How Green Are You? - 2

Fair Trade Tourism

Alleviating poverty is one of the most positive potential aspects of tourism, but check to ensure that locals are truly getting a piece of the economic pie.

• Does the company employ locals, rather than foreign workers?
• Does the company include local businesses in the supply chain? (For instance, does the company use local produce for its food services?)
• Is there revenue sharing with the local community?
• Is your hotel owned by an international corporation or a local company?
  

• Outside Cagayan de Oro City in the Phillipines, a Masala eco-tourism village inhabitant shows off the unique culture.
• bingbing

Leave No Trace

Tourists go to destinations to experience a unique culture or environment, so it would seem obvious that tourists and businesses would protect those special places. The phrase “Leave No Trace,” popularized by the backpacker community, is now international outdoor shorthand for travelers who want to minimize their environmental impact. Those who practice this approach stay on animal or park trails to protect fragile soils; they carry out everything they bring to a destination, including empty containers and used toilet paper; and they use biodegradable soaps that won’t contaminate soil and water sources. The concept has broadened to encompass an attitude that values hiking over motorized vehicles and traveling with as invisible a footprint as possible—so that the destination stays as pristine for future visitors as if you were never there.

While most tourists stay in hotels, ride in motorized transportation and don’t bring in their own food, the philosophy of “Leave no Trace” merges nicely with those who want to take a greener approach to travel.

• Take only pictures. Leave only footprints.
• MolallaRiverCowboy

• Is your hotel minimizing pollution by adapting green energy, green building and green practices, when possible?
• Does the facility use biodegradable cleaning techniques and offer biodegradable guest products?
• Does your tour company offer walking, hiking, kayaking, canoeing and bicycling excursions?
• Is fishing catch-and-release?
• Do the restaurants follow the seafood guidelines offered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program or another sustainable seafood advocate?
• Does the chef use organic, seasonal, local produce and meats, when possible?
• Do tour guides avoid disturbing animals such as dolphin pods and bird flocks?
• Does your resort and/or tour company feed or otherwise alter the natural lifecycle of local animals?
• Does your hotel and/or tour company provide ways to support the local culture?
• Will your visit, or the facilities used to host your visit, damage the local environment or threaten local species?
  

Travel has long been one of the great joys of the world. The more we practice responsible travel, the more likely our children’s children will be able to share in that joy.