Green Holidays

When you are traveling around the place, either locally or nationally - do you ever think about what a difference your tiny car can make on the environment you are travelling through?

I don’t mean anything about the carbon emissions you chug out your exhaust or the energy needed to produce your car in the first place or the natural resources that are being plundered for fuel and spare parts - I mean the fact that you are where you are when you are.

How Can 1 Little Car Make A Difference?
Well, quite a lot if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time really.  And the wrong time may not be so obvious to yourself - only the person behind you!

How many times have you been cursing the traffic in front of you for the hold up?  But how many of those times have you actually needed to be in that traffic in the first place?

I’ve done it myself - stuck in heavy traffic on the way to just browse an out-of-town book store!  I went at a quiet time - but failed to return home before the rush hour - and have become a terrible part of it!

I’m not saying that people who don’t work should never drive in the rush hour - but we should all bear it in mind when we do drive.  And this is especially so when you are on vacation and driving in and about unknown towns and country lanes.

The Lunch Time Rush:
Have you ever had just a few minutes to grab your lunch in town or at a services only to find the person in front of your has all the time in the world and is sorting through coupons in their purse for a pathetically tiny discount off their shopping?  Or the other person who decides that stopping in the doorway of a store to re-organise their shopping bags is absolutely fine - but basically is just in everyone’s way!

That’s what your are if you are on the roads during the rush hour.  You are wasting everyone else’s time - as well as your own - sitting there jamming up the roads.

It’s not just the commuters or school-run moms that are sitting in that traffic - you are too - and we all know that it is no fun at all!  And if you are on vacation - it is a disaster!

So, Take Your Time:
Before heading out on a non-essential journey check what times you will be on the road and think about the traffic.  Could you take the bus instead?  Could you visit a friend before or after to delay your journey and keep the roads that little bit clearer?  Could you stay in these woods for a few hours more - or enjoy one more drink by the river before heading off.

It’s not just in rush hour that this is an issue.  If you are on the road with 5 other non-essentials on Monday, and there are another 6 on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, etc, you are making the road seem busier than it needs to be.  And this can multiply up.

If town roads always seem to get crowded and snarled up almost everyday, the local government or council may think that something needs to be done - and this can only go one of 2 ways:  A massive by-pass or more traffic signals, speed restrictions and road works!  Do you want any of them in your town?  In any town?

If you are using the roads, people are going to build more.  If you are congesting the roads, people are going to make bigger roads, and so on.

You may only be 1 little car - but there are loads of people just like you out there - and added together, they are clogging our roads, making people get home from work later in the evenings and creating an awful lot of pollution.

So, try to do your bit to stop this traffic problem - just pick the right time and avoid the congestion!

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Hello, and welcome to the first edition of the Green Holidays and Adventures Blog Carnival - where writers from all over the world can offer you their tips, their experience and tell you all about their great adventures!

To start with are 2 personal stories about different modes of transport when abroad - the first is an elephant(!) and the 2nd is the famous ‘chicken buses’ of Central America. So, Shannon starts with her story of Traveling Through Rural Laos, then Ben Connor Barrie gives you some info on Chicken Buses!

Elizabeth Hargrave is next with some tips on being car-free as well - but in Washington DC. This article: Car-free DC: Rock Creek Park is one in a series of local walks that use public transport only! Leave that smelly car at home!

And, as with many people at the moment, the following articles relate to camping tips! Why not take a vacation in the woods or the mountains this year?

Smart Camper offers a trio of great articles revolving around he great outdoors - firstly tips on Working at a Campground, then to fill your tummy, you can read about some Easy to Prepare Campsite Meals- then tips on taking the young uns with you in Camping with Young Children

If anything goes wrong while you are out there, Dorrie offers some tips on Basic Camping First Aid as well!

Hope you enjoyed the articles on this Carnival, and please offer your stories up for the next one in June. Thanks again to all the writers here, and see you again soon!

Catherine.

Imagine living on a train for nearly 3 weeks - watching the most expansive and amazing landscape pass you by.

That is just what you can do on-board a Trans-Siberian Railway, traveling from St Petersburg in western Russia across one of the most remote places on earth and through to Beijing in far eastern China.

Travelling by train is known to be one of the most environmentally friendly methods of transport - emitting low levels of carbon emissions per passenger than cars and planes - so why not give it a try?

It is also in line with the new thinking that the journey should be part of the holiday itself, rather than something to be endured until you arrive at your destination. And this is certainly one of the best ways to try out this new way of thinking.

Why does it take so long?
Well you are travelling over 10,000 kilometers, through 3 massive countries and 7 different time zones - so unless you want to just sit on the train day and night for about 6 days without getting off or seeing anything along the way - then it’s at least 2 weeks worth of train ride!

Generally, your ticket will allow you to get off and on again at many stops along the way to enjoy the culture or to stay in local hotels or home-stays along the route, and there are several different train companies that follow the route across country.

Many people stop over at Ulaan Baatar to sample nomadic life in the ‘gers’ or ‘yurts’, or to teach English in schools, before completing the journey to China, and Real GAP and STA travel offer these options as part of their packages to Mongolia, as booking the St Petersburg to Beijing route means a change of trains in Mongolia’s capital - Ulaan Baatar. Perfect for those volunteer packages!

Train fares can be as little as £250 single, but as much as £1300 if you go as part of a package - which usually includes travelling with a loose group of people along the route. Great for having a fun time, but maybe a bit limiting - I mean if you are speaking to people in your own language - when will you practice your Russian or Chinese?

Going it alone can often mean that you get more stops and take a little longer on the journey - and are more likely to mix with the locals along the way - making the experience a whole lot more enjoyable!

Responsible Travel offer this route - taking 18 days to explore the areas, and only costing just under £1200 - plus your local payments. Needless to say this trip is one of the most sustainable and ethical versions of the trip - using local services and foods throughout - although you could equal this by travelling independently and researching each destination in advance.

The Return Journey.
However, if you are taking the most eco-friendly route there - how can you match it apart from using the same train to some home? That’s at least a 5 week trek even before you have really dome anything!

If you are planning to travel all the way the the far east - then you may as well make the most of it. Why not set up a much longer tour of the whole region, taking in Japan or south to Vietnam and Indonesia. And if you have ever fancied Australia - why not take the bus and a short boat ride across the the great continent and take a month or so to explore!

I know it all sounds a bit expensive - but many of these tour companies can offer paid positions all the way down and even in Australia and New Zealand. Why not look into some of these when you are planning your great green train ride adventure!

Is Buying A Last Minute Seat Better Than Buying An Advanced One?

A friend of mine was asking whether booking a last minute cheap flight didn’t technically create as many carbon emissions per person as booking a ticket many months in advance.

What they meant by this was that the flight was going anyway, so then by her filling up one more seat, it would actually making the flight more ‘efficient’.

What Are The Facts?
Well, you could say that booking a flight in advance was actually making sure that the plane actually flew on that date.

By booking a seat on a scheduled plane for example, you are virtually making sure that the airline let that plane go - as scheduled flights are like buses, they fly from a to b regardless of how many people are in them.

This also means that even if no-one books a seat on a scheduled flight it may still fly if there are a large number of people already booked on the return flight!

Therefore if a plane is flying from a to b with only a few customers on board - then you buying a last minute ticket WILL technically make this single flight more efficient and environmentally friendly per person as you will take on your share of emissions.

However, those emissions you take on will be huge compared to flying on a charter flight - which are normally crammed full of people!

Charter flights are normally associated with package holidays, have smaller seat pitches and are not so generous with the free drinks! However, they get more bodies into every plane and will not fly under a certain capacity.

The Other Side Of The Argument:
Alternatively, if you buy a last minute flight on either scheduled or charter you are proving to the airlines that the flight is worth continuing - ie - enough people are using it.

I would imagine that if the same plane flew from a to b every day of the week, and every day there were less than 20 people on it - it wouldn’t take them long to realise that this wasn’t cost efficient. Therefore they would not doubt eventually strike off that flight from the schedule.

So, by not buying the last minute flights from these quieter routes, you could actually help to lower the total number of flights that these airlines flew.

If people buying cheap last minute flights kept booking seats on these quiet planes, then they may continue to fly at great environmental cost.

The Answer:
Therefore, if you are flying on your next vacation and are looking for a last minute deal to save money, then try to find out if the plane is near full or near empty - and avoid the latter.

By leaving the more empty planes empty, this should eventually result in their disappearance from the skies - leaving only the fullest, most efficient flights!

The United Nations World Environment Day is coming - and you could be a part of it!

Can You Offer Your Skills To An International Cause?

Instead of your normal vacation this year, why not take a chance on a new experience and make a difference to somewhere else on the globe.

This years World Environment Day takes place on the 5th of June 2009, and hopes to make a huge impact on town, cities and the entire globe with a joint effort.

Run by the United Nations Environment Programme, such schemes involve governments, volunteer groups and private sector investors - all aiming to help out in some way, and contribute towards a better environment.

The aim of this years ‘day’ is ‘Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change’ and (unless last minute changes are made to reflect recent world events) the host for 2009 is Mexico.

What Do They Do?
Well, here are the details from the UNEP site regarding an intended project in Kenya:

“Nairobi Members of Clean Up Young Youth Club (Eco Club Action) from EastleighHigh School in Nairobi Kenya With Global Peace Festival Kenya are making consistent efforts to remove trash from a 300 meter length of the Nairobi River.

This cleanup campaign has attracted dozens of agencies, hundreds of volunteers and various government offices to pull there efforts to restore this landmark feature that cut across Kenya’s capital city.”

You could be a part of that!

Or in Adelaide: “To celebrate World Environment Day and the 100th Birthday of the Park, the Friends of Blackwood Forest Recreation Park (FoBFRP) will held a planting day at the Park on 1 June 2008. Planting was planned along Minno creek where recent weeding had taken place.”

• Making A Commitment - look at achievable goals and stick to them.
• Get Energy Efficient - we hear all the advice about saving energy - but what have you actually done yourself?
• Buy Recycled - if recycling saves energy, make sure you buy recycled products to support it.

Closer To Home?
You could arrange your own event closer to home.  Liaise with an agency or society that you know well and wish support and organise your own event - for example:

• Get your local schools/offices to all help in a beach/woodland/town/footpath/river clean-up.
• Arrange a pledge system, where there is a discount for using public transport if tickets brought in advance or a percentage goes to charity to encourage less cars in town that day.
• Support your local open spaces, by organising a massive field trip for all the nearby schools or a ‘walk-to-school’ event.
• Organise a charity bike ride through an old town or along a cycle path to promote it’s eco credentials.

Or, check out their Alphabet Of Ideas, with 80 ways to celebrate World Environment Day, 2009

How about an escorted trip to the mysterious Bhutan on your own personal photography course with a professional to help you out?

That’s just what you could get if you enter your amazing green holiday photos to National Geographic’s new competition.

Entitled the ‘Live Your Vision’ photography competition, it is asking you send in your best shots showing how they offer a glimpse of life in your eyes, and the beauty of the world we live in. 

There are 3 categories to choose from:

1) Nature
2) People & Culture
3) Life In Color

Where Have You Been Lately?
All of these categories should offer a chance for you to share your personal images of what you have seen and shared on your green holidays - whether it’s a campfire meal while travelling through a jungle, or a quiet spot in the mountains that feels like only you have been there, or maybe it’s just a shot of a local community hard at work.

Think of all the places you have been and how you could offer just a glimpse to others - people who are maybe planning a trip of their own, or have already got things booked!

You don’t have to be a winner to share either - all the entries are available on their site for all to see - with a little personal detail from you.  They can rate them online too, so you could watch your shots to see if they appeal to voters before the competition itself.

And If You Do Win? 
Well, the grand prize is a 13 day National Geographic Photographic Expedition to Bhutan.  The trip usually costs around $6790 double occupancy flying from the US - but you get to fly from your nearest airport in your country of residence and have single occupancy - taking estimated value nearer to $11,000.  The trip is accompanied by professional photographer Chris Rainier and includes a banquet with local government officials, all accommodation and food.

You will climb amazing high mountains, visit the ancient fortress of Punakha Dzong, visit local communities and farmers, travel through rain-forests and see rare species.  You will get great opportunities to photograph hillside temples and broad tree-covered valleys as well as misty mornings and snow-covered peaks.

In addition, the winners of each catagory and the photo with the highest overall number of votes all win digital SLR cameras

Anything Else?
Your images must be no more than 5 years old (you can enter 3 shots in total), and they must be the original image (they will want the original if you progress past Round 1).  It can be cropped down, but cannot be changed in any other way.

The images must of course, be yours and have not been published before, and represent your vision of the world and beauty of the planet.

The competition is already running, and ends at midnight on June 6th 2009, so get choosing your best shot then get to the Registration Pageasap!

Happy Snapping!