These days, there is a lot of talk about being eco-conscious, earth-friendly, or simply being "green." This awareness about our Earth and its precious but limited resources has led us to be more conscious about travel. We have left our carbon footprint (determine it here) all over the world and there are numerous ways that you can be eco-friendly when you travel that don’t require you to make big changes.
Just as you would do in your own home, implement some of these when traveling:
- Take the stairs instead of an elevator
- Turn off appliances when you are not using them
- Use public transportation or walk – best way to explore a city!
- Re-use your travels
- Take trains instead of planes - this works especially well in Europe if you are visiting several countries. Invest in a multi-destination train pass before you leave
- Use electronic tickets, not paper, when booking travel
- Avoid using disposable cameras since they can only be used once and take a lot of energy to make
The Independent Traveler has tons of additional tips as well as other resources on traveling green, including top green hotels, green cruising and green deals!
Check out if your national or worldwide destination is a green hotel (click on Travel Destinations in top right-hand corner) and book flights with airlines that recycle the waste created when serving food and beverages to passengers (BA has a strong environmental agenda and SouthWest recycles all cabin waste).
In another section on the same site, you can find a lot of information about carbon offset companies, which offset your carbon emissions for flights, car travel or household energy use. They list a number of projects with explanations, but always make sure that your money and efforts are going to a legit cause.
A few small changes go a long way!
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