Travelling With the Environment in Mind

Travelling With the Environment in Mind by Larraine Roulston ‘Protecting Our Ecosystem’ During March break, are you anxiously awaiting a week of warm sun and beaches, or several days of winter sports activities? Even when visiting out-of-town relatives, parents should think about ways to make their mid-winter adventure gentler on our ecosystem. To help you make responsible and sustainable choices before, during, and after your trip, Rachel Dodds and Richard Butler prepared a 272 page informative guide on eco travel entitled, 'Are We There Yet?: Travelling More Responsibly with Your Children’. This book donates 100% of the profits to the nonprofit World Animal Protection organization focused on ending animal cruelty. With detailed advice regarding all types of travel, it becomes essentially a blueprint for making the adventure with kids of all ages more enjoyable while focusing on reducing the impact on our ecosystem. It includes advice, resources, and facts, as well as many stories aimed at informing guardians on how to keep children happy and amused, while travelling and enjoying their destinations. Begin your holiday by turning down your home thermostat. Should your trip be spent on a Caribbean island, pack a reusable shopping bag for purchasing locally crafted souvenirs that support your destination’s local economy. Take your own thermos to be filled at water bottle stations. Enjoy varieties of fresh foods by shopping at local markets. At hotels, occasionally place the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door so that housekeeping won’t clean your room when you go out. To save energy, turn off the air conditioner, lights, and fans when you’re not using your hotel room. Taking shorter showers – even a minute or two less can make a difference in water consumption, which is really important in places where water is scarce. En route, inquire about environmental ideas offered by tour operators, hotel staff, as well as search websites that support responsible and local travel. If you are planning either a ski get-away or just a relaxing time at a local resort with a pool, there are apt to be down times for the kids. Allowing for their suggestions keeps everyone happy. Also, pack a deck of cards and a game for all ages to keep kids away from screens and continue to be happily engaged with the adventure. In hotels, hang up your towel so that the housekeeping staff will not replace it —you can even take your own hotel towel to the pool as washing towels for a single use, wastes both energy and water. ‘Are We There Yet’ helps you to navigate when travelling, and offers tips and inspiration on raising resilient, responsible children who will grow up aware of the many ways to protect and enjoy their environment. The familiar phrase, ‘are we there yet’, that resonates with parents, can also be interpreted to mean, ‘has our society reached the point of zero waste, lessened carbon emissions, and mitigated water/electricity usage’? Teaching by example is not just one way children learn, it’s the only way.