This is a very important day to try reduce your carbon footprint by the largest percentage. Your method of travel has one of the largest impacts on greenhouse gases than other sustainability issues (such as choosing to eat locally or recycling, etc.), especially if you travel by air frequently.
Here is a great infographic on why you should travel GREEN (click link below image to enlarge).
We
hope you found these tips helpful. If you did, we would be very
grateful if you would share by emailing to a friend or sharing it on
Facebook or Twitter. Thank you!
Tell us about your Tuesday challenge activity in the comments section below. There are only 7 days left in the challenge, so make sure you continue to earn your points towards winning the Conscious Box.
Today I would also like to share some tips with you about travel booking sites and which ones are leading the way in sustainable-travel options.
What are the best travel booking sites for eco-friendly hotels?
So
you are planning a trip? How will you decide where to stay? And if
you are here on the Green Seal site, we know you are interested in
finding an eco-friendly/green hotel, right?
There
are many travel sites out there to choose from. You may have been
swayed by “Captain Kirk” (aka William Shatner) to check out Priceline,
or the simple “hotels.com” website is easy to remember. But what are
the best sites when you are looking for an eco-friendly hotel?
Travelocity
is the current leader for promoting sustainable travel options out of
all the mainstream travel booking sites. Unlike other popular travel
booking sites such as Booking.com and Hotwire.com, the Travelocity site
shows a “green leaf tag” when you are searching their site. This tag
indicates that the hotel is eco-friendly. Hotels.com has a similar
filter for sustainable hotels; however they are not backed by
third-party certification.
Travelocity’s
hotels are certified to be eco-friendly by a Third-Party certification
company: Sabre® Eco-Certified Hotel Partners, which uses the Global
Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) (Sabre, 2012).
Green
Seal (GS) conducts similar certification of hotels. For a hotel to be
GS-33 certified, they must meet specific standards in waste management;
energy efficiency and conservation; management of fresh water resources;
waste water management; hazardous substance control; and have in place
an environmentally and socially sensitive purchasing policy. One
example of GS-33 criteria requires the use of environmentally preferable
laundry and cleaning products (Green Seal, n.d.).
In contrast, the GSTC criteria only suggest that harmful substances should be minimized. The criterion reads:
The
use of harmful substances, including pesticides, paints, swimming pool
disinfectants, and cleaning materials, is minimized; substituted, when
available, by innocuous products; and all chemical use is properly
managed (Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, 2012).
While
this is a positive step for the environment, this criterion is very
vague and difficult to measure. Four main categories summarize the GSTC
criteria: sustainable management, socioeconomics, cultural impacts, and
environmental impacts. Unlike Green Seal, which uses specific and
measurable criteria, GSTC is more focused on the social and economic
aspects of sustainability, and less on the environmental aspects.
Both
Green Seal and Sabre® are reputable certification companies with
positive goals of sustainability in mind and a traveler would do well to
choose a certified hotel from either of these companies.
Green Seal offers a simple list of their certified hotels on their website, here.
The list is sorted by state and shows standard rating level (bronze,
silver, gold) and links to the hotels’ website. This is a great option
for travelers to find a reputable green hotel easily.
Two
other mainstream booking sites offer a comprehensive list of green
hotels: Orbitz and Expedia. Travelers should be aware, however, that
they are not backed by Third-Party Certification.
References
Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. (2012, March). Global sustainable tourism criteria. Retrieved from http://www.gstcouncil.org/uploads/files/global_sustainable_tourism_criteria.pdf
Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. (2013). The global sustainable tourism criteria. Retrieved from http://www.gstcouncil.org/sustainable-tourism-gstc-criteria.html
Green Seal. (n.d.).Green seal environmental leadership standard for lodging properties, 5th edition. Retrieved from http://www.greenseal.org/Portals/0/Documents/Standards/GS-33/GS-33%20One%20pager.pdf
McFadden, K. (2012, November 30). Top 10 travel booking websites based on customer satisfaction.
Retrieved from
http://www.travelerstoday.com/articles/3772/20121130/top-10-travel-booking-websites-based-customer-satisfaction-jd-power-associates-booking-com-hotwire-priceline-orbitz-hotels-expedia-travelocity-cheaopair.htm
Sabre. (2012, February 6). Sabre launches industry’s first eco-certified hotel program. Retrieved from http://www.sabre-holdings.com/newsroom/release.php?id=1477
Travelocity. (2010). Travelocity: Travel for good. Retrieved from http://www.travelocity.com/TravelForGood/green-travel.html
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