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 Earth Routes is a member of the Co-op America Business Network |
There's more than one way to travel green. It's possible to reduce your ecological footprint at any budget level. First, look at a travel tradition, preference, or habit and find out if it is doing more good than harm. Then learn about ways to enjoy travel while helping to make the world a little better.
Travel and tourism have blossomed and grown tremendously in the past half century. Knowledge of other places, other people, and other cultures can expand our lives and enliven our world. But this growth sometimes threatens to choke the life out of the very places that inspire our visits. Motors burning fossil fuels, concrete covering wildlife habitat, sewage entering oceans, and even footprints have an impact on the environment. The spread of Western commercial products may overpower ethnic cultural traditions and locally produced food and crafts.
Travelers and tourists can make their impact less harmful, even beneficial, by ensuring that their visits and their dollars give sustainable support to the local economy and to conservation efforts. Getting answers to questions about waste treatment, hiring of local people, respect for native cultures, construction practices, traffic congestion, water supply, and care for natural resources can both inform your choices and reinforce sustainable practices at your destination. Vendors of travel are not always aware of what they are doing that may be harmful to the environment or the local culture, or they may not see any concerns beyond making a profit. Some individual efforts, on the other hand, are taking positive steps to make a difference. Ask someone other than the vendors themselves, inform hotels and tour operators of your concerns, and applaud those who are helping to green up the world.
Travel green...
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