These trips deserve a green light
These are not jolly times if you’re young and worried about the world your parents will leave you. Before the torch passes, here are steps all travelers can take right now to leave the Earth in better shape.
A green hotel
The Hofgut Sternen, a hotel in the highlands of southwest Germany’s Black Forest, produces all of its electricity and heating with renewable sources, such as hydro, solar and wood chips, in its own power plant. Not all hotels that claim to be green are as ambitious, but to find ones that make a sincere effort, you can search at the Green Hotels Assn. (greenhotels.com) and Book Different.com.
Carbon offsets
Because much of the Netherlands lies below sea level, it’s not surprising that KLM, its national airline, takes climate change that leads to rising seas seriously. It has lowered carbon emissions-per-passenger flown by 16% since its carbonreduction effort began; it hopes to reach a 20% reduction by 2020. KLM passengers can make their flight carbon-neutral for a small donation, which varies depending on route — about $1.60 for Amsterdam to Aberdeen, Scotland, for example — which goes to local sustainability efforts. Other airlines — about 30 of them, according to the the International Air Transport Assn., an industry trade group — also offer the offsets. Those include Lufthansa, Delta, JetBlue and United. You can search for eco-conscious airline rankings at Alternative Airlines (bit.ly/ecofriendlycarriers) or consult the International Council on Clean Transportation (bit.ly/icctprograms).
A country that cares
Start your search for your next vacation at the Sustainable Top 100 (sustainable top100.org), a guide to the countries that make the effort to be green, and consider making travel plans there.
Little things count
The days of plastic stirrers, garnish picks, condiment packages and other disposables are numbered. Celebrity Cruises and its Royal Caribbean and Azamara divisions are eliminating all plastic straws this year and plan to banish all single-use plastic fleet-wide as soon as replacements can be sourced. CruiseCritic offers a rundown on lines’ green initiatives (bit.ly/green ships).