Green Your Travel: Spot Greenwashing
We're well into spring and summer's coming, so if you're feeling bitten by the travel bug and find yourself getting into vacation mode, please remember to protect the planet you're so intent on seeing. This week we're presenting tips about how to make your travels more earth-friendly.
Tip #4: Avoid Tourism's Greenwashers
It's wonderful that many travel providers are "going green" but when making reservations, be wary of the many that are using the term as a shallow, unsubstantiated marketing ploy. How can you tell who's walking the walk and who's just talking the talk? Read good guidelines here, here and here (PDF) to learn how to weed out the 'washers. A brief summary for the time-pressed: Have a healthy dose of skepticism, ask lots of questions, trust your common sense (any claim of an eco-friendly golf course, for example, borders on the oxymoronic), and look for certification.
Bonus: Check out our editor's opinions about eco-travel books in Budget Travel magazine.
