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Green Holidays:
At Home or Abroad, Tips
for Keeping Green Year-Round
Holidays are a popular time to travel. Scheduled festivities, family, escapes... however and whatever you choose to celebrate, they are a fantastic opportunity to start some green holidays traditions. Whether you travel or stay home the green holidays tips below will help you keep your eco-lifestyle no matter what the occastion.
Ecotourism Holidays Tips
When your holiday plans call for travel, here are some green choices for you to consider.
• If you are flying over your holiday, consider carbon offset options to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions generated from personal travel. Renewable energy, methane recapture offsets, and energy conservation are popular ways to maintain a carbon-neutral life.
• When you do fly, choose a flight itninerary with as few layovers as possible. The worst carbon emissions happen during take-off and landing.
• If you have a choice in how to travel, choose the more energy-efficient transport methods like driving a hybrid, electric or bio-fuel vehicle. And carpool if possible.
• Stay close to home. The shorter distance traveled, the less fuel burned.
• If you are not staying with family or friends in their homes, find an eco-lodge (for tips on choosing a green getaway, please see
Selecting Ecolodging
), or if you are in a more urban setting, search for a B&B or boutique hotel that caters to guests who choose organic. A growing number of guest accomodations offer locally-grown produce and organic menus.
Eat local when you travel. It conserves transportation resources, enmeshes you in local cuisine, and is generally fresher than imports.
• Be conscientious about conserving natural resources no matter where you are. Eat locally-grown foods, be mindful about water use, and use public transportation when possible.
• Instead of focusing on traditional gift-giving for the celebrations and holidays in your life, choose alternative ways to honor special occasions. Perhaps the whole family could spend time together cleaning up and clearing local hiking trails, or helping on a local organic farm, or building schools and homes in underprivileged areas, or lending a hand with animal rescue organizations... whatever your interests, the options are endless. For more information on alternative holiday ideas, please check out
Voluntourism.
Green Tips if You Are
Home for the Holidays
• If your holiday plans include feasting and food, go organic and buy local. Either choose a restaurant or caterer who uses organic and local produce, or support your local farmers and create the menu yourself. You will be eating healthier (no toxic pesticides or harmful hormones), supporting your local economy, and saving fuels and costs involved in transporting your food. The ingredients for an average meal in the US travel 1,200 miles to get to the table. Imagine the energy saved when you buy from your local farmer's market, and your food will be so much fresher.
• When you set your table at home, don't use throwaway dinnerware. Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, Americans generate an additional 25% or 5 million tons of trash. Don't add to the landfill issues. Instead, cloth napkins and tablecloths, and reusable plates, cups, and utensils.
• Wrapping gifts? Make your own wrapping paper with existing paper you have around your house instead of buying new wrapping paper that sacrifices trees and ends up in the landfill. I've used comics, newspaper, maps, tissue paper that i've saved from other packaging, brown paper bags that I've drawn on and personalized... you'll be surprised how much cool wrapping paper you already have. And don't confine yourself to paper... it's fun to challenge yourself to wrap with originality...how creative do you feel?
• Make holidays a time to give back. Donate your time and/or money to an environmental or community group. Pick an activity your family or friends can do together that will give back to your community. Help in a soup kitchen, donate clothing and supplies to shelters, volunteer, enter a race or walk together to raise money for a cause, pick up trash in your neighborhood, start a community garden... the opportunities to become involved are endless and valuable.
• Energy-wise your home. Take the holidays as an opportunity to economize on energy use and maximize energy-efficiency. In addition to insulating and using compact fluorescents and turning your thermostat to the mid-range, use LED lights for those holiday displays. LEDs use 90% less energy than traditional bulbs.
• If you are exchanging gifts, make them personal...instead of giving lots of over-packaged storebought goods, think about giving one meaningful gift that reflects your green values. Consider making gifts...cook something special and yummy or compile a recipe book, create an art piece, make clothing items, create a photo album, donate your time, or plant a garden. But if you do purchase gifts, consider the greener characteristics: minimal packaging, whether it's recyclable, whether it's reused (antiques or made from recycled materials), whether they are fair trade items, etc.
Green Holidays are a great way to involve children in eco-friendly practices. For more tips on traveling green with children, check out Ecotourism for Families.
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