The End!

For my last blog post for this project I thought I would end on a positive note! As I have been doing research for this blog, I have come across many websites with environmentally friendly travel advice. I thought I would share a few things that I believe are the best tips to follow.

 

• Let Your Taste Buds Be Adventurous! - Eating locally grown foods can greatly reduce the packaging that imported food has to be stored in. Think about how far your food has had to travel, and how much plastic or paper you can save by buying fruits and veggies from a local market. Use a reusable shopping bag to carry them home!
• Avoid Bottled Water! - As we all know, plastic bottles count for a large portion of the worlds waste. Bring and use reusable bottles whenever you can!
• Travel Size Packages! - They may be small and convenient, but they have so much extra packaging for such a little amount of product. You can buy refillable small containers to use on vacation, instead of buying new ones each time.
• Booking Your Trip! - Many hotels and tour operators today have recycling initiatives and go that extra mile to be environmentally friendly. Try to choose these companies to use on your holidays, they can help you make a difference.
• Volunteer Your Time! - While on vacation, there are many things you can do to help. You can take it upon yourself to to a beach garbage cleanup, or just walk along a sidewalk and pick up and properly dispose of any garbage you encounter (of course be careful of anything that might be dangerous!) Surely there are companies that schedule these types of cleanups for different areas, and I'm certain they would greatly welcome any new volunteers! Check this out!

http://www.billysandifer.com/cleanup.htm

 

 

• And of course, Don't be a litter bug!! - Whenever you visit an area, always take your garbage with you if there are no garbage cans, such as on a bus. Or if the garbage cans are overflowing, take the garbage with you and dispose of it in a different way. It will feel good to do your part and not add garbage to the locations that you travel to.

Here are a few links to other environmentally friendly travel tips:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/BusinessTravel/story?id=4454257&page=1

 

http://journals.worldnomads.com/responsible-travel/story/59121/Worldwide/Top-10-Tips-for-Environmentally-friendly-travel

 

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/ecofriendly-holiday-2405.html

 

If everyone does their part, we can keep our world looking like this:

 

http://www.usatravelhotel.com/category/landscapes/

 

And not like this:

 

http://beatmag.com/daily/heavy-trash-affects-tabanan-beaches/

 

Thank you for coming on this journey with me! I enjoyed learning all about garbage and the effects it has on our world and the tourism industry. I hope you enjoyed reading and learning with me! Thanks!

Leonard says - Don`t be a littler bug like me! Goodbye!



Eco Tourism!

Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." http://www.ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourism

 

This is The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) website. It stresses that to be eco-friendly we must unite conservation, communities and sustainable travel. TIES is a non profit organization that is committed to promoting ecotourism practices, and has a network that spans over 120 countries. There is an annual Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference, which is held this year in Nairobi, Kenya, at the end of September. Something that I think is very helpful is the Opportunities for Travellers section of the website. There are tips to learn how to be an eco-friendly traveller, and also a traveller membership that you can sign up for and they will send you advice on how you can make a difference with your next vacation. This sounds awesome to me, as its free, and all travellers can access this information easily and make their trips better for the environment.

Check out the website to learn more! 

http://www.ecotourism.org/

Another website that I found while researching this topic is the Great Green Idea. It has so much information about being "green"! Including great videos, articles, ideas, and news to do with everything green. This is the green travel section of the website and the articles offer many great insights into being environmentally friendly when you travel.

http://www.greatgreenidea.com/Green-Travel.html

As I am doing continual research for this blog, I feel my self becoming more aware of my impacts with the choices that I make. I am always looking for articles in the newspaper and shows on the TV about environmental issues in the tourism industry. Also I am enjoying learning about some of the easy things we can do to help, such as recycling, and proper disposal of waste. I am having fun in writing this blog so far :) And Leonard is enjoying himself too!

The Maldives!

This video is not related to tourism but it was one that caught my attention and is about burning of garbage in the Maldives. It is very sad that there are places like this around the world. This just emphasises everything that I said about burning of garbage a few posts ago. Enjoy!