Whether you’re planning a trek a few hours away or flying to the other side of the world, it’s important to maintain you eco-mind. Here are some ways to stay sustainable while you travel before, during, and after your trip.

Before you go

• Plan your main form of transportation to the location. What will have the least logical impact? A train? Plane? Taking your car?
• Think of your transportation for while you are there; if you know that public transit, for example, won’t be an option, opt to rent a hybrid vehicle, or see if there are bike rentals available.
• Educate yourself about the location by reading guidebooks, browsing the internet, and perusing books, such as Lonely Planet. Being aware of the local customs and language is not only polite, but is appreciated by locals, and thus, brings in a level of compassion, integral to building a better world.
• Learn about their environment; everything from water consumption to hiking in specific areas.
• Eliminate hotel room waste by bringing your own toiletries in reusable containers, instead of using the complimentary ones.
• Look for a place to stay based on their Green Seal Certification, which checks out their the business’ environmentally friendly practices. For a list of certified lodgings throughout the United States, visit greenseal.org. Also check out The Hotel Association of Canada’s ECOmmodation Rating Program, which pre-explores hotels, motels, and resorts committed to improving their eco-practices. Visit hacgreenhotels.com for information.

During your visit

• Observe their customs. Wonder why tourists aren’t readily snapping photos? There may be a reason.
• Respect the locals, and understand and complying to their levels of communication
• Add to their economy by supporting businesses that will benefit the community, from accommodations to farmer’s markets.
• Don’t pollute their environment; try renting bikes, walking, and use public transportation instead of cars, if you can.
• Keep in mind the eco-system; do not remove plants, animals, and anything else you’re unsure of.
• If you’ve planned a road trip, idling for more than 10 seconds produces more emissions that if you shut off your car. Keep it in mind if you pull over to look at your map, or snap photographs of the local scenery.
• Support regional food by eating local while you’re there. You might be tempted to stick to what you know by dining at chain restaurants, but try the local cuisine – it might be your only chance to ever sample the real deal.
• Respect the reefs, they are living parts of the eco-system. When coral is touched, a  protective mucous membrane is removed, placing it in danger.

When you get back

• Share your experience with others, aiding their knowledge while promoting a potentially overlooked destination
• Readily write reviews; people often search for first-hand information when planning their own trip

Eco-tourism can be as simple as adding a few tweaks to your trip. Do you have an eco-experience to hear? We want to hear all about it. Comment below, or contact us for the opportunity to give a full-fledged review!

Other great eco-travel companies:

Fly Green combats carbon emissions with a program that gives flyers the opporunity to offset their emissions. flygreen.ca
Read our article covering Eco-Hotels of the World, a great resource for finding first-hand reviewed eco-accommodations.
Familiar with the Lonely Planet series? We love their new eco-guide, Code Green.
Visit Travelling the Green Way, a blog dedicated to, well, traveling the green way.

Image courtesy of Eco Hotels of the World, featuring Arenas Del Mar Beach & Nature Resort

This free online guide has a huge (and growing) list of hotels that are specifically selected by their editors to ensure they meet their standards for eco-friendliness. Showing hotels and lodges all across the world, they are a leading guide in green accommodations, from hotels to resorts to cabins to igloos.

It’s as simple as a search engine to see where to stay next time you take a trip. The five start rating that corresponds with each location is based on energy, water, waste disposal, eco-activity, and ecological protection.

If you’re planning to Fiji, do a quick search and you might be interested in Matava Eco Adventure Resort. Set beside the Great Astrolabe Reef, it’s a small tropical paradise, where you sleep inside traditional thatched Fijian bures among the rainforest.

Amazon Yarapa River Lodge might spark your interest instead, a full-fledged green operation, with solar lighting and locally staffed Peruvians along the banks of the Yarapa River.

And if you’re a frequent traveler? Eco Hotels wants your voice. Always looking for new properties, if you have one to recommend, they’re more than interested in adding it to their online guide. You can also add reviews to your favourite properties (or least favourite), to the ones that they’ve already listed.

The 147 hotels that currently are listed is ever-growing, each with customer reviews. The sole 1 star hotel caught our attention, and that’s where Eco Hotels of the World proves to be helpful. The hotel, with a beautiful, lush description and scenic photographs looked perfect, but user reviews assured us that it was overridden with dirt and bugs.

In addition to the resource, website owner Alex Conti also has written the Eco Hotels of the World Guidebook. This full-colour book combines information for eco-travel, a more detailed look at each accommodation, combined with additional images and key features.

Visit: ecohotelsoftheworld.com for more information