Green Holidays

Could Supporting Local Bee Farmers Help Reduce Demands On The Environment?

We need to think big these days - and certainly look to be sympathetic to the developing world - who are living in conditions similar to those that we were only a few 100 years ago.

They are mainly subsistence farmers or herders who live on what they can grow and the little that they can sell.  They have to rely on resources that are local to them and are as good as free - just as those in the US and Europe did not so long ago.

Now, unfortunately - we are painfully aware that living like this is not going to be possible for the millions of people now currently living in the developing world.

The climate is changing to make herding and farming virtually impossible in some areas; the population has risen to ridiculous and unsustainable numbers making a few trees for the family firewood become a whole woodland for the expanding village; and the demands of the (comparatively) richer individuals are stripping whole countries bare of resources, taking land and water from local people and dumping waste in their backyards.

So - What Can We Do?
Well, as we know what is currently ‘damaging’ to our planet - we can use our buying power to make the right choices.

Just as back home - what you buy determines what manufacturers make - the same applies to internationally traded goods.  Although the honest truth sometimes slips by us:

If you keep buying illegally logged hardwoods (ie. by not opting for FSC approved alternatives) you are actively supporting the destruction of the rainforests and the extermination of orangutans, jaguars, and the endless number of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and plants that depend on them.

If you keep buying any old fish or seafood that you like the look of (rather than opting for MSC approved sustainable alternatives) you are actively supporting the extinction of many endangered species that are being over-fished.  You are also actively supporting the wasteful and destructive nature of bottom-trawling and long-line fishing that are killing off more than just the fish you get to eat; this includes all sorts of birds, mammals, other fish and sea creatures.

I could go on with this list - but sometimes we don’t think or the end result of our ‘easy’ food choices.

Alternative Living:
So back to the bees: They reproduce extremely fast, do all the hard work themselves and don’t need a huge amount of space to grow. What a great alternative to cattle and dessicated crops! But they need someone to buy the honey.

And so, if a family has chosen to ‘farm’ these insects rather than farm something illegal or damaging to the environment - then shouldn’t we support that?

All across the globe we are trying to help communities to become more self-sufficient and sustainable by introducing bee-keeping, fairtrade specialist products and co-ops so that they don’t have to plunder their local area just to survive. 

We are also helping to make sure that they have access to biomass heating, solar cookers, water purifiers and education and skills so that they don’t have to depend on limited rainwater, local forests, bushmeat and food handouts.

So, make sure that you support these efforts back home with your shopping choices.  If they are making something that you don’t buy - then they won’t be sustainable alternatives, will they?

If they are saving the rainforest and it’s endangered wildlife buy manufacturing fairtrade honey, organic coffee or FSC approved furniture - then you had better make sure that you buy it over the ‘not so eco friendly’ alternatives.

If not - then they will have to go back to living off the land - even if that means killing another tiger, clearing some lush forests or over-grazing their land with cattle.

Your choice!

How Practical Is It For Me To Live Without A Car?

I recently went a month without a car to find out what the real problems were with public transport, whether not having a car is a valid option for people like me, and whether green travel really is a practical option.

My circumstances are the following:
Part time job in the countryside working around 3 days a week.
Volunteering for several local charities and eco organisations.
Member of many national organisations (NT/WWT/EH/CAT/RSPB,etc)

Public Transport:
I love public transport in towns and will always use it when appropriate - but using it to get out of town is a challenge!

There is normally a bus running to every little village in the UK - but sometimes they go about the houses to get there - as I found out!  The bus to my work from close to my house travels around 50 miles to get me from A to B and takes 2 hours!

If I catch the train first (25 minutes), I get a choice of 2 buses: 1 takes me straight there every 35 minutes (after 10.30) but only in the holidays or at weekends, and the other is a 10 minutes walk from the train station, 25 minute drive and then a 30 minute walk from the bus stop and only goes once an hour.

So door to door public transport (if all goes perfectly to time) is: Option A = just over 2 hours; B = just over an hour; and C = 1.5 hours.

A car from home would go at any time and take less than 30 minutes door to door!

My Car:
Ironically, it is the people who go out of town who are the most likely to travel alone in their car as not many other people ‘go their way’ so car sharing isn’t really an option.

Working in (or visiting) out of town places usually involves lots of extra stuff too - like wet-weather gear, equipment, lunch and drinks (as not many shops about) and plenty of other bits too - and we don’t really want to carry them on our backs all the time!

Therefore, people like me tend to drive a lot by ourselves - sometimes for miles and miles as we really don’t have a choice!

Trains are stuck on rails, and country buses don’t really cater for outdoor loving people with their restricted timetables and reliance on ‘office’ hours.

I know there might not be many people travelling on these buses, but if they don’t start until 10am and finish by 4pm - then countryside volunteers and walkers aren’t ever going to be able to use them!

A Practical Option?
In summary - No.  I don’t think that public transport for me this month is really a very ‘alternative’ option.

Not only did it cost me around £150 in 4 weeks to work a total of 60 hours - but it also took me an additional 30 hours in travel time!

And in those 4 weeks - I couldn’t do anything else I really love doing either unless I convinced a friend or family member to come with me! 

Without my own wheels, I had to forfeit visiting any local attractions, I had to walk an extra hour each way to get to the countryside from my home, I needed to walk to the superstore everyday to buy just a small amount of shopping each time and avoid buying anything too big or too heavy as I couldn’t get it all home on my own, and I couldn’t just nip over to a friends house or visit any family - they all had to come to me!

And I had to cancel any volunteering I had planned that I couldn’t get a lift to - and by the end of the month, I was really fed up with scrounging lifts of people to everything.

It’s alright me trying to survive without a car - but it only works if I have to rely on other peoples cars. And then I’m not really avoiding the use of private cars am I - I’m just using other peoples cars to spew out the carbon for me!

Maybe living and working in a town with no outdoor ambitions would suit a car-free life - but not my life!

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Is that beautiful picture of a tiger really so beautiful?

Were you aware that there are animal farms across the world where ‘wild’ animal are bred specifically for wildlife photography?

Did you know that there are places across America and Europe where tigers, pumas, wolves and foxes are kept in small cages specifically to look ‘wild’ for a paying customer?

It happens all the time apparently to ‘get a great close up shot’ for a magazine or website - but is it infact just a lie?

Is the shot ‘perfect’ because it is of a beautiful animal regardless of where the animal was just 10 minutes before the image was created - or should the best shots only be of wild animals?

The Problem:
There has only really recently been a heavy discussion about this ‘canned’ photography since the winner of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 was proved to be a caged wolf that had been hired by the photographer and ‘made’ to jump the gate for the winning shot!

People were in uproar when it was discovered as it exposed the dark side of wildlife photography - and the lies of the photographer.

How many times he had made the wolf jump the gate to to get the right shot we will never know - but is the fact that he resorted to a captive animal good ethics anyway?

The Facts:
If you want to use caged animals for your photos that is your prerogative - and there are some really well maintained establishments that do this - but it really isn’t the way to get a ‘true picture of wildlife’ is it?

Knowing that the animals are caged - most of the time in sub-standard environments - should be enough to put nearly all true wildlife lovers off immediately.  But as these places still exist, we know that people have been using them an awful lot of the time and all over the world.

How many photos have you thought were amazing - but will never know that they were filmed in a ’set up’ location with a totally unwild animal?  Shouldn’t these images be clearly marked when published?

Baited Scenes:
However, where do you stand on actual wild animals being lured in to a ’shot’ with food?  Basically leaving out food to attract the animals to exactly where you want them to be.

We do it all the time for our pleasure with bird feeders and certain reintroduced species - but does it infringe on ethical photography?

Great Tit On Feeder

Should you sit around animal nests knowing that there are young inside - but potentially stressing the parents with your presence?

It all starts to get a bit confusing when you analyse the role a photographer plays in the landscape - as animals don’t just live where we see them - they live in the surrounding countryside, so you traipsing through it day after day to get a ‘good picture’ could actually be making different species move out of the area!  And feeding them could actually attract even more to the area.

But surely all wildlife photography isn’t that bad?

Well I say: stick to footpaths - and get a camera with an excellent zoom!

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The streets of London are now filled with 500 new community bicycles!

As with many cities in Europe, UK’s capital is now promoting the use of city bikes - a simple hire system for local people, commuters and tourists.

Whether you need to get from A to B without the fuss and congestion of the roads or the sardine-like underground system - or you want a leisurely cycle ride through the Royal Parks - this system could be for you.

The Scheme:
Put simply, there are bikes parked up around London that you can borrow for any length of time (albeit the longer you have them the more it costs).

You can sign up online and ‘pay as you go’ so to speak, or soon you will be able to pay with your credit card at a paypoint on the street and take a bike there and then - with your card being charged at the end of your hire period (24hrs after taking the bike).

It is all very simple once you know the limits of the system and the basic charging periods: basically you pay 1 fee for the bike in the first place (for 24hrs) and a seperate fee for the length of time you use the bike for in that 24 hours.

And the fees vary considerably. If you sign up online for annual membership, you can pay less than 12p a day for a bike - paying on the street for it will cost you £1 a day. For the usage fee it varies from Free if you dock the bike within 30 minutes of use - all the way up to £50 for the full 24 hours (and a lot more if you forget to return it before that time!).

Needless to say - as with most things - the more you plan to use it, the cheaper it becomes. What a great incentive!

The Bikes:
The bicycles will be spread all over the City at docking stations - secure lockable bike racks around the streets. All the bikes are identical, suitable for basic riding for over 14 year olds, and all fit into the docking stations perfectly!

The number of bikes at each site will vary, as will the popularity of others - so it is a work in progress to find out how the bikes are used and when.

There are currently over 12,000 registered users and only 500 cycles - so it will be interesting to see how it goes from here!  In theory people will use them at different times for different lengths of time - but the data collected in these first few weeks will be all important in shaping this great scheme for the future.

There is of course always the chance that you turn up at a docking station and there are no bikes for hire - or you arrive at a docking station to find that there is nowhere to park your bike!  Ideally, their maps will help you find the closest alternative - but you could lose time in the early days!

Obviously, for some people this is a much better and cheaper way to travel - as using the bikes for less than 30 minutes is free - so could save a few £’s each way over the bus or tube, and in the summer it will be all that more of a pleasure!

The Future:
Well, I am hoping that the rise in the use of bikes around the busy London streets will make headway for a more pedestrian and cycle friendly destination.

Why do pedestrians always have to have their path blocked by metal railings and have to walk well out of their way to cross a road while congestion-making drivers crawl past in straight lines? 

Why do people and cyclists have to stand in the rain waiting for traffic lights to change to cross the road while polluting drivers are in the dry?

Shouldn’t pavements and cycle lanes have priority over traffic?  If we want a people-friendly and green city - then surely this is the way to go. 

And the more people supporting cycling in the city - the sooner this could happen!

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What a great summer we have been having here!  I have been out and about almost every day!

I have taken a few eco courses with some local charities and helped out and attended several green summer carnivals and general fairs with the family.

There are a few more on the horizon as well and maybe some educational volunteering at a local wetlands reserve for me too!

So, what has everyone else been up to?  Well, lets take a look……..

One Family enjoyed some hiking in the woods for the day - so join their story - with great photo’s - for Enjoying Yosemite Valley with Kids – A Trip Report. Amazing!

And if that puts you in the mood for the great outdoors and you are thinking of camping for the first time to save some money, then take a look at Beata Antoszek’s quick post with 6 Tips for Camping on a Tight Budget.

Or, will you be on the road this summer? If so - is your car prepared for the journey? Look in on Jena Ellis’ article for a list of 10 Essentials for a Car Emergency Kit, and then hop over the Eco Holidays for a quick guide to help you Check Your Car For Basic Safety. 

On The Road

This way you can be doubly sure you don’t get held up by some stupid basic problems instead of enjoying your trip!

And what about your clothes? If you need new travel or camping gear - make sure you read Eco Living Advice’s tale of whether natural or man-made materials are more eco-friendly - and as usual it is not as straight-foward as you might think! So open up Eco Clothes and see both sides of the debate!

But if you want to get away from where you are for a while - or for ever - then maybe take a look at The Investor’s information with some help Researching moving abroad.

Whatever you decide - do take plenty of photos!

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Do you know enough about both biodegradable products and biodegradable packaging?

I know it might seem obvious what they are when you just think abut the word ‘biodegradable’ as we all sort of know what this means - but what about behind the products?

When you think about biodegradable washing up liquid or shampoo for example, are you thinking about the product itself, or the packaging - or both?

And what exactly are the benefits of each - if any?

And is a product that breaks down even better than one that stays in it’s original form - chemicals or not?

Well, in this article I have put together a very basic summary of the good and the bad of both - so you can make a more informed choice when you think about your next purchase.

The Products:
Well, holiday toiletries and suncreams, etc should all ideally be biodegradable as otherwise your everyday shower is washing all these ingredients into the waterways and rivers of the village or vacation spot you are visiting.

This way, when you wash off your shower gel when in your hotel or out camping, it passes into the neighbouring ground or lake and gradually ‘breaks down’ with the help of bacteria, sunlight or water into virtually harmless little bits. 

Although it could still cause a bit of a problem in the first few days or weeks - it will eventually be gone - which is better than always being there for years and years no matter how diluted it is.

However would you be interested to know that there is no legal definition of ‘biodegradable’ for products in the US or EU - it’s just a vague assumption.  That assumption being that the product will break down more or less naturally into naturally existing particles in around 6 months or so.  However - it doesn’t have to do this at all to use the phrase on it’s packaging or advertising!

Needless to say - anyone can use this ‘claim’ on the product accompanied by a standard flowery or plant looking picture or image - and you can’t prove either way, you just have to take their word for it.

It is the same with the word ’natural’ on products.  This word has no legal right or wrong on packaging - and anyway, petroleum oil is natural and so is arsenic, so the word natural is a bit of a strange one anyway!

The Packaging:
Then there is the bottle it’s in.  It would be virtually impossible to not use plastic bottles when traveling, so you should really try to use biodegradable plastic bottles, right?

Well, there is an argument for and against strangely enough - and it’s all quite simple: if you buy a container that has been designed to degrade naturally over a period of time - then you can’t use it over and over again can you?

Buying a normal plastic bottle means that you can either recycle it or use it repeatedly for any product - but if that bottle is liable to start breaking down, then you certainly can’t use it over and over, it’s unreliable.

And of course, you can’t really recycle it either as otherwise the recycled products you make out of it will be unstable too and just as liable to break down as well!

So, it’s a tricky one really.

Buying biodegradable plastic bottles is encouraging continued plastic production - but is better than new regular plastic being made.  But if the demand for recycled plastic products drops as a result, then surely that is a bad thing; as all the existing non-biodegradable plastic will be left for ever on earth in dumps and floating in the sea!

And if regular plastic isn’t made anymore, then we won’t be able to reuse our bottles and tubs again and again forever - we will always have to buy new!

The End Result:
I can’t say for certain what is the better in terms of the whole plastic situation, but it certainly makes you think a bit further into the issue than just assuming that a biodegradable product is instantly better.

However, I certainly recommend seeking out products that really are made of safe natural ingredients and those which should not have a harmful effect on wildlife - as it means that they will probably not be harmful to humans either.

I mean using products on your body that contain man-made chemicals which are known to poison fish can’t really be that good for you either, can it?

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Hello again - and welcome to another summer of green holidays and adventures!

I have been out and about myself on the allotment, volunteering for charities, holding stalls at carboot sales and basically enjoying the sunshine - but what have you all been up to?

Lets begin with a real green adventure leading off from my previous article (great minds think alike and all that!): Eco Living Advice offers up the idea of analysing your job and to try to make is into a more green alternative - now that really could be an adventure; so read on with his Green Careers article and get thinking!

Then in a similar vein, here is TravelCat’s quandry of Should I Travel Abroad To Raise Money For Charity?  These 2 really make an interesting read to look at the wider side of eco friendly activities!

Taking a step closer to home is The Nature Blog with a really touching tale of the opposite of nature watching - nature waiting.  Read this short article on the virtues of letting nature come to you rather than chasing it all over the woods or seas: In Praise Of Slow.

A shorter article here from Viviana Widjaja suggests some great Holiday Activities for Kids - Eco Friendly Holidays to inspire in advance for the weeks they have off school!

And another quickie from Wise Bread with their 5 Essential Travel Tools to not leave home without on your green adventures! And Linda@NHE offers advice on what to do if you encounter bugs there! So read on with Mosquito Bites Natural Remedies and save yourself some scratching!

This is followed by a lovely article - with pictures - to offer you the chance to take a pilgrimage as part of your green holidays, walking centuries old pathways in the footsteps of millions: 10 Amazing Religious Pilgrimages by Phillip Lopez.

Hopefully this interesting selection will keep you busy for a while - not just reading them, but thinking about the ways that these articles could change the way people think about their job, their family and they vacation.

Times are changing - and now is not the time to be left behind!

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Ethical jobs can be very varied - and don’t have to involve the rainforest or building schools!

When we think of ‘ethical’ jobs - we always assume it is helping people or places around the world - but ethics can just as easily mean working for your local community, your county, state or anything. And you don’t have to speak a second language or live abroad to make a difference!

And getting paid a tidy sum for doing so as well - it’s not all about volunteering!

There are plenty of jobs right on your doorstep that can make a huge difference to your world and the world of others - and you may already be more than qualified to help!

Ethical Jobs:
If you have ever used an Internet search to find your next job, then you will know how difficult it can be to limit your search without missing any potentially great jobs - as for example - administrative jobs can be found in all sectors, so you can’t just look in the ‘Office Work’ section.

This has it’s advantages therefore when you are thinking about changing jobs and maybe your industry. By this I mean that all companies need someone who can do a whole range of jobs not necessarily highly experienced in the ‘ethical ‘field’ so to speak.

For example, an ethical company may need a graphic designer or someone who has sales experience - regardless of their previous employer. For example I knew a retail manager from a supermarket who became a retail manager for a high street branch of Oxfam, and I know of many people who had a degree or other qualifications in economics, planning, sociology or statistics - all valuable skills when planning ahead for sustainability and community projects.

Planning Your Move:
Obviously, to get a job for an ethical firm - you need to find out which firms are ethically run in the first place, and what skills are required.

There are many resources you can use to scale your companies for in terms of whether you want to help communities, reduce pollution, improve cityscapes, teach children, raise money for projects or working in the areas of law and finance.

And you need to find out where they advertise their jobs and what they advertise for. So go job hunting well in advance and take a look at their criteria way before you need it - and add it into your 2, 3 or 5 year plan!

For example training and interpretation roles now include a huge graphic and marketing element which wasn’t the way a few years back - so if you find that many such jobs ask for this skill - then start getting that experience in advance or sign up for a course to improve your chances.

Getting in through the bottom is always a great strategy if you are worried you don’t have the right skills, but want to learn. Volunteering is one of the entrances, as it a part time admin or PA job - but there are many other ways you can get involved in that company and meet the right people along the way.

Types of Ethical Roles:
There are 3 types of ethical roles if you narrow it right down, and they are 1) Campaigning: Getting things done in person - and with all the facts (and a touch of politics and funding)! This would suit a very pro-active person and can involve travel, confrontation and media work.

2) Personal Work: Actually working on the front line talking to individuals and working slowly towards a result. This include social work, working with disadvantaged people and communities, one to one rehabilitation and the like. Very personal - and very rewarding for the right person.

3) Ethical Business: Working behind the scenes - making the right thing still turn a profit and get the relevant funding. There is no point starting a project if you can’t make it work long term - and that’s where the business team come in. Without admin, accounts, marketing and research - the whole project could fall apart!

The Fourth Role?
There is always the hope that this special 4th type could be one of the most important: and it could be you.

Why not take it upon yourself to make your current role - and your current employer - think and act more ethically? Could you find some small areas of your business to make a difference? Could you help your boss put practices into place that can benefit wider communities or individuals?

I think you can - and I think you should!

Rather than focus on using your car less - you should be thinking about using it to do more!

And by more I mean cramming more into your day than ever before. I mean if you are going into town in the car - make sure that you plan ahead to do everything while you are there!

Sometimes public transport just will not cater to your needs - or you have to add another hour or 2 on to your journey time!  So sometimes it is better to take the car if you can make good use of it!

I mean - it’s far better to drive into town 1 time than pootle in and out 3 times a week!  So let’s start thinking about planning our lives a bit better to better suit our planet!

The Plan:
Well, I live about 14 miles away from my family and about the same from one of the places where I volunteer - totally out of walking distance.  So, I always plan to visit my family on the way home from volunteering.  And while I’m out I plan to grab the shopping and maybe a trip past a friends house too.

It would also work for other things, like if you had booked a trip to the dentist or optician - why not look at meeting friends in town too, or arranging to grab lunch with a colleague who is working that day?  Or even bring a neighbour into town too and then meet up to go home together.

It can even work for passing things on to save a journey - like I don’t often get to my brothers, but he often visits my mum - so I just pass things to her and she passes them to him when he’s next over.  No extra journey needed!

The Benefits:
This obviously will save you petrol and wear and tear on the car - which has a direct impact on the amount of energy your use and the emissions you create.  And possibly reduce the replacement car parts you need if you are using it less!

It also encourages you to make more use of your time and to fit more fun into your day rather than wasting the same 30 minutes driving the same route over and over again!  There is a horrible route to town for me, so the fewer times I have to do that - the more time I get at home or volunteering!

And car sharing could mean that you get to make new friends - and help out your neighbours.  Elderly people still want to get out and about - but it’s the journey that can be the problem, and of course carrying everything back home!  You don’t need to escort them everywhere - just leave them to it and arrange a ‘home time’!

The Results:
So, there we have it - a good reason to use your car!  So rather than 3 or 4 separate journeys a week - you could cram everything into just the 1.  Better for you, better for your wallet and better for the planet!

It is using exactly the same green travel technique as travel abroad - if you are going to take the big trans-Atlantic flight - then cram in everything else you can while you are there!

If you are heading over to Europe, then make it a long trip and visit city after city rather than March: Paris, May: Berlin and July: Madrid.  Look to use the train and see them all at once! 

So plan ahead and see the Dr, Dentist, Optician, family and friends all on the same day - and then relax, knowing that you have the rest of the week to yourself!

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We all think that all ‘green’ and ‘eco’ travel definitions are around about the same: but no!

A friend of mine recently got a book called ‘The Ethical Career Guide’ out of the local library only to be surprised by what was in there.  There was no mention of conservation or the environment, and global warming was not even touched on.

Why?  Well ‘ethical’ always refers to working with people to create equality as well as supporting communities and cultures - it doesn’t really have anything to do with the natural world.  So an ethical holiday isn’t necessarily a green holiday or even eco friendly!

So I have put together a simple definitions article for the main words we use to define our holidays and travel so you can be sure to focus on the best one for your requirements and prefered areas of interest.

Ethical Travel:
“Travel to any location that includes offering respect and courtesy to local people, as well as thinking about the long term effects of your actions for the communities that you visit.”

So for example, ethical travel would include supporting the community you visit financially by using local services and buying local goods - and at a reasonable price.  It would also look to not exploit natural resources - or local people, and includes not offering gifts or money to ‘begging’ children but to the places that will benefit the children most, like schools and local groups.

Responsible Travel:
“Travel to any destination in the world - including cruises, luxury villas, skiing and volunteering - can be ‘responsible’ if they can prove that they care about the people they come into contact with and their culture as well as their surrounding environments and it’s wildlife.”

For example, if you travel to a ‘responsible’ African safari lodge, you would expect it to be run by or employing local people and spending some or most of it’s profits and time on helping protect the surrounding wildlife for the future. 

It doesn’t matter if you have to fly across the world to get there and only stay for 3 days (although longer stays can help communities more) - it is what you are supporting while you are there that counts.  And if it is a big step away from mass tourism - it is ‘responsible’.

Eco Friendly Travel:
“Travel to destinations with the intention of reducing your overall impact on the environment, including the avoidance of many of the usual destinations, modes of transport and travel products.”

For example, we know that flying creates higher than average emissions and cruises create more than their fair share of waste - so the eco friendly traveller would try to travel using other means, or would use these modes of transport more wisely by staying in the destinations longer or choosing a more eco friendly company to use.

Eco friendly travel would also include not using products that can damage or put undue stress on the environment they are visiting, so would try to use biodegradable toiletries, wash clothes less, eat local foods rather than expect locals to import things 1000’s of miles in, take all rubbish home with them if no recycling exists and not buy products made from endangered resources - or animals!

This type of travel would also look at certain destinations that are being overcrowded or exploited with the end result of the area/destination/beach/local community being degraded, overused and ultimately destroyed.  Mass tourism destinations would be among the places to avoid, although something could be said for keeping all the ’sun-seekers’ in one place!

Green Travel:
“A type of travel that includes both using modes of transport which reduce or limit the environmental impact of getting from A to B as well as limiting environmental damage while preserving natural resources and reducing pollution and excessive waste.”

Although quite similar to the Eco Friendly Travel definition above, Green Travel really focuses on self control while travelling - enough sometimes to not even travel in the first place!  Eco Friendly looks at still taking a trip but looking for less damaging alternatives - whereas green travellers might look at taking a different trip entirely.

Walking through fields or woodlands off the main footpath wouldn’t really bother any other type of traveller - but a green traveller would think of the potential for localised damage - for example trampling on rare plants or invading areas used by courting mammals and birds.

The Result:
Well, as you can see there is a fair amount of overlap with these definitions, but some are more social and others more environmental.

Yes - the 2 are sort of linked up anyway as if the community are supported they will take better care of their environment, however many travelers want to see the direct link to their personal beliefs and their actions.

For example an eco friendly traveler would take pride in buying all the most chemical-free, animal-friendly, waste reducing and natural products they can to take with them to visit a local community - whereas a social traveler would take more pride in helping a community to support themselves for the next 20 years whether their shampoo was biodegradable or not!

And a responsible traveler wouldn’t mind flying in to a remote mountain lodge on the other side of the world to support a 5* business built up, owned and run by local people - whereas a green traveler would possibly choose to go camping 1* in a nearby woodland with their local scout group teaching them simple field-craft techniques for free!

So, it is your choice really as to which of these you choose to be like when planning your next vacation, because sometimes they will take you to totally different places!