Earth Day: 11 “Green†Tips for Eco-friendly Travel
Whether you call it ecotourism, green travel, eco-tour, responsible travel, nature travel or ethical travel, the essence of travelling is becoming a topic of discussion in the travel industry. However, if people are having difficult time in defining the “take only pictures, leave footprints” approach, they seem to have a more difficult time in understanding and figuring out practical ways to encourage it.
As defined by Wikipedia, “Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial (mass) tourism. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.”
While most nations welcome tourists with an open arm and are happy to exhibit their culture, they’re also weary of the trash that’s often left behind. These vacationers tend to leave a larger-than-necessary carbon footprint through their high energy consumption. In reality, travel can be much more than simply visiting places, clicking photos and buying souvenirs. When executed judiciously and with the minimum impact on our environment, travel can bolster cultural awareness. It is important to be an eco-friendly tourist and encourage ecotourism that can easily be achieved by following some simple precautionary measures. In celebration of Earth Day (22nd April), we’re excited to offer you some useful tips to help you stay ‘green’ during your journey. Let’s get started!
- Pack light: Lightening up your load saves your valuable time and money on baggage fees and also increases plane efficiency. Make sure to pack those items which are easy to wash and dry so as to wear them easily multiple times during a trip.
- Choose eco-friendly accommodations: Fortunately, more and more hotels are promoting ecological stays without compromising well-being of their guests. These hotels are taking various steps, including thermal insulation, low-flow toilets, no use of pesticides and ecological lightning, to conserve our environment. Some hotels go one step ahead and also plant a tree whenever a new guest comes. In India also, there are several eco villages, home stays, luxury rented accommodations and nature resorts. Not only these places have given a refreshing approach to tourism, they’re located in some of the beautiful places in India. While staying at these hotels, you not only experience a homely feelingbut also makea huge contribution towards environment protection— and the Mother Nature thanks you for it!
- Keep hold of travel maps: Every time you enter a new city, you’re going to pick brochure maps on offer. It is totally fine as they’re very handy. But make sure that you don’t lose or rip them. Share a map between multiple travellers and look at brochures while you are at your hotel and then put them back at their place instead of carrying them with you. If your map is in a good condition, you can pass it onto a new traveller in your hotel. Maybe you have earmarked some interesting and exciting places to check out. Your fellow traveller will surely appreciate your gesture!
- Share the load: Instead of hopping in a private cab to roam around, you should always use public transport. If it is possible, you can also walk or rent a bike. It is one of the best options not only because it is eco-friendly but also it offers a great chance to explore the city and find places that you would have otherwise missed out.
- Treat your hotel room like your own home: At home, do you take long showers and leave your lights and television on when you are not using them? Do you excessively use room heater or AC? How about bed sheets— do you regularly use fresh ones? Probably not, so why would you do all these things while travelling? Yes, travelling lets you live a little more luxurious life than you would at home, but it doesn’t give you an excuse to ditch green living best practices. Also, if you are not staying in an eco-friendly hotel, you might have to take some conscious efforts to stay in the green lodging frame of mind.
When you enter your hotel room, unplug all unnecessary electrical appliances as they drain out energy. Five plugs? Unplug four. Mini fridge? Unless you have perishables, unplug it also. Coffee maker? Unplug until you’re ready to use it. Consider cutting down on housekeeping visits by simply hanging a sign board “Do Not Disturb” on your door. It will save both electricity and water. During day time, open room curtains to let sunlight into your room and in case you need to cool off, open windows instead of reaching out to AC and ceiling fans. These are some little things which can actually make a huge difference!
- Leave your footprints only: Make sure to stick to marked trails and maintain a safe distance from animals during your journey. Going off the beaten path could mean trampling on natural flora.
- Encourage recycling:Much of the plastic is non-degradable and takes thousandsof years to decompose. When you leave the destination, locals will still have to live with your garbage. Check with your hotel’s recycling program and recycle your waste accordingly. While travelling, always carry a bag to dumpyour trash. Not only it is a great way to keep your outdoors clean, you can also protect wild animals that might otherwise eat or get tangled in the garbage left behind.
- Go plastic-free: An average traveller in Asia buys two large water bottles a day. It means, if you are visiting an Asian country for 20 days, you are consuming minimum 40 water bottles! Approximately, in 2016, tourist arrivals in India increased to 8,47,000 in February. Imagine the number of plastic bottles used by tourists! While travelling, make sure to carry an aluminum water bottle toeliminate the use of plastic and its alternatives. Wherever clean tap water is available, make sure to fill it up as it will not only curtail use of plastic water bottles but also help you to save your money.By bringing your own reusable water bottle, you can avoid plastic bottles that are easily available at shops and pose serious pollution risk.
- Shop smartly: While buying any item read labels and ask questions, like “what is this item made from”? Around the world, people sell items which are made from endangered species and non-sustainable items. It may be fine to buy or sell such items in their countries, but you can still cast your vote by refusing to buy them.
- Eat locally produced food: It’s simple— if food items you consume haven’t been flown or trucked in, you’re cutting carbon footprints and emissions. While travelling, make every effort to seek out and support local businesses that grow and serve locally-made food. By eating locally produced or cooked food, you get a chance to try authentic food that otherwise you may have avoided.
- Buy online travel insurance policies: To ensure the complete success of your eco-friendly trip, buy a good travel insurance policy online. Travellers are more vulnerable to accidents and ailments and there is no way to avoid unfortunate accidents from taking place. It is true that travel insurancepolicies can’t avoid misfortunes from happening but they can give comfort in the form of monetary compensation which is useful in dealing with unforeseen situations, such as loss of passport, baggage loss, trip delay, personal accident, and medical expenses. But make sure to buy your travel insurance policy online only. Purchasing a policy online is convenient and environmental friendly as there is no paperwork involved. There is no need to burn your fuel and emit smoke to visit the insurer’s office. You can buy your travel insurance policy online from the comfort of your home, without making any harm to the environment. Moreover, it is also cheap due to the elimination of hefty agent’s commission. So, you can keep both your pocket and Mother Nature happy!
Be a traveller and not the tourist only
As sang by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, “Green is the color of Spring….I am green and it’ll do fine. It’s beautiful! And I think it’s what I want to be.”
The reality is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to turn into a nature traveller. Even you don’t need to be an environmental expert to think about nature-friendly tips. In fact, by taking small steps and becoming more conscious about HOW you travel can actually save our planet. More importantly, small but important steps taken towards ecotourism can stimulate financial growth in developing countries and strengthen the world’s economy. Also, you might be thinking that your baby steps are not going to help in dealing the problem which is gigantic in size. But, remember collectively we all can make a world of difference. As after all, “The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth.”- Chief Seattle
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