Granted, the most environmentally responsible vacation you could take would be to stay home and read a library book. By daylight. With the air conditioner and the furnace off. But there’s no sense in saving the planet if you aren’t going to see the planet you’re saving. Just as you take small steps at home like recycling, walking instead of driving, or refusing to buy California produce trucked across the country, you can make environmentally responsible vacation choices, too. You can still go - just go green.
Making your trip green
Bike-based agritourism, hybrid cruises, eco-volunteer opportunities, all reduce a traveler’s footprint
Stay green
S ome of the greenest things happening in the travel industry are also some of the least sexy. Hotels, motels, and even bed-and-breakfasts are getting on the environmental bandwagon to reduce energy consumption and solid waste, even though it’s hard to attract customers by boasting about energy-efficient boilers and low-flow toilets. If you care about staying at places with the right stuff, take a look at Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State (www.vtgreenhotels.org), a project of Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation and the state’s Small Business Development Center. At this writing, 90 lodgings are certified as meeting or exceeding standards for resource conservation. The Swift House Inn (5 Stewart Lane, Middlebury, Vt., 866-388-9925 or 802-388-9925, www.swifthouseinn.com, doubles $110-$265), for example, installed three high-efficiency boilers and switched to compact fluorescent lights, among other actions.
The 1814 inn might make a good stop on a drive to Montreal, where you can check out the Alt Hotel Quartier Dix30 (6500 boulevard de Rome, Brossard, Quebec, 450-443-1030 or 877-343-1030, www.dix30.althotels.ca, doubles $120). Located in the suburbs but a reasonable bus ride from downtown, it’s part of the Alt chain of radically new hotels that are built from scratch to be super-efficient. Geothermal energy, for example, supplies the heating and cooling and the large windows have virtually no thermal leakage. It also features very hip design.
Trains, boats, and planes
W hile the US rail network is neither as fast nor as environmentally low-impact as the French electric bullet trains, Amtrak is still a good choice for green travel - and a relative bargain. The eight-day Jazz, Blues & Rock and Roll by Rail might be the coolest journey offered by Amtrak Vacations (www.amtrakvacations.com, 800-268-7852, from $1,045 per person). Featuring the musical sites of Chicago, Memphis, and New Orleans, the package includes train tickets, seven nights of accommodations, city tours, and several meals.
Advertisement
Advertisement