Go Green While You Travel
Well, it's pretty safe to say that everyone loves a good vacation, especially one that introduces you to a faraway destination that you had never previously experienced.
Tourism is a very profitable market for many countries, but sometimes travel can cause harm to exotic towns and environments, so it is considered a good thing to go green and travel in an eco-friendly manner because it helps the lands and communities in ends of the world.
Ecotourism
This term refers to eco-friendly travel to natural areas that sustains the well-being of the local population, as well as protecting nature. A good example of ecotourism is going backpacking through South America and buying local foods and products along the way. Because you're on a bicycle instead of an airplane or bus, you are producing substantially fewer emissions and creating less pollution. Furthermore, a lot of third world communities are agrarian (dependent on farming and agriculture), so by buying food from local markets, you would be facilitating their economies.
Sustainable Tourism
This is similar to ecotourism, but it goes one step further by preserving environmentally-friendly operations and cultures, while preserving natural resources.
If we stay with the backpacking through South America example, this idea involves staying at solar or wind powered hotels while you're on the trip in order to support the worldwide clean energy market. If hotels and motels that used alternative energy caught on, then problems such as global warming and the greenhouse effect would be greatly improved.
Geotourism
This concept combines the ideas of ecotourism and sustainable tourism by focusing them on the geographical character of a destination such as its environment, culture, and population. This is a type of tourism that works to sustain and enhance the geographical character of a location.
An excellent example of geotourism would be if you visited somewhere like the Chumbe Island Coral Park in Tanzania, Africa and spent money on food, souvenirs, etc. The money you spend would in turn go to the community that lives there all year around in order to assure the conservation of the area's customs and traditions.
Geotourism is kind of like a continuous cycle intended to preserve historical landmarks around the world.
Voluntourism
Voluntourism is when you spend the majority of your vacation time doing service for the local residents and/or environment of an area. Volunteer work always does the heart good and spreads good will, so why not do your best to help the less fortunate when you have free time.
Agrotourism
This is an excellent idea for those of you who enjoy getting your hands dirty and putting in a good day's work. Agrotourism is when you go and live on a working farm, and participate in educational and cultural programs.
This type of experience would give you a true appreciation for Planet Earth, not to mention the amount of work you would be doing to improve the state of our environment.
Whether you're on your honeymoon, spring break, or summer vacation, there is always an opportunity to go green and travel responsibly. I've named a few different ways to make your time off really count and give your vacation a positive impact on the world.
Even if you aren't interested in the ideas that I've just mentioned there are still multiple ways to go green when you travel, and the advantages are endless. For example:
- Stay at a hotel that practices eco-friendly energy conservation.
- Use trains or ferries instead of air travel whenever possible.
- Reduce your carbon footprint by walking, biking, or using public transport whenever possible.
- Recycle whenever possible.
Going green while on vacation shouldn't be a hassle, but it should definitely enhance your overall experience. |
