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traveling GREEN
These smart, surprising tips
make for eco-friendly trips.
BY NATALIE ERMANN RUSSELL
IT SOMEHOW SEEMS more important to treat
the world well when you take the time to travel it.
The greenest thing you can do is vacation close to
home but for many Americans, that wouldn’t
count as vacation. Thankfully, there are smaller ways
you can travel green.
Go to Portland, Ore.
Good for the environment It was ranked the No. 1 sus
tainable U.S. city by Sustain Lane, a green media com
pany. And it’s in the right neighborhood: Four of the
top five cities are on the West Coast (second through
fifth place: San FVancisco, Seattle, Chicago and Oak
land). “There’s a real understanding of the fragility of
our ecosystems on the West Coast, perhaps because of
the proximity of nature, maybe because we haven’t been
here as long,” says Sustain Lane’s Frank Marquardt.
Good for you: “Pbrtland has several green hotels, a
variety of places to get local food,” Marquardt says.
“You can get around easily with the bus system, enjoy
the park space, drink the water, breathe the air it's
all part of the experience.”
Stay at a green hotel.
Good for the environment “The average hotel goes
through more products in a week than 100 families do
in a year,” says Jen Boulden, who is the co-founder of
eco-lifestyle website Idealßite.com. Many eco-conscious
hotels put soap and shampoo in shower-mounted dis
pensers (eliminating plastic bottle waste) and will change
your lineas less frequently at your request, saving about
5% on utilities, according to the Green Hotels Associa
tion (GHA).
14
USA WEEKEND • Nov. 2-4, 2007
Smart
Good for you: Soap and shampoo dispensers mean no
more fumbling with slippery little bottles. Check out
greenhotels.com for a member list of the GHA.
Go green when you rent a car.
Good for the environment: Whether you’re
driving the whole wav or renting a car
after a flight, rent a hybrid, says Wendy
Gordon, general manager of National Geo
graphic’s The Green Guide. Your trip will
create less pollution. If you’re not familiar
with how- a hybrid car works, many rental
places will help you before you set out. Avis
and Budget, for example, proride you with
a list of do’s and don’ts, plus a how--to for
starting the engine.
Good for you: Fewer stops to fill up translate
into money saved. Plus, you’ll learn to drive a hybrid
the w r ay of the future.
▼ Take a vacation with a higher purpose.
Good for the environment: Through organizations such
as the World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms,
you can pitch in at an organic farm almost anywhere
in the world. Or, at WildernessVolunteers.org, you can
m.mr •
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leam about working on wilderness projects with en
vironmental agencies like the National Park Service.
Good for you: These vacations are relatively inexpen
sive (the Wilderness Volunteers trips are only $239 for
r
Road tripping?
Watch your
speed. A lead
foot not only
decreases gas
mileage, but it
also adds extra
C0 2 to the air.
clean-energy projects “cancel out” the bad
for-the-environment carbon emissions that were re
leased by the 747 you hopped aboard to go on your
Caribbean vacation.
Good for you: Peace of mind for under 10 bucks. You
can “offset” up to about 6,000 miles on an airplane at
TerraPass.com for just $9.95 (mileage and prices go up
from there). And any money you give Cai-bonfund.org
is a tax write-off.
Shut down the house before you head out.
Good for the environment Even w-hen turned off, appli
ances use up energy (including TVs and cable boxes).
“Unplug as many things as you can before you leave,”
says Thomas Kostigen, co-author of The Green Book.
“Set timers for your lights, if you even need them on.
If every home in the United States would use a timer
for 12 hours per day instead of letting their lights burn
24/7 while on vacation, we’d save $lB7 million in en
ergy costs.”
Good for you: Why pay for electricity used when no
one is home? C 3
V'fcco
vacations let you
have fun while you .
help the Farth.
Foi ,m ecofriendly
getaway, tty Portland Ore.,
the USA s' greenest' city.
a week, including meals), and the groups
often are small. Many even take you places
you couldn’t go on your own.
Buy carbon offsets for your travel.
Good for the environment: Carbon offsetting
operates with a simple premise: You give
money to organizations such as Carbonfund
.org and Tei-raPass.com, and they invest
that money in “clean energy” projects (like
helping dairy farms turn cow waste into
power). The idea behind it is that these
VOLUNTEER VACATION WILDERNESS VOLUNTEERS