Green Holidays

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It’s your chance to meet some inspirational people - and get your hands on some great equipment!

It’s not all about birds - but if you love birdwatching and great wetland landscapes - then I suggest you clear your diary for any day over the weekend of 20th to 22nd August 2010!

For only £10 entry - you could have the opportunity to ask Chris Packham for some wildlife-watching tips, listen to Mark Carwardine discussing endangered species and maybe watch a slide show of great wildlife moments from Simon King - not bad, eh?

The Show:
Basically, BirdFair is one of the biggest bird-watching and outdoor shows in the UK and is set in the most beautiful scenery to add even more to your day.

As with many great shows, there will also be the opportunity to visit the stands of all the local and international wildlife stands and ask questions about the work they do and how to become a supporter or volunteer.

Add to this stalls that are filled to the brim with the best photographic equipment to improve your photos and to increase your viewing range as digiscopes and binoculars of all shapes and sizes are on offer.  As well as a host of specialist manufacturers and users to help you decide on the best items for your needs.

Whether you are hoping to get some advice for starting out or whether you are looking to take the next step in your craft and hoping to increase your equipment collection to cover more wildlife and birds - it will all be there.

Using A Zoom Lens Can Get Great Images

And it’s not just about technical things - there will be a whole host of stalls selling outdoor clothing, camping goods, walking shoes, wildlife holidays, travel books, field guides, wildbird seed, nest boxes, wildlife art, and so much more!

And, to be ‘green’ the organisers are offering free transfer buses to the show from the local train station to save on all those cars on the roads!

Show Extras:
It’s not all about just being a show - there is so much more there than stall after stall.

For example, there is a grand auction selling a whole range of random goodies from paintings to one-off experiences - all donated to the show specifically to raise funds for this years fundraising targets.

There are also 3 different agendas for events and talks throughout each day and kids events as well for the little learners!  Bushcraft skills, art and education are the themes you can find here in the several big tents on site.

And, your entry ticket gives you free access to the nature reserves here too - so after you have brought that new camera you have been promising yourself - or upgraded to a better digiscope - you can get straight out there are try it for size!

If you plan to go for the day - make sure you get there early and plan to do a lot of walking, and you won’t regret it.  If you know you love this type of show then make sure you stay for the weekend as you might not get to see everything on just the 1 day!

And this only happens once a year!

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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?

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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Hello again, and what a lovely time of year it is to be traveling through familiar environments!

There is nothing better for me sometimes, than to just walk a short while from my home to the beach or the countryside with a good book and my binoculars!  Pure bliss on a sunny day like today!

I’ve been out along the beach, up in the countryside - as well as visiting the family now that we all live a lot closer together these days!  Although, I shouldn’t have gone on the trampoline for so long - my legs are aching today!

Well, let’s see what the rest of you have been up to…….

It is quite clear that some of you are also planning to stay home too by the looks of Ana Paula’s article - with the Top 100 Gardening Blogs - many of which are eco friendly green fingered tips - but not all, so make sure you modify the un-green gardening tips!

Try to lighten up or even ‘green’ over your commute to work using Maria Clara tips: 100 Excellent Lifehacks for Your Long Commute. There are quite a few in there that totally make eco sense…….. and best use of your time. I mean if you have to take a journey, why waste it just staring out of the window - learn something new, do something new - make every second count!

Here’s a nice little article on one thing that even I struggle with - Tips for Eating Healthy While on Vacation by Debbie Dragon - and it had a great Vitamin gadget on the site too!

Here’s a lovely sort tale of what wonders a walk in the countryside can have - especially if you happen to pass through a farm - so thanks to Richard with his A Visit to Fulking Hill! - with some great photo’s in there too.

Next, Mike Vogt gives us something very different to think about with his great article on 10 Great Mission Trip Ideas.  Not many people consider the role that religion and religious thinking can have in developing countries.

the beach

And one for the summer: Tara V presents Green Wedding Guide; Planning an Eco-Friendly Exchange of Vows.  A great way to enjoy the best day of your life - as well as making sure that it doesn’t have a negative impact on anyone else!

It’s still sunny, so get back out there!

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Instead of waiting until you have booked your green holidays - get planning now!

Think of all the time you have available now to learn something new or start saving for! Even if you don’t know when you will book your next trip - it’s never to late to start thinking about the things that will come in handy when you do.

For example, if you love South America or South-East Asia - then you know you will get there eventually even if you have a few local short breaks in between. And you know that you will want to spend longer there than normal vacations as you love the place. And you know that anything to do with the language, culture or wildlife of those places will interest you.

So, what are you waiting for?
You will never get time back, so why waste it watching that repeat on TV again when you could be reading about a nations history? Why wash the dishes staring out of the window when you could be working through an audio language course while your hands are wet?

And it’s not just the little things you could be achieving. Say for example you enrolled yourself on a distance learning TEFL course and spent a few hours a month completing that rather than searching for an elephant on Farmville!

Or took flying lessons, diving lessons, a photography course or rock climbing adventures. If you practice all these things in advance you can get so much more out of your green adventures - and you will regret it as I have seen people who are in the beautiful Maldives filled with endless coral and passing dolphins and turtles - but they are in the pool taking starter diving lessons rather than out there experiencing the real magic beneath the waves!

Just a few horse back lessons before you leave can build up your confidence for that sunset canter along the sandy beaches on the Caribbean, or a long trek up into the rainforests and mountains of the Andes.

Write Your Plan:
Get yourself a sheet of paper, and create a sort of spider diagram to highlight the places, people, wildlife, or experiences that you love or want to see or experience.  Keep adding to the flow as you think of things.

For example, writing ‘Canada’ could lead to ‘Rockies’ which could lead to ’skiing’ or ‘horseback riding’; or it could lead to ‘Wilderness’ which could make you think ‘camping skills’ and ‘kayaking’.  Either way, if you read up on these things or gained the new skills needed before you arrived - your trip would become 100 times better.

I wouldn’t want to try setting up a tent for the first time in the middle of nowhere - and I certainly wouldn’t want to try to eat plants or mushrooms in the ‘wild’ having only just brought the book!

Once this diagram is complete, turn it into a 1 or 2 year plan - effectively finding out how long these things take to learn and planning backwards.

So, learning to dive might take around a week if you do it intense, whereas learning Chinese from scratch could take at least 6 months for general conversation - or more.  Fit these in around your existing plans and your work load to find out the best plan for you.

The First Steps:
The easiest first step is a trip to the library.  You don’t need to spend any money or risk any investment - just go grab some books about the things on your list and start reading.

It’s possible that you thought you could learn hieroglyphics yourself - but after reading the first book, you know you need help - or a lot longer!

Same goes for certain countries - what if you thought you liked a certain region and then found a better one - or you found out something about a region that you didn’t know about before and want to learn more!

Everyone has a spare 15 minutes a day to start reading stuff - so take the first step as soon as possible, and get learning!

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Now you can wear stylish, mainstream Fair Trade sneakers - no more frumpy brown eco friendly shoes!

How about buying your next pair of comfortable trendy shoes from a Fair Trade source - that way you will know that your choice of footwear isn’t depriving workers elsewhere in the world of basic wages - or their health.

We know that Fair Trade comes with a whole host of other benefits to the many workers who make up the production or farming chain in the Fair Trade system, so why aren’t we making more of an effort to make such a choice when buying clothes and shoes?

The Reason:
Most consumers don’t have a closet full of Fair Trade clothing and footwear, as there isn’t really that much of it about within easy grasp.

Yes, I know - and so does everyone - that if you want something in particular, you have to go and look for it.  But, what if you only have a short lunch break in town, or have young children to carry around with you everywhere?  The choice isn’t always so straight forward then.

And, just like food, if you are looking for a new pair of shoes - you want choice (and the right price).  So if you only find 2 pair of fair trade shoes in the shoe store - and you don’t like the style of them or they don’t suit your needs, then that’s your choice made for you.  You can’t buy them - you have to buy non-Fair Trade alternatives.

There just isn’t a large enough selection of Fair Trade goods in normal retail stores to make the ‘right’ choice.

You normally have to go out of your way to get them or buy styles that aren’t to your exact requirements - and sometimes then pay a premium for the privilege too!

New Shoes:
So, I have just found a picture of some very ethical sneakers advertising a green living show in London this weekend, and found the products online.

Amazingly, the shoes are not only made of Fair Trade cotton and all the cotton is also certified Organic; their rubber soles are FSC certified, and their manufacture in Pakistan also has Fair Trade certification!  And on top of all that they are guaranteed vegan and 100% plastic-free!

Plus - they are virtually the same price as the famous brand they resemble - around £35 or $54.

At last an ethical product that doesn’t involve any compromise!  Rather than having to choose whether to wear boring brown sandals made out of chemical-free non-animal leather or to have some fun blue or pink sneakers that you actually liked - but that also contained all sort’s of nasty chemicals - you now get the best of both worlds!

A great pair of brightly colored (or brown) shoes that are not polluting the environment, harming farmers or under-paying hard-working communities!

Take a look for yourself right here: Ethletic Sneakers

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Imagine a gift for your friend that actually helped a cute donkey 1000’s of miles away!

If you care about donkeys - and you want to buy your family and friends a gift with a difference, then consider looking at The Brooke - the animal charity that helps humans too!

This charity understand that people need to work their donkeys, mules and asses very hard to make a living - so they try to make sure that they do so without injuring or killing them.

Ill fitting harnesses, too much weight or too much work can all take their toll on these petite equines - but it doesn’t have to be like that.  And educating these owners can make sure that their animals live longer and healthier lives - and therefore making their owner more money overall.

They have put together such a wonderful package of gifts rather than just asking for donations for everything.  Just a glance through their catalogue makes you feel as though you can really help that foal to grow healthily, or to give that elderly donkey a well earned rest!

Here are a few examples from their online store of what great things they tempt you with - almost like choosing from a spa treatment brochure:

Health: £25.50
After a full health check including eyes, ears and teeth, these donkeys will receive any treatment they need and a fly fringe to protect them from diseases.  And we’ll show owners how to recognise and prevent common health problems.

Comfort: £15.32
A well-fitted harness makes all the difference to the hard-working donkey - they can pull loads without ropes cutting into them or rubbing their skin.  A little comfort to brighten up their day.  And we’ll make sure that their owner knows how to fit it perfectly.

Delight: £17.60
Care for Foals: the first month of a foal’s life is so precious - this pack will give them all the vaccinations, nutrition and special care they need to grow big and strong.  We’ll also ensure that they don’t work too soon and that they get lots of mother-foal bonding time.  It’s a joy to see and be part of.

Tenderness: £20.70
Special care for old or sick donkeys.  After being treated to a week of fresh, nutritious food, health checks and joint care, they’ll come away feeling like a new animal.  The gift also helps owners understand that older animals need a little extra attention!

It all feels so personal when you read these descriptions - and there are 13 in total - each with it’s own descriptive video too, so you can see the typical animals you would be helping! 

So rather than thinking of your donation as ‘just’ helping a donkey charity, you can see exactly what your money could be paying for - and so can the recipient of the gift!

There are people we all know who are difficult to buy presents for - or that seemingly have everything - so why not buy them something that they definately haven’t got, but will definately make them smile!

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It’s snowing again! Will it ever stop?

Well, welcome back to Green Holidays and to another blog carnival for a great collection of articles.

So, lets start with every travelers tip of what and what not to eat with a useful guide to eating abroad with Should You Order The Hollandaise Sauce?.

And if you are thinking of having a great spring clean in the next few weeks and don’t want to just throw out your stuff, read these tips for passing on your unwanted goods and having a great day out too! So have a peek at Car Boot Sale Tips!.

Here’s a quick article on the importance of the Argentinian Tango: Save The Tango!

And another on green products that you might need in the cold!!!! So, take a look at How The Olympics is Going Green! | Guffly

And if you are thinking of taking the family dog on your green adventures but they suffer from travel sickness, have a look at these tips to make your journey better and your family complete with Do You Have A Travel Sick Dog?

So, enjoy your trips - and enjoy planning them!!!!!