Go Green: Eco Travel 101

Go green, you say?

go greenWhy, 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…

A Greener Blue Lagoon

Turtle Island Resort in Fiji — where Brooke Shields and company filmed the movie Blue Lagoon — goes green with solar power & hydroponic gardens…

Lava Land

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a fascinating and humbling up-close look at the earth’s underbelly, plus you have the big island’s rainforests and beaches at your beck and call…

Going Dutch

Dirty Canals, Organic Farms and Mud Flats Offer Low-Impact Fun Schlerrp. Schlerrp. Schlerrp. Thigh-deep in rich brown mud, tourists in the Waddenzee note the salty tang to the air, the distant sea, and the shrieking gulls protecting a nearby nest. A guide, garbed in bright yellow, red and blue and leaning on a wooden staff, […]

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.

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….

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.

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.

Sustainable Scotland

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

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.

Eco-Friendly Travel in Australia

Eco-friendly travel in Australia is making significant positive contributions to the cultural, economic & environmental well-being of the country.

Elephant Adventures at Camp Jabulani

To support the 13 elephants they’ve given sanctuary to, plus a large staff of trainers, a South African couple opened Camp Jabulani, an exclusive, luxury safari lodge that balances the impact of tourism with the demands of conservation.

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 […]

The Roof of the World

Tourism in Nepal Strikes a Delicate Balance To reach the best place to see Mount Everest (known locally as Sagarmatha), from Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu you first take a half-hour flight on a small plane to Lukla, then walk 31 miles to the small city of Namche. The trekking is by foot, up 12,000 […]

Volunteering Your Vacation

Next Time Don't Just Watch the Whales, Study Them Last year, Muriel Horacek spent two weeks camping in a cave in China as she monitored an endangered species of monkey. She has also radio-tracked cheetahs by airplane over Namibia, taken water samples from a rowboat in a German lake, and in St. Croix caught the […]

Where the Organic Flowers Grow

Bed & Breakfasts from Maine to California are touting their green features, from organic gardens and local menu ingredients, to compact fluorescent lights and solar power.

Ruins and Rainforests

The Mayan expression Quauhtitlan, meaning "between the trees," gave the name to what is now Guatemala. With more than 30 legally declared protected areas, and 40 more proposed, Guatemala boasts some of the richest biodiversity in the world: 19 ecosystems, over 300 microclimates, 400 species of birds, a myriad of snakes, wild cats, and monkeys, and thousands of species of tropical trees and plants–many of which are threatened by illegal burning and harvesting.

Finding Grace in Dominica

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

Stewardship and Recreation

Ogden, Utah is poised to become a popular year-round tourist destination for outdoorsy types who seek an alternative to Colorado’s saturated ski resorts and sky-high tourist towns. It features miles of hiking and mountain biking trails and two ski resorts, tucked into the valley of the Wasatch Mountains. But Ogden faces the same challenge as many nature-centered towns—how to best enjoy the natural world without exploiting it.

Journey to the End of the Earth

In Patagonia, Chile, you’ll meet the winds’ many moods, come in close contact with rugged mountains & piercing blue waters & let the sun provide the warmth.

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 […]