Why Do We Need Green Accommodations?
How Can I Find Green Accommodations?
How Hotels Are Making a Difference
Whenever you travel, you need a place to lay your head, and whether you're planning to stay in a simple yurt or a charming inn, lodging is an important part of your trip. Fortunately, traveling sustainably doesn't mean you have to travel uncomfortably.
But it does mean that before you book your next overnight stay, please remember that your choice of lodging can have a direct impact (positive or negative) upon the local environment and the basic human rights of the people in the destinations you visit.
With that in mind, please consider these important points about accommodations...
Why Do We Need Green Accommodations?
Water:
When we take the time to learn about water usage in conventional hotels, it becomes very clear that the greening of the hotel industry is an absolute necessity. For example, according to research conducted in 2008 by Green.travel's parent organization, Sustainable Travel International (STI), an average conventional hotel uses about 218 gallons of water per day per occupied room (the average American uses 70 gallons per day).
Compare that extravagant water usage to the meager amount used by the average person in Sub-Saharan Africa, which (according to The Water Project) is between 2.6 and 5.26 gallons per day.
In conventional hotels, guests generally don't think about the consequences of their water usage. They use water freely, perhaps excessivly, even in areas where there are water shortages. In addition, resort swimming pools and golf courses can often deplete (even contaminate) water resources for the local community; the average 18-hole golf course soaks up 525,000 gallons of water every day (Source: Tourism Concern). In some places, tragically, local residents who live steps away from luxury resorts are forced to walk great distances just to gain access to clean water to drink.
Water usage is just one of the ways conventional hotels can have a negative effect on people and the planet. Energy usage and trash disposal at conventional hotels can also create problems.
→ Please read more here....
How Can I Find Green Accommodations?
Start here. When you're looking for green/sustainable lodging, start your search on Green.travel. Remember, all the companies featured here have made a commitment to sustainability. They're concerned about the environment and about the well-being of local communities. In fact, many of them are Community-Based Tourism Companies (CBTs) that are owned and operated by local residents.
How Hotels Are Making a Difference
Thankfully, many hotels are creating or revising sustainability policies and introducing new regulations, programs, and training to make their hotels as low-impact as possible.
Here are just a few of the steps responsible hotels are taking to become more green and sustainable...
- Hiring local employees whenever possible
- Staying closely connected to (and respectful of) the local community
- Making it easy and convenient for everyone (guests and staff alike) to recycle
- Finding ways to reduce energy use
- Reducing waste as much as possible and disposing of waste in an environmentally conscious way
These are good first steps, but many hotels are doing much, much more. For a more complete list, please click here.