25 Days to Green Travel: Day Eighteen - Green Activities
What to Do – Green Activities
The great thing about traveling is once you’re at your destination, it’s much easier to be green. Most of your carbon consumption comes from the actual travel itself. That’s not to say that if you’ve done your best to be a green traveler getting there (who says you can’t bike around the world?) then you’re off the hook. But you have more options.
Here are some of our favorite green activities while traveling:
- Hike
- Bike
- Walk
- Sit in a park and watch the locals, read, or write in a travel journal
- Wander through non-touristy neighborhoods (you can spend days doing this)
- Stop at cafes in those neighborhoods
- Take public transportation to a random stop and get off and wander around (check with a hostel worker/concierge/local first to make sure the neighborhood is safe)
- Visit museums
- Browse local shops and businesses
- Play pick-up sports with the locals
- Visit the local library
- Spend time on a university’s campus
- Spend time in a university neighborhood – there are often fun and inexpensive bookstores, restaurants, and coffee shops near colleges
- Go to a religious service (make sure you are dressed appropriately and know enough about local customs as to not offend anyone)
- Picnic
- Volunteer
- Windsurf, canoe, or kayak
- Go for a run before the city is awake
A good rule of thumb is if an activity doesn’t cost very much, chances are it has less of an environmental impact. Of course, there are exceptions like eco-safaris, but that is not a norm. And generally, avoid any activity that doesn’t seem native to the local environment – such as snow-skiing in Dubai.
When you’re getting to and from these activities try to bike or walk. If you need to take another form of transportation, map your route. Arrange your trip so that you see museums in area on the same day, which will prevent zig-zagging across the city.
What are your favorite earth-friendly travel activities?
This is the eighteenth post in Go Green Travel Green’s 25 Days to Green Travel series. You can see the complete list of articles in the 25 Days to Green Travel Index.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our e-newsletter and stay up to date - See top left column.
Comments