Taking a green vacation doesn't mean you have to head to the Galapagos or the rain forests of Costa Rica. Some of the best eco-tourism is in our backyard, and sticking close to home means fewer carbon emissions.
"California has wonderful, natural places -- Yosemite, the Sierras," Sierra Club spokeswoman Kristina Johnson said. "There's a lot of opportunity for people to just get out and enjoy nature. . . . It's really hard to want to destroy a forest when you've spent some time hiking around in it."
The Sierra Club and environmental organizations offer volunteer vacations or day hikes doing things like trail building, picking up trash, removing invasive plant species or conducting archaeological surveys. Zoos, aquariums and national and regional parks offer minimally invasive programs that educate tourists and teach them how to carry environmental practices into daily life. Many aquariums, for instance, give visitors take-home cards on overfishing and suggest types of fish to avoid at restaurants and the grocery store.
If your activities take you to more commercial operations, be careful about which businesses you patronize, green travel experts say. Some activities, like whale watching, may sound ecologically friendly, but is the boat crew being mindful of the animals' mating and migration habits? Does the boat interfere with the habitat by getting too close?
Light footprints
"Do your homework; do your due diligence," said Brian Mullis, a spokesman for the nonprofit Sustainable Travel International. "Ensure that your footprint is as light as possible and that your positive impacts are maximized."
Travelers shouldn't be afraid to ask about a company's environmental practices, Mullis said. Doing so helps send the message that customers care about responsible practices, he explained.
Sustainable Travel and Green Globe have the only two global, sustainable tourism certification programs, but Mullis said there were more than 70 other companies and agencies offering certification programs to businesses. The problem, he said, is that some can be purchased, leading to "greenwashing" of the industry.
Industry efforts are underway to develop baseline standards and an agency that would accredit certification programs, Mullis said.
In some areas -- including places as varied as developing countries and the Rocky Mountains -- tourism can boost the economy so it becomes less dependent on mining, drilling, logging and other resource extraction.
