It is easy to forget about going green while traveling, but there are some really simple ways to take environmentally friendly trips.
Reducing, reusing, and recycling can be a part of an everyday lifestyle because there are numerous things that can be done to make a home eco-friendly. It’s just as easy to go green during business trips, family vacations and holiday travel and here are a couple of ways to do it.
Going Green before the Trip
- Turn the water heater to the lowest setting.
- Turn off the air conditioner/heat or adjust the thermostat for plants.
- Unplug appliances like the TV, toaster, microwave and DVD player. According to the Green Hotel Association, they can leak as much as 40 watts/hour even when they are off.
- Stop any newspaper service.
- Avoid buying travel size products says Meaghan O’Neill, editor of Treehugger and PanetGreen.com, in an article for ABC news titled “Green Ideas: Tips for Eco-Friendly Travel.” Instead purchase reusable plastic containers to fill with products from home.
Making the Trip Eco-Friendly
- Take the train or the bus on short distances instead of flying. Airplanes use a great deal of fuel taking off and landing.
Go Green at the Hotel
- Stay at eco-friendly hotels. The Green Hotel Association has a listing of hotels in many states that are taking steps to green up their practices. Also, when considering a hotel, inquire as to what they are doing to help the environment. Many hotels have a linen program and use flow restricting shower heads, but this shouldn’t be the only way they are reaching out. Try to stay at hotels that are going above and beyond the minimum to run a “greener” establishment.
- When using the linen program during a hotel stay, it can be difficult to keep track of who used what towel. The Green Hotel Association suggests packing safety pins with small beads on them. Each family member should have a different color to pin to the towels they are using during the trip.
- Be sure to turn off the air/heat and lights and close the curtains when no one is going to be in the hotel room.
Be a Green Tourist
- Walk, take public transportation, or share a taxi instead of renting a car.
- The Green Hotel Association also recommends eating cuisine local to the region. For example eat seafood on the coasts, steak in the Midwest, etc.
An Environmentally Friendly Travel Experience
Living a greener lifestyle includes eco-friendly travel. With “going green” turning into the new black more and more companies are thinking about how their actions affect the environment. Traveling consumers need to heavily patronize those businesses that are actively becoming more eco-friendly as well as request greener practices from businesses that are not.
The copyright of the article Eco-Friendly Travel Tips in Green/Simple Living is owned by Erica Arnold. Permission to republish Eco-Friendly Travel Tips in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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