For months now I’ve been yearning to see the mountains. My family used to spend every summer in Vail, Colorado, but it’s been nearly four years since my last trip—so I’ve been scheming about how I can get my friends to go. My best idea so far: a ski trip.

Autumn may just have begun, but it’s never too early to start planning a ski trip. As I began looking for green ski resorts, I ran across a list of the top ten green ski resorts from the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition (SACC), a group that works to ensure ski areas are responsive to environmental concerns, local communities and the skiing public.

These ski resorts earned an A in sustainability—literally. Each of these American ski resorts received an A grade on SACC’s Ski Area Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard rates 83 resorts in the West on issues such as environmental policies, renewable energy, waste stream management and preserving environmentally sensitive areas.

SACC’s top ten ski resorts are:

1. Aspen Mountain Ski Resort, Colorado

This resort’s solar photovoltaic system, hydroelectric plant, two LEED-certified buildings and climate change education campaign helped secure it the top spot on the list. The Aspen Skiing Company owns this mountain—as well as two other mountains on this list.

2. Buttermilk Mountain Ski Resort, Colorado

Owned by the Aspen Skiing Company, this resort has many of the same green features as Aspen Mountain. The company founded the Environment Foundation, to which more than half of the company’s employees donate to support environmental projects in the community.

3. Sundance Resort, Utah 

Sundance’s commitment has been to develop very little and preserve a great deal. Green features include the use of hybrid vehicles, mountain preservation and a unique glass works kiln that breaks down bottles and turns them into art and house wares. 

"Our committment to Sundance has always been to develop very little and preserve a great deal." —Robert Redford/ Photo Courtesy Sundance Resort.

4. Park City Mountain Resort, Utah 

This resort offsets 100 percent of its energy use with renewable energy credits for which it received a Green Power Leadership Award from the Environmental Protection Agency. It also has decreased its snowmobile fleet by 30 percent, uses biodiesel fuel, prints mountain guides on recyclable paper and has commissioned a scientific study of global warming’s effect on the area.

5. Squaw Valley USA, California 

Squaw Valley won the Waste Reduction Award in 2003 and 2008 for incorporating waste reduction, reuse and recycling efforts into daily business activities. This resort has a comprehensive recycling program, environmentally focused community outreach programs and an environmental improvement department devoted to erosion control, re-vegetation and other projects.

6. Alpine Meadows Ski Area, California 

Green features include biodiesel fuel use, native plant revegetation projects and extensive recycling programs. Alpine Meadows also donates to the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, which restores watersheds and develops renewable energy in the Northwest.

7. Aspen Highlands Ski Resort, Colorado 

The Aspen Skiing Company also owns this mountain resort. Green features are the same as its sister resorts.

Telluride Ski Resort's green efforts have earned it a Golden Eagle Award for Environmental Excellence. Photo Courtesy Telluride Ski Resort.

8. Bogus Basin Mountain Resort, Idaho 

Located near Boise, Idaho, this resort says it strives to be good stewards of its mountain by focusing on energy conversation, air and water quality, waste management and environmental education.

9. Mt. Bachelor Ski Area, Oregon

Mt. Bachelor purchases 100 percent of its power from renewable energy sources. It tries to reduce its carbon footprint by recycling, using green cleaning agents for its vehicles and remodeling the kitchen to allow for china service.

10. Telluride Ski Resort, Colorado

Telluride has won the National Ski Area Association’s Golden Eagle Award for Environmental Excellence and the Regional Forester’s Caring for the Land Stewardship Award. Its environmental efforts include energy conservation, waste reduction, air quality and fuel reduction.

For information on green ski resorts in Canada, check out Under the Sleeping Buffalo (UTSB) Research. USTB uses the same criteria as SAAC to rate its green ski resorts.

At the request of Olivia Blanco, marketing coordinator for Ogden Publications and former Natural Home intern, I researched a few green hotels in Houston, Texas. I’ve been to Houston just twice, and let’s just say it’s not my favorite city. When I think of Houston I conjure up images of a massive urban sprawl and rainstorms in 100-degree heat. However, the hotels I discovered are making me consider giving Houston a second chance. 

The Houstonian  

In this green hotel you can escape the chaos and commotion of the city while remaining in the city. Settled on an 18-acre wooded oasis in the heart of Houston, this hotel offers a luxury spa, first-class fitness center, spectacular views—and more green features than I imagined it would. 

With a luxury spa and 18 acres of woods, the Houstonian is a good place to relax for a weekend while still staying green. Photo Courtesy The Houstonian.

Here are some of the green features that impressed me:

• low-VOC paint and high-efficiency lighting

• rain-sensing irrigation system that prohibits watering during rain storms

• hydrocarbon filters for run-off water from the loading docks and construction areas

• laundry plant with water reclamation services

• 42-inch LCD Energy-Star televisions in all guestrooms

• eco-friendly retail products and clothing at the spa

• occupancy sensors in guestrooms, which communicate to an energy management system to reduce energy consumption in unoccupied rooms

Along with the green features, I was enchanted by some of the services and perks of this hotel, including:

• floor-to-ceiling windows in every guest room that showcase the woods surrounding the hotel

• the Houstonian Club, one of the top fitness centers in the nation. The fitness center is available to all hotel guests and features three resort-like pools, rock climbing wall, boxing ring, eight tennis courts, full-court gymnasium and more than 100 group exercise classes each week.

• the Trellis Spa, which features an indoor float pool and more than 100 treatments, including facials, manicures, pedicures, hair styling, massages and body wraps

Hilton Americas Houston   

The Hilton Americas Houston was the first hotel in Texas to earn the Green Seal certification. Photo Courtesy the Hilton Americas Houston. 

If the Houstonian is too pricey or posh for you, check out the Hilton Americas Houston. This hotel was the first hotel in Texas to achieve Green Seal certification for its many green features, which include:

• CFLs in all guest rooms and public spaces

• water-conserving faucets, toilets and showerheads

• a recycling program for kitchen oil, commingled plastic, paper, metal cans, cardboard, fluorescent bulbs and toner cartridges

• an in-room program that allows guest to use their bed sheets and towels for multiple nights

• energy-saving thermostats that automatically turn off when a guest checks out and won’t turn on until another guest checks in 

Where will you be traveling in the future? Will you be staying in a green hotel? If you have a city that you’d like me to explore for green hotels, please leave me a comment!

Having just spent a nearly sunless month soaking in the rain at the beautiful yet formidable and cold coasts of Northern Ireland, my mind is stuck in a fantasy of white sandy beaches, crystal blue water and warm beams of sunshine packed with vitamin D. Although I have neither the time nor money to travel to a beach resort, this hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming about—and researching—eco-friendly beach resorts in semi-nearby Central America. Join me in my armchair (or desk chair) travels to Guanacaste, Costa Rica to the Hotel Punta Islita.

Natural beaches and rainforests teeming with wildlife surround the Hotel Punta Islita. Photo Courtesy Hotel Punta Islita. 

The Hotel Punta Islita holds many awards, including a prestigious four-leaf rating from the Costa Rican tourism board’s Certification in Sustainable Tourism (CST) program. The CST evaluates the company’s interaction with its natural surroundings, its management policies and operational systems, the company’s interaction with the local communities and how much the company invites its clients to be active in its policies of sustainability. The program rates companies on a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being the highest level attainable.

The hotel has many eco-friendly features and amenities, including:

• a strict recycling policy
• waste water management
• electric golf carts, and
• low-flow showerheads

What is perhaps most impressive about the Hotel Punta Islita is how it interacts with and supports the local community. The hotel opened in 1994 in an economically depressed area that had been overexploited by unsustainable cattle ranching and wood extraction. Fifteen years later, the area looks quite different. By providing alternative economic and professional opportunities, the hotel changed the life of the locals and the state of the surrounding rainforest. Of the staff, 85 percent are locals, and 50 cents of every dollar spent at the hotel stays in the community in the form of salaries, contributions, taxes, social benefits and local purchases.

As for the local environment, the devastation done to the surrounding rainforest by slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting has started to reverse. The hotel has a 50-acre area of tropical rainforest on its property that has been designated a private conservation area for local species. The hotel has also worked with the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment to create a safe and natural nesting area for sea turtles.

Take a swim in one of the hotel’s pools or enjoy fresh, local food at the hotel’s outdoor dining room. Photo Courtesy Hotel Punta Islita. 

All this makes the Hotel Punta Islita a great place to visit for environmental and social justice reasons, but the hotel has much to offer in the way of relaxation and natural beauty as well, including:

• a beach club with swim-up bar
• an exercise room with mountain and beach views
• an infinity pool that seems to merge with the horizon, and
• an open-air dining room that serves local fresh ingredients

Hotel Punta Islita seems like a great place for an eco-friendly trip. If you know of any other eco-friendly hotels and resorts around the world, please let me know.

As the weather warms up in Kansas and the advent of graduation signals one last free summer for me, my mind is turning to camping. Since last September I’ve been carrying around a tent, sleeping bag and other camping supplies in the trunk of my car, and now that I finally have some free time I’m itching to spend the night outside, go hiking and simply enjoy nature. 

While getting away for a weekend to the woods might seem relaxing, the benefits for nature are not necessarily reciprocal. Most of us probably camp the traditional way—sleeping bags and tents—but that doesn’t mean we’re minimizing our impact on the environment. While camping may seem like an eco-friendly activity, it’s important to leave no trace of our visit when we’re gone to preserve the land. 

Trash

• Taking care of your trash is one of the most important – and obvious – ways of greening your camping. Be sure to take out everything you bring in. Keep bags around for collecting waste and for recycling.

• Dispose of waste according to your campsite’s rules.

• When hiking, stuff trash in your pockets. If you see any litter left behind by other hikers, be courteous and pick up after them. Just because it’s not your trash doesn’t mean you can’t help out!

Cooking and Dishes

• Bringing disposable paper or Styrofoam plates and utensils may seem the easiest option, but it’s certainly not the most eco-friendly. Instead, bring along reusable dishes and silverware that you can wash.

• When washing dishes, carry them far away from any water sources (about 200 feet), such as streams and lakes. Use biodegradable soap, and scatter the dishwater.

Enjoy nature while preserving it for future generations. When camping, bring recyclable dishes, use LED flashlights and propery dispose of your trash and human waste. Photo By mariachily/Courtesy Flickr 

Flashlights

• If you’re going to bring a flashlight (and most people do), consider investing in a LED flashlight. LED lights can provide up to 600 hours of light from a single set of batteries, and they produce a brighter light than traditional flashlights. You can also buy wind-up LED flashlights. The friction created from winding the light’s lever will power it.

Campfires

• Build your campfires within an existing ring and keep them small.

• If you’re going to fuel your fire with the wood surrounding your campsite, keep in mind that both standing and fallen trees, dead or alive, may be home to animals and insects. It’s always better to collect dead wood than saw off living branches, however.

• Gather wood from a wide area around the campsite so as to lessen your impact.

• If possible, use dry drift wood from rivers and seashores.

• Burn all wood to ash, soak in water (not cover with dirt) and scatter the remains over a large area. 

Waste

If you’re not using a campground with bathroom facilities, it’s important to know how to properly dispose of your body waste. While urine leaves little to no effect on the environment, other types of waste can.

• Catholes: This is the most common and accepted way of disposing of human waste when you’re out camping. For this, be sure to bring a garden trowel with you. Dig a hole 6 to 8 inches deep and 4 to 6 inches wide. Be sure to locate your cathole away from your campsite or any hiking trails, and place it especially far away from water sources as human waste can pollute them. If possible, place your cathole where it will receive the most sunlight, as this well help aid decomposition.

• Toilet paper and Tampons: Use toilet paper sparingly. Bury it deep in your cathole or carry out in a plastic bag. Tampons must be packed in a plastic bag and carried out; they don’t decompose, and animals are likely to dig them up.

For more information, check out Leave No Trace, a program that provides outdoor skills and ethics training.

Getting to your destination is where most travelers have the biggest environmental impact. Driving is one of the most common ways of traveling, but it also leaves one of the biggest carbon footprints. Next time you take a trip, minimize your impact on the planet and try these methods:

When driving:

• Take the smallest car possible. My boyfriend and I traveled to Austin, Texas, last week to visit his family. Instead of taking my more spacious (but slightly gas guzzling) Ford Taurus for the 11-hour drive, we opted for his Mini Cooper, which gets about 30 miles per gallon on the highway. Thankfully, we can fit all our luggage and still ride comfortably in it.

• If your own vehicle is large and not very fuel efficient, consider renting an economy car. Choose a vehicle that is small and fuel efficient but can still comfortably accommodate you and your passengers. Beware of free upgrades. Although it sounds enticing, a free upgrade usually means a bigger car, which will cost you more in gas and counteract the whole point of renting a car in the first place.

• Better yet, rent a hybrid. Most of the major rental companies, such as Hertz and Avis, have a selection of hybrid cars, and Enterprise Rent-a-Car just added 5,000 additional hybrids to 80 rental locations around the country.

 
Once you’ve reached your destination, rent bicycles or use public transportation to get around. Photo courtesy smcgee.

Once you get there:

• Ditch the car. Make use of public transportation (not including taxis!) to get around your destination. According to the American Public Transportation Association (http://www.apta.com/), public transportation in the United States saves about 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

• If the weather allows, rent a bicycle or walk to restaurants, shopping districts and tourist sights in your destination city.

For an industry that derives its success from the beauty of nature, cruise ships have long been known as environmental polluters. Smokestacks release billowing clouds of pollutants into the air, and millions of gallons of water tainted with sewage and oily engine run-off are released into the ocean where they harm marine ecosystems. Over the past few years, cruise companies have received a lot of flack for this and consequently have begun to shape some of their policies into eco-friendly practices.

Here’s a brief look at what some of the major cruise lines are doing to make their cruises greener – and that might make you feel less guilty for taking one.

Cruise lines have been criticized for being environmental pollutions, but many lines have tailored their onboard policies to reduce their air and water pollution, to promote recycling and environmental awareness, and to aid in research about climate change. Photo courtesy Greg7

Carnival 

• Waste: Instead of dumping some of its waste at sea – which international law allows – Carnival chooses to recycle, incinerate or offload its wastes for disposal on land.

• Recycling: To encourage guests and staff to recycle, Carnival has placed bins for food, glass, aluminum and plastic at strategic locations throughout its ships.

• Scientific Research: Two of Carnival’s ships, Carnival Triumph and Carnival Spirit, are equipped with special technology to monitor ocean water quality. The data from the monitors are transmitted to environmental groups, government agencies and universities to assist in research of ocean pollution and global climate change.

• Have questions about Carnival’s green policies? Email them at environmental@carnival.com.

Royal Caribbean 

• Waste: Royal Caribbean treats all its waste water onboard with an advanced purification system. Food waste is pulped and discharged 12 miles from land.

• Recycling: Recycling plastic? No need. Royal Caribbean has eliminated all plastic items usually available to guests, such as shampoo bottles and plastic plates, in favor of biodegradable or reusable options.

• Scientific Research: Like Carnival, Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas has technology to monitor ocean water and the atmosphere and to send the data to organizations and universities for climate research.

• Energy: Two ships, Radiance and Millennium, will receive new generators that will more efficiently produce electricity.

Disney 

• Water: Disney cruise line has some unique policies involving water. Excess heat generated from the engine’s boilers is rerouted to power evaporators that turn sea water into potable water. About 33 percent of the water used onboard is taken from condensation created by the ship’s air conditioning units.

• Crew: Disney employs Environmental Officers for each of its ships. The officers oversee recycling, waste minimization, water reclamation efforts and other environmental systems on the ships and on Disney’s private island, as well as overseeing environmental education classes for crewmembers.

Other tidbits:

• Norwegian Cruise Line recently donated used cooking grease to an organic farmer in Florida; it has also donated cooking grease to a farmer in Hawaii in the past.

• Holland America’s and Princess' ships plug into shore power at ports in order to reduce emissions from consuming fuel.

• Costa was the first cruise line to be awarded a Green Star notation in 2005 for meeting the highest environmental standards for pollution prevention and marine preservation.

Taking a vacation doesn’t have to mean taking a break from a green lifestyle. Swap your own green home for equally eco-friendly lodging. 

Many hotels use environmentally conscious practices. They’re no longer delivering newspapers to each room. They’re composting to get rid of waste. Some even use solar or hydro energy systems. 

Traveling away from home doesn’t have to mean giving up sustainable practices. Many hotels offer eco-friendly aspects, from recycling to solar-powered energy. Photo Courtesy Shell Vacations Hospitality.

When researching hotels, be sure to ask questions. Some things to ask: 

• Does the hotel have a recycling program? 

• Will you have the option to reuse towels and sheets? 

• Does the hotel use energy-efficient lighting, alternative energy sources or low-flow toilets and showers? 

• Do you use nontoxic cleaners? 

• Is the hotel close to public transportation? 

If you’re unsure where to start, check out Environmentally Friendly Hotels. This website lets you search for green hotels by location, hotel name and specific environmental issues such as towel and sheet programs, graywater recycling, alternative energy use and many other options. With more than 3,000 listed hotels, you’re sure to find something where you’re going. 

Green Hotels Association and Green Hotel Reviews also offer a list of eco-friendly hotels in the United States, although their selection is somewhat limited in comparison to Environmentally Friendly Hotels. 

You can also take steps to ensure your stay is eco-friendly: 

• Bring own soap and shampoo so you don’t have to use the plastic hotel toiletries. 

• Be sure to hang your towels up so the cleaning staff knows you want to reuse them. 

• Take along solar chargers for your portable appliances. 

• Stick to your green habits! 

Have you stayed in an eco-friendly hotel? Leave a comment describing your experience and how you discovered your green lodging.

Seeing the world and protecting the environment don’t exactly go hand in hand. The farther from home you travel, the more fuel and energy you burn and the greater the carbon footprint is that you leave behind. 

Because they emit less carbon dioxide per passenger, train and bus travel is generally seen as being more environmentally friendly than flying or driving. But trains and buses don’t go everywhere you need to – or as fast as you need them to – and sometimes that cross-country or international flight is your only option. 

Concerned about air pollution from flying? Some airline companies offer carbon offsets. Photo By  Martynr/Courtesy Flickr  

Don’t be disheartened. Traveling by plane doesn’t mean you can’t help the environment. If you can’t reduce your pollution, at least you can make up for it. 

Although there’s no way to reduce your plane’s carbon emissions, some airlines and travel companies offer offsets, or donations to projects that produce energy without burning fossil fuels or emitting greenhouse gases. In other words, the donation to the project is supposed to “offset” the greenhouse gases the plane will emit. The best part? It doesn’t cost that much. 

Expedia offers its customers the opportunity to buy carbon offsets through TerraPass, which funds wind farms, landfill gas capture and farm power. A round-trip flight of up to 2,200 miles costs travelers only $5.99 to offset 1,000 pounds of CO2. A cross country flight of 6,500 costs $16.99, and offsets for an international flight (up to 13,000 miles) cost $29.99. 

Expedia isn’t the only company partnering up for a greener globe. Orbitz offers its travelers offsets through Carbonfund.org. Offsets for a 6,000-mile trip through Carbonfund.org costs about $11.50, and offsets for an international flight of 20,000 miles costs about $38. 

Is this just a way to make amends for feeling guilty about flying? Maybe. But if you can’t avoid flying, buying offsets certainly can’t hurt. 

What do you think about carbon offsets? Have you or would you ever purchase them, and why? Leave a comment to discuss.