Go Green: Eco Travel 101

Go green, you say?

go green Why, yes, of course. In this day and age there’s no reason not to go green by choosing eco-friendly options when you are planning your next trip or vacation. It’s easy to do the right thing while seeing the world if you know what to look for in terms of offsetting carbon emissions for air miles, booking green hotels and rental homes, and patronizing tour operators and other vendors who pay attention to sustainability.

Here are some ideas about where to go next while keeping a clean, green conscience…

Amazon Adventure

Imagine a lone fisherman quietly and gracefully paddling his dugout canoe through the submerged grasses of an Amazonian lake. He is there today, following a centuries-old tradition of nourishing his family with the many species of fish which once proliferated in the world’s largest river basin. A few years ago, however, his future was not […]

Flora, Fauna and the Deep Blue Sea: Bermuda Works to Recreate its Natural Past

It is peaceful on Nonsuch Island, a 14-acre nature preserve at the eastern entrance to Bermuda’s Castle Harbor. Migratory songbirds flit through canopy trees, their calls disturbed only by the distant and distinctly incongruous whine from a motorcycle track on the mainland. With its Bermuda palmetto, olivewood and cedar forests, scuttling Sally Lightfoot crabs and nesting Bermuda petrel seabirds just offshore, the island represents a rare opportunity to experience Bermuda as its first visitors saw it.

Finding Grace in Dominica

The lush, tropical Jungle Bay Resort on the Caribbean island of Dominica offers a natural retreat of the highest order…

Lost in the Amazon

Sleeping on a little boat, eating fresh acai and listening to locals is all part of the "community-based tourism" offered by Project Baggage in the Brazilian Amazon.

Red Stripe, Yellow Curry and Green Hotels

Stroll barefoot along Jamaica’s white sand beaches, get acquainted with dolphins in crystal-clear water, and ascend mystical mountain peaks through rainforest pathways. But before you arrive, make sure the place where you stay has made a commitment to preserving this biodiversity hot-spot for the future.

Thundering Wildlife

Zimbabwe Emerges as the Newest Eco-Destination Coasting along fiery-red African waters, with the bellowing of hippos drawing attention from the pristine quietness of sunset, Zimbabwe’s Zambezi River offers an ideal way to get in touch with an unspoiled ecosystem. On one bank, five elephants stroll single-file to the water’s edge, where they snatch up lilac-plumed […]

A Climb to Remember

Recreational tree climbing is taking root in the ecotourism industry, and it’s sending guys like Tim Kovar to far off reaches of the globe.

Aruba: An Island Full of Green

Sunny and tropical Aruba’s parks, reefs and wind turbines are a sight to behold whether or not you’re an environmentalist….

Alaska in Miniature

With our two young kids in tow, ages two and eight months, my husband Matt and I drove nearly 10,000 miles from Los Angeles to Alaska and back, spending a month in a cabin on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

Sustainable Scotland

Hike, Bike, Kayak and Birdwatch among Natural Splendor in Sustainable Scotland, an Ecotraveler’s Dream

Gorillas of the Missed

Traveling with a Cause in a Dangerous World The Congo and its neighboring mountains were never a travel destination for the faint of heart, but the chance to see gorillas in their native mists has long been a powerful lure. Visitors flooded into neighboring Uganda until this past March, when 14 tourists were abducted and […]

Wide Open Spaces

Traveling green through Wisconsin and Minnesota with stops at the starkly beautiful Apostle Islands, local farms and green bed and breakfasts.

Protecting Paradise

The Turks and Caicos government has banned jet-skiing, waterskiing & spearfishing & is focusing on wastewater “pretreatment” for area hotels to curb chemical & fertilizer runoff…

Beautiful Belize

It is possible to stand in the midst of a rainforest in Belize, surrounded by dripping trees and the cries of howler monkeys, and think that you’re in a particularly unspoiled corner of Costa Rica. Or maybe Brazil, before that country’s air was choked with smoke from burning trees and the ugly scars of clear-cuts. Possibly because of its small population of 200,000 scattered among 8,876 square miles of coastline, mountains and dense forests, Belize has escaped the headlong development that has marred so much of Latin America’s natural beauty. Even its largest metropolis, Belize City, is home to no more than 60,000 people.

At the Ocean’s Edge

The late spring and early fall "off season" are lovely times to visit Cape Cod, whether you stay at a large hotel, a bed and breakfast, or one of the many (but pricey) rental properties.

Banking on the Bahamas

Andros Island, the least-developed and largest of the 700 islands and cays that make up the Bahamas, is just a 10-minute plane ride away from the mega-resorts, golf courses and party vibe of tourist-oriented New Providence Island. Andros supplies fresh water and workers to its high-profile neighbor, but has retained most of its natural resources and beauty.

Tenting Tonight

Every so often we need to interrupt our regular lives and go off and live in a tent. I don’t say this for the usual benefits associated with camping—the simpler living and getting close to the outdoors, though those things go far in renewing our perspective. More importantly, we need to spend time away from home, constructing a shelter at night, taking it down in the morning and moving on, because that gets us close to a truth we usually deny. We are merely passing through this life.

The High Desert

Taos is More Than Great Skiing It was nearly 50 years ago that Swiss-born Ernie Blake flew over the Taos mountains in his Cessna 170, and noted that it offered skiing comparable to his native land. The Taos Ski Valley resort, now named as one of the top 10 destinations in North America by Skiing […]

Backcountry Solitude

Dedicated downhill racers around the country have moved their skis from the basement to the garage, ready to hit the slopes at the first sign of flurries…

Florida, Naturally

There are still many ways to immerse yourself in unspoiled beauty in Florida, and there are many people working hard to preserve what’s left of this lush paradise.