As we focus on ways to go green in our lives at home don't forget that you can stay green on vacation as well! Make an effort to look for sustainable tourism, buy carbon offsets for your air or car travel and make sure you mind your trash to leave the destinations as beautiful as you found them.
According to the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, the region boasts the largest concentration of Green Globe certified resorts in the world. http://www.cha-cast.com/GGproperties.html
I am particularly impressed at the efforts of Sandals and Beaches properties, which are all Green Globe certified.
http://www.beaches.com/general/greenglobe.cfm
http://www.sandals.com/general/greenglobe.cfm
When choosing shore excursions, try to look for activities that do not harm the very environment you are enjoying. Some areas do not encourage jet skis or water skiing to protect the fragile coral reefs and sea life. The Riviera Maya area near Cancun offers many excellent activities outside of Chichen Itza that showcase the lush jungle and archaeological sites surrounding the resorts. (Xel-Ha, Tulum, Xcaret) There's so much more than partying!
Buy local products and craft souvenirs whenever possible. Sure those 3/$10 t-shirts from China are tempting, but something unique will bring back great memories of your trip later.
Eat local food. OK, this may be difficult for some, but at least stay away from MacDonald's. Just as we should support local farmers at home, support those in the countries you're visiting. (Where do you think those patties are coming from when you don't see any cows?) I bet you'll be surprised at how many fruits and vegetable varieties seem exotic to us, but are staples in other countries...and you just might like it.
It seems to be a little harder to cruise green, but Holland America has made a commitment to do what they can from using low flow toilets to non-hazardous cleaning products.
If you have some other tips, or tourism companies that you feel do a great job protecting the environment comment and let us know!
Update: El Dorado Resorts in Riviera Maya uses 70% solar power! They also use only chemical free detergents in their laundry rooms. Impressive.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eldoradosparesorts.com/