There are exciting and wonderful places to visit on your next travel adventure, but have you ever wondered how you can make your travel adventure more environmentally friendly? In this tight economy with the cost of travel increasing and more people taking a proactive approach to reducing pollution, now could be a good time to start thinking about hotel merchant processing. Today many hotels are offering environmentally friendly options. They have found that reducing waste, using eco-friendly products, and utilizing clean energy can save money and offer a service more people are searching to find. Below are four key ways you can be more environmentally active in your next travel adventure. Let’s go!
Combine Travel with Volunteerism
An innovative idea developed from the Four Seasons Resort in Costa Rica, travel and volunteerism offers social responsibility with luxury. This five-star hotel resort works together with the local government to offer guests an opportunity to volunteer their time through a program called Growing Together. This innovative sustainable idea gives guests a chance to volunteer in the local community based on their time, budget, and experience. A voluntary group could expect to spend time planting a garden, painting a school, or building fences for the local community on Costa Rica’s Papagayo peninsula.
Use the Sun to Charge Your Phone
Most likely you are dependent on your phone, even when you’re travelling. It’s probably the case then that you are not going to take your next vacation or business trip without your phone. After all, your phone contains all your contacts, emails, text messages, and virtually everything you need to survive in the modern world. A rather simple way to use a sustainable practice on your next trip is to charge your phone with the sun. A company called Logear offers a hands free device that attaches to the windshield of your car to charge your phone. This device even works on cloudy days and takes about 10 to 12 hours to charge your phone. A full charge can expect to get about 12 hours of phone use.
Book Your Stay at a Green Hotel
Some hotels are now combining luxury with sustainability. The luxurious Orchard Hotel in San Francisco is a great example of this, being one of the first LEED-certified hotels. Offering low emission paint and carpets made from recyclable material, the hotel uses non-toxic cleaners to clean towels, bedding, and organic bathroom products. In addition, the hotel is conveniently located near Union Square and literally steps away from Powell Street cable car line, which means there will be no need to rent a gas-guzzling car either!
Visit Green Businesses on Your Trip
Search out restaurants that offer local and green products. Many places now advertise local organic produce and meat raised from family operated farms. For instance, Intelligentsia Coffee Company purchases its beans from growers who are committed to healthy environmental and sustainable business practices. Intelligentsia coffee bars are located throughout the Chicago and Los Angeles area. One way to identify a green restaurant is to look for a GRA stamp; this ensures the restaurant is complying with green and sustainable practices established by the Green Restaurant Association.
Keep an open mind when looking for green and sustainable ways to save money. Many times, you will have options that you are not aware of or might not even know existed. Renting an electric car not only reduces the cost for gas, it also has an indirect benefit on the atmosphere by emitting fewer emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, work towards reducing paper waste – by using credit cards, purchasing online and requesting receipts delivered electronically – all helps too!