Eco Travel : What You Should Consider?
Are you planning to travel somewhere soon and want to make sure you stick to your principles when it comes to protecting the environment? Then you should research more about “eco-travel” and travel more environmentally conscious. This means that you should make sure that you are not harming the environment, the country or the people while you are enjoying your vacation.
How do you become an eco-responsible traveler? Here are some tips to consider:
Pick environmentally-friendly accommodations
For instance, if you decide to visit the US, ensure that you check in a hotel that has a LEED certification. It is provided by the Green Building Council in the US. This program assesses and judges hotel establishments based on their energy efficiency, water savings, sustainable site development, design innovation, selection of material, and environmental quality indoors.
If you travel to other places, ensure that your chosen global hotel holds a seal of approval, which other certification programs, like Green Globe, Green Tourism in the UK, and Rainforest Alliance in the Caribbean and Latin America, provide. The goal here is to ensure that you don’t book a hotel that may contribute to the decline of the environment. Go for an establishment that supports your eco-friendly principles.
Pack light
This is an important tip for eco-friendly traveling as it means that your bag weighs less, which also corresponds to it helping in lowering the fuel use of the plane. Aside from being a big help to the environment, packing light can also help you save time and money.
To make this tip possible, maximize your choices by mixing and matching outfits. Pack only those items that you can easily hand wash and dry, too. That way, you don’t have to pack too many outfits.
Save water
Exert an effort to save water on your travels, too. You can do so by taking only fewer and shorter showers. You may also want to use a soapy washcloth as it can help freshen you up without using too much water.
Saving water is also possible by doing things as simple as turning off the faucet if you are no longer shaving, washing your hands, or brushing. You may also just hand-wash the clothes you wear in the sink rather than taking advantage of the laundry service of the hotel establishment, which may significantly waste water since they will most likely wash the clothes of guests individually.
Offer support to local businesses
You can also become an eco-responsible traveler by supporting the businesses of locals there. For example, when choosing accommodation, an activity, tour, or a restaurant or place to eat, pick a locally owned business instead of a global corporation.
This will ensure that the money you spent there will remain in the local economy. This is also a great tip as it helps you in immersing yourself in the culture of the locality. With that, you will have a much better experience than when you visit businesses and eat things you can just find at home.
Consider transportation
You also have to be really careful in selecting transportation. Reflect on whether or not you really have to drive a scooter or take a taxi to go to a shop or beach. Find out whether there is a means of public transportation capable of bringing you to your destination. You may also choose to walk or ride a bike.
All these can help you determine the kind of transportation that you have to take advantage of that is guaranteed to lessen carbon emissions, which is good for the environment.