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E; HKP It's easv * * fc, «»** Si::; 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 • ?v i.\ 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