MAKE THAT TRIP GREEN!
By Ella Tyler
A green vacation does not have to be an “eco-adventure” to a foreign country or a Spartan camping trip to a remote park. Trips anywhere, for pleasure or business, can be made green friendly by staying at hotels that conserve resources, using public transportation at your destination, and supporting local businesses. Even though it’s not your utility bill, don’t waste water – and turn off the lights and turn down the air conditioning when you leave your room. Consider bringing a night light with you.
The Green Hotels Association, a Houston-based group, lists member hotels on its website. These hotels are encouraged to implement water-saving measures, execute energy-saving techniques, and reduce solid waste. The association also encourages all lodging facilities to involve guests and clients by offering towel- and sheet-changing options, soap and shampoo dispensers, and guest room recycling baskets.
Some hotels use environmentally friendly cleaning products, making them more pleasant for allergy sufferers. My experience staying at two motels in Austin that claim to use non-toxic cleaning products (Austin Motel and Habitat Suites) was that these motels were as clean or cleaner than any hotel or motel I’ve stayed in.
According the Green Hotels Association website, British Airways has a very strong environmental agenda, and Southwest Airlines recycles all cabin waste. Southwest was also the first airline to offer electronic ticketing, which reduces paper use.
Escapemaker.com is an online guide to green travel in the Northeast. Its website includes a lengthy list of destinations that are easily reached by bus or train from New York, and gives transportation alternatives for destinations it reviews. Suggestions from its website that apply anywhere include traveling mid week, seeking out souvenirs to support the local economy and, when eating out, trying local dishes.
Burton & Humboldt travel, an agency that specializes in low-impact adventure travel, has a listing of eco-hotels that look quite luxurious on its website.
Your hotel may be able to refer you to environmental programs or events in the area and to a restaurant that is not a chain. Some hotels will give you candid advice about which areas are safe to walk in or use public transportation. Other hotels, fearing liability issues, may not. If the hotel has a van, you may be able to use it instead of renting a car. If you are going to a convention, a combination of shuttle buses and shared taxis may eliminate your need for a car.
Before you leave home, you can take the first steps to green up your travel by turning down the thermostat on your hot water heater, adjusting your AC/heat thermostat, and suspending delivery of your newspaper. Appliances, such as TVs and cable converter boxes, should be unplugged because they can draw as much as 40 watts per hour even when they’re turned off. The Green Hotels Association site has a lengthy list of ways to make travel environmentally friendly and includes a checklist for meeting planners who want to have a green meeting.
Web searching using the term “environmentally friendly” will result in more on-point listings than using the term “green.”