relaxation and vacations. Eco-tourism or Green Travel has been around for a long time, but with the Green Movement taking hold, it is now a part of the mainstream traveler’s mind. So what exactly is Eco-Tourism and how do you take part?
Most people think of hiking through the wilderness or sleeping a tree fort when the words Green Travel are used. This is just simply not true! Although, hiking and camping out is a great way to spend a vacation, it is not the only way to travel the world and still be environmentally friendly! Eco-tourism is defined by a vacation or trip that leaves minimal impact on the environment and culture one and is traveling to. There are plenty of hotels, resorts, and tour companies that boast their Green Travel attributes. But there are a few things you can do to minimize your own travel footprint and still enjoy your dream vacation. Below is a simple 5 step guide to making your summer or year round travels just a little more helpful for the environment!
- Alternative Transportation: Instead of the traditional summer road trip or the long flight across the world, try taking an alternate and more environmentally friendly mode of travel such as biking, train travel, bus, or sailboat. Of course if you do decide to drive you can always rent a hybrid or drive a veggie fuel car. Not only will you be helping environment, you will be saving yourself some sweet cash by dodging those ever-rising gas prices. Finally, if you are traveling somewhere by air, try offsetting your carbon impact with one of these companies.
- Stay Local: If you really want to make an impact, travel locally. Explore the exciting culture inside your own city or town. Or for a bit more excitement, adventure in the natural habitat close to your home. A good resource for local travel is your city or town’s local paper, chamber of commerce or the National and State Park System. It may seem boring to stay local, but you would be surprised by what your own backyard has in store for you!
- Choose Eco-Friendly Companies: When booking a lodging or tour company, make sure to research their environmental practices. You can always contact the particular company yourself or there are a number of websites that do the work for you! Check out these helpful websites when booking hotels, bed and breakfasts, tours, and restaurants. And if you really want to be sure the lodging company you are choosing is in fact Green, there are a number of Green Certification websites, that will assure you are making the greenest choices. Also, a great resource for finding green hotels is IStayGreen.Org, suggested by reader larryvance. This site not only lists hotels, but rates them on their “greeness” and provides social networking between travelers.
- Volunteer: Instead of just traveling to exotic locations, try combining your getaway into a experience that will not only help the social or ecological environmental you visit, but will also make you feel involved. There are a ton of organizations that will put you to good use while you explore the world! Instead of just rewarding yourself with just a vacation, reward your soul with a Volunteer Getaway!
- Be Responsible: Remember to be responsible when traveling in your own backyard or abroad. Take reusable items such as water bottles and always recycle. You can also conserve energy in your room, by turning out all lights and shutting off electric devices when not needed. Also, you can conserve water and energy by not using hotel laundry service everyday. And lastly, NEVER litter whether you are in a city or out in the wilderness.
July 28, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Something to help with your point number 3:
There are a lot of ways that we as aware and responsible citizens can play a major role in helping to minimize damage to Mother Earth – and ourselves in the long run. Some are not easy and some may be costly, but we have to do the best we can. Fortunately, one of the easy things to do is be aware of our traveling habits, and select “green” accommodations whenever available, not just those who say they’re doing something, but those who actually are. This is made possible through a website I’ve run across recently, iStayGreen.org. There we not only are able to locate hotels which are environmentally conscious, but more importantly, we are encouraged to rate the facilities we stay at on many factors of “greenness”, and several thousand already are rated. As time goes on the tremendous volume of rating information we as travelers provide will insure the accuracy of the program. This doesn’t just help other travelers, it takes paying for ratings out of the equation, and puts pressure on hoteliers to do as much as they can to be well rated. It also will expose those who want to take advantage of being green in name only, but not do anything positive. The iStayGreen.org people have set up a social networking system on their site, so groups with like interests can advise each other easily to exchange information, and also bring more pressure to bear on the facilities which talk but don’t do. This not only helps us to do our part, but rewards hotels whose management has a genuine interest in preserving our planet for future generations. It’s about time something like http://www.iStayGreen.org came along.
July 29, 2008 at 11:28 am
Thanks so much for the info and the website. I have added it to websites that are helpful in finding green lodging. We really appreciate your input and thanks again! We will surely use the site!
August 20, 2008 at 10:22 am
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September 8, 2008 at 4:15 am
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March 22, 2009 at 9:53 pm
[...] booking your Spring Break plans, we recommend reading our entry, written earlier this year on Eco-Tourism for some great green ideas such as staying local and green tour companies. But beyond that post, we [...]