Green Holidays

Make sure you choose and clean and an eco friendly beach for your summer vacation!

I know that there are some great beaches around – but do they comply to strict standards of safety, information and services.

When you are travelling with the family – you want to be sure that the beaches that you want to spend your time at and the waters you want to swim in are safe for everyone involved.

Now, there are some beautiful beaches around the world that are stunning, isolated, crammed with wildlife or jagged cliffs – but they are not for families and usually not that safe for children.  The waters around them may also not be safe for swimming either.

What the Blue Flag programme offer is the knowledge of cleanliness and safety.

Who Are They?
In 1985, the first French municipalities were awarded the ‘Blue Flag’ after complying with certain criteria relating to sewage treatment and therefore bathing water quality.

2 years later, it was the European Year of the Environment and so many changes were made across the continent – including the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) putting forward their extension plans for the Blue Flag Scheme.

It was accepted, and plans were drawn up for an international scheme for beaches and marinas to prove their cleanliness.  It also looked at sustainable coastal development and future planning policies.

In that year 244 beaches and 208 marinas from 10 countries were awarded Blue Flag status.

Where Are We Now?
Since 1987, more beaches and marinas in more countries have sought to be registered and identified as a better beach, and now over 3300 beaches and marinas in 39 countries are certified.

From the Bahamas to Morocco and from Russia to New Zealand, people are seeking out these clean, safe and sewage free places to relax!

The criteria for beaches are pretty simple and include Environmental Education and up-to-date information about water quality, code of conduct and the Blue Flag scheme; Coastal Management with regards to dog fouling, litter bins and how it is run; Safety & Services including life guards, first aid stations, maps and toilets.

There is slightly different criteria for marinas – and there is also a scheme for boat owners too.  They need to agree to modify their behaviour to benefit the coast, the sea and the wildlife on both.

Criteria include no disposal of waste or sewage overboard, using eco friendly products both inside and outside of their boats, fishing techniques must be controlled to not affect the fish or sea beds and boats are not to encroach on bird breeding grounds or other sensitive landscapes.

Your Contribution:
Don’t forget that beaches are businesses – so make sure you only support those who have bothered to make them clean and safe. 

If less people visit beaches and seaside towns that haven’t tried to attain Blue Flag standards – those places will start to see revenue and visitors fall – hopefully kick-starting them into action to raise their standards in the future.  Your future.

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Want to see a 7.5 meter-wide giant Manta Rays swimming around you?

Well, you can if you take part in a manta ray project anywhere around the worlds oceans. These giant rays live anywhere there are warm tropical waters – including the Maldives, Thailand, Baja California and all around the coasts of Africa.

Why Manta’s?
Manta Rays (Mantra birostris) is the largest species of ray in the world – and there are around 500 species of ray – and can reach up to 2,000kg or around 5000lb. Yet in water, they look like they are flying!

Although sharing much of their evolution with shark – rays have no true teeth and are filter feeders as a result, eating only plankton – not green volunteers!

Manta’s are also extremely curious of humans and so will approach divers close up. Many tropical holiday resorts feed mantas all year round to make sure that they are around for the tourists. This isn’t always a bad thing – but don’t pick a destination that sells itself of semi-tame individuals – go for the wild ones – they are just a friendly!

Due to their size, manta rays are rarely ever found in aquariums, so seeing them in the wild is one of the only ways most people can get close!

Why Do They Need Help?
This species are classed an near-threatened according to the IUCN as they have reproduce at a very slow rate meaning numbers can be devastated by over-fishing or habitat loss.

Tourists coming too close to their feeding areas or breeding grounds could easily drive them away or prevent natural behaviour – putting them under stress. And there are plenty of people and un-reputable companies who offer diving and snorkeling in these sensitive areas.

Local communities need to see that there are other options for their time and money. If they can only make money by fishing, developing isolated beaches and running desperate ‘guaranteed manta ray tours’ then that is what they are going to do.

However, with education and further study, they may realise that the rays and their habitat are worth more in one piece – and for longer.

Who Can Help With This?
You can for a start, by not paying for a diving tour that doesn’t offer a completely beyond-all-doubt eco friendly and manta friendly trip! Make sure you seek out those trips that respect the environment and the wildlife in the seas – and let them know that that was the reason you chose them – remember demand makes things appear!

You can also join a society that support them or their habitat – without getting wet! Save Our Seas Foundation will willingly spend your donations on indepth research! You can read about all their projects and the people in charge of collecting and interpreting the data. You can also sponsor a Manta for free with Save The Mantas who carry out plenty of research.

Or, the best option is to join a volunteer trip that sets out to monitor their movements, feeding and breeding.

Volunteer Latin America are offering a Manta Ray project in Ecuador from 2 to 12 weeks – where you will help with photo-identification of the individuals living in the area by swimming with them!

African Impact offer a combined Manta Ray and Whale Shark conservation project in Mozambique. These projects can last from 4 weeks or much longer – as long as you are over 18 – with all meals included as well as plenty of close encounters!

I’ve seen these beauties swimming along the shores of the Maldives – albeit at the smaller end of the scale (about 1 meter wide) – and I think they really are worth learning more about!

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Hello, and thanks for joining us again here at Green Holidays And Adventures Blog Carnival.

We have some very different articles for your this month, including on the road tips for cutting down your impact, to a school competition and on to a delightful eco resort in the south-west of England!

Handy tips:
So, beginning with Myscha Theriault covers some of the ways your choice of toiletries and accessories on the road can really lessen your impact and save you time and money to – so enjoy Going Green on the Road for these tips.

Then a rather analytical Brian Maxwell covers some great points for all you people out there who don’t know where to get started with the whole ‘eco friendly’ lifestyle.  Take a moment to read his pensive article on The Green Movement’s impact on Environmental Problems and go from there.

Local Trips:
Joshua offers up a selection of ideas on how to keep to kids entertained and close to nature at the same time – and all close to home!  Read his Tips for Learning during Summertime to get started.

And if you already have some great ideas for getting those kids out and about and enjoying themselves, then take a look at 00FF00′s article – which is a competition. Basically, you enter your ideas on how to Get Kids Outdoors and you could win a part of the £500 of prizes and an eco friendly computer for your chosen UK school.

Other Hols:
Cherie Ve Ard offers up a perfect example of how people can live on less and offer reason why a lot of people don’t!  Check out Excuses #5: Environmental Impact for a peek at how they do it.

Erika however, just offers a great idea on really getting into the heart of the earth on a low impact green holiday beneath the ground!  Here’s Going Caving in Mexico.

And finally Tamara gives us a short interview with the owners of an eco resort in the UK’s West Country – a very picturesque region where I often take vacations myself.  So read Eco-speak with Trevenna’s Jonathan Rowe to learn more about it.

Thanks again for your time and thanks to all those who offered their articles.

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What is Ecotourism, and what does it mean today?
There are many interpretations of the word ‘ecotourism’ – even the spelling changes to eco-tourism or eco tourism! However, many consumers have a different impression of the word to the companies that are selling it.

For example, many companies seem to think that any holiday outdoors that may involve animals or wild areas is ecotourism.

Whereas consumers are hoping for something a bit more impactful and meaningful. And this includes real ethics, focus on the local communities and ‘treading lightly’ on the earth.

Below are a selection of areas that ecotourism should be focussed on and be able to prove!

Adding Value:
Ecotourism should be an efficient way to add economic value to threatened natural areas, endangered habitats and cultural sites.

As I have mentioned in previous articles – if you want something to be saved – you have to support it. By visiting areas that contain the animals or plants or people that you ‘love’ you are adding to their perceived value by that country and the community.

If you sit at home and talk about how ‘bad it is’ that Orangutans are being made homeless, dolphins in Mekong being poisoned or migrating birds being shot – you aren’t doing anything to save them!

Change your shopping habits to avoid illegally produced or badly managed palm oil and soya; join the WWF to support international projects; or travel to the Mediterranean and help volunteer projects to protect the birds yourself.

Offering Alternatives:
It should be seen as a way to provide simple job opportunities as well as alternative financial benefits for the local people. This way they don’t need to destroy their own natural environment to make a living!

For example offering alternative forms or agriculture – such as bee-keeping, or offering more fuel efficient stoves so families need to cut less wood to cook their food. It could also lead to more successful local businesses that helps make for a more stable lifestyle for all involved

Alternative Tourism:
Ecotourism allows for travel and holidays to take a different turn. It inspires a new kind of tourism that actually helps to improve natural conservation and cultural preservation with a much lower impact on the environment than ‘normal’ tourism.

This of course can make it more enjoyable for all those involved as it is more down-to-earth. The traveller gets to see the natural world as it should be, the tour operators get to make sure that the places we go to see are still there in 5 years time, the local inhabitants get to feel involved in their own future and communities, and of course the wildlife gets to carry on being wild!

Fasted Growing Travel Sector?
Ecotourism really is one of the fastest growing areas of tourism at the moment.

People want these types of holidays now – they want to support these environments, these people and these animals. They want to stop destroying every place they go, and they want to see travel companies doing their bit to change the face of world travel too.

Have you played your part? Got your friends and families to do the same?

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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.

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

Planning Your Green Holidays in Yucatan, Mexico

Mexico is always a great destination for sunshine and beautiful scenery.  A perfect destination for all seasons. 

If you are planning to head to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico for your vacation and want your accommodation to be more responsible for it’s actions, then hopefully these eco resorts may appeal.

Where To Start:
However, if you are going to enjoy your green holidays, then you need to look beyond the standard brochure.  Many companies will cater for your every need in Cancun and around the Caribbean coast – but what if you want it to care about the needs of the environment and local people too? 

Forget the shiny brochures from the travel agent who cram everyone into the man-made hi-rise resort of Cancun.  Forget the cheap package vacations that include everything except the local people, and start looking elsewhere……

I have been looking around for you and have found 4 vacation spots all in the Yucatan peninsula, and all offering a ‘green’ alternative to the standard resort, and have detailed their eco credentials. 

However, the search isn’t always easy – as many resorts have information of ‘ecology’ meaning that there are animals and plants there, rather than ‘eco’ in our sense of the word, meaning that it actually cares for that environment and those creatures and plants.

The Hotels:
All are in different locations to offer you a taste of something different, but are all within easy reach of international airports and Mexico’s ancient Mayan Sites.

When making yur decision on the best green resort, remember to check their eco-credentials based on what they have to work with.  If they are catering for green alternatives in towns and cities then they are limited as to what they can achieve and it will take a more reduce:reuse:recycle approach.

When searching for isolated eco-lodges surrounded by beaches or forest, they are playing to a whole new set of rules.  Look out for alternative energy sources, low development footprint and how the accommodation fits in to the environment.

Eco Paraiso
This new-build eco-hotel is in Yucatan State, close to Celestun on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

It was designed around the nature on this coast and was set back from the beach itself to maintain the delicate dunes that protect the coast and is also home to rare plants and nesting turtles.

The actual buildings on the land only take up just over 1% of the total land owned by the resort, leaving nature pretty much as it was.  Any areas that needed replanting or protecting were filled with only native plants and trees.

They buy locally and in bulk to save food waste and catch and treat both rainwater and grey water from the rooms and kitchens to water the gardens.  They even desalinate their salt-water well and treat to make potable for guests rather than import bottled water.

Other attributes include solar-heated pool, low voltage bulbs and no individually packaged toiletries and goods.  They also offer extensive literature for guests to find out about their ethos and the local environment and community.  They even offer short course on eco living and sustainability!

Genesis Retreat
This vacation spot is located inland, just north of the town of Valladolid – close to Chichen Itza.

Based around a local village in the ruins of Ek Balem, this hotel is closely knitted together with the local people.  Most of the activities are guided by the locals and they welcome you into their villages and homes.

The hotel uses all local food and services and the local tours and wildlife trips are all close by.  Any further away is catered for with a healthy supply of mountain bikes.

They say that their gardens were designed to attract local butterflies and birdlife and have a small area that houses rescued native birds that cannot be released.  Their outdoor pool is chemical free and bio-filtered to reduce it’s impact on the visiting wildlife.

The management will automatically send you detailed information regarding their eco-credentials and community programmes on booking with them, as well and any other details you request on top.

Hotel El Rey Del Caribe
Located in the very heart of downtown Cancun (the original town) and so has different pressures on it’s green approach.

It welcomes you with Mexican flair and authentic design and you will probably see it’s sheets drying naturally on the roof!  Their main focuses are reducing and recycling and they are proud of the composting toilets in many of their rooms and the rainwater and grey-water recycling and reuse.

They say that they are constantly learning more ways to improve what they have, and work with local environmental NGO’s to support local projects as well as further their own developments – including their solar water heater.

They are also only a Bed & Breakfast, therefore encouraging visitors to go and explore the heart of Cancun and use local services and enjoy traditional foods.

Papaya Playa
This final hotel is really to the extremes of a green holiday and won’t be for everyone!

Close to the beautiful coastal ruins of Tulum, this complex has few rooms.  All were built with local materials using traditional methods and resources.

The rooms are very basic and sleep as many as possible in double beds to reduce individual waste.  Many go even further with shared bathrooms for some of the cabins to prevent wasted plumbing and ease of water capture and heating!  It goes without saying that they are showers only…

Expect almost nothing electrical in the rooms as there is only power generated between dusk and 11:30pm and so you need to rely on the traditional windowless design of the cabins and the natural ‘gaps’ in the slatted walls to keep your room cool throughout the day.

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