If you have to fly to reach your hotel, choose a direct flight rather than a route with stopovers. Once there, we take a traditional boat (canoe, dahabieh, junk, etc.) rather than a motor boat, public transport rather than a rental car, and we treat ourselves to a horseback ride or on a donkey instead of a quad ride... Once back home, you offset your CO2 emissions by supporting a sustainable development project.
From the eco-friendly campsite at the gates of Paris to the luxury ecolodge at the end of the world, from the charming establishment to the ultra-design hotel, we have the choice! Reduced water consumption, optimized lighting, waste sorting, free bicycles available... These establishments have it all. We choose them labeled "European Ecolabel", "La Clef Verte", "Ecogite", "Chouette Nature" or "Gîte Panda". And of course you turn off the air conditioning (and the light) when you leave your room...
Especially in countries where there is no public collection system. We therefore opt for fresh food and fruit instead of packaged snacks, the juice of a fresh coconut rather than a soda in a can, and we refuse the straw systematically slipped into the cocktail or the plastic bag of the child trader. Before leaving, you will have taken care to bring a good canvas bag for your purchases and a water bottle with disinfection tablets for the water:a plastic bottle takes nearly 1,000 years to decompose! Used batteries and batteries or photo film packaging will be returned with us.
Short fins are more environmentally friendly. We especially make sure to have fixed our equipment before diving and we paddle gently so as not to hit the coral (10 cm of coral take a year to form...). We choose as much as to make a responsible diving center (reprocessing of waste and wastewater, use of mooring buoys to avoid anchoring, etc.), for example adhering to the "International Charter for Responsible Diving" of the Association Longitude 181 Nature. And of course we don't take anything and we don't touch or feed the fish!
Biscuits made on site, fruit sold in the street… We consume local products as much as possible. We thus reduce the CO2 emissions linked to their transport, we support the local economy, and we enjoy new flavors. Beware of the menu:no conch or lobster outside the legal fishing season, for example, or shark fin soup, even if it's local! On the souvenir side, we make sure that they are not stamped "made in China", we bring back objects made by small artisans in the area (artisans' cooperatives, women's groups, etc.) who will be happy to share their techniques. If the product comes from organic farming or from a forest managed under a label, that's great. If it is made from coral, ivory, tortoiseshell, we boycott.
Even if these children are cute, even if it's hard to resist, we don't do charity! The money given in the street feeds the exploitation of children, more than the children themselves. If you really want to donate money (or clothes, school supplies, toys, etc.), you go through an association, a school, a village chief whom you are sure he/she will take care of to redistribute our donations fairly.
Already, we lighten as much as possible:fewer kilos =reduction in fuel consumption =less CO2. And less weight altogether to drag around airports or train stations! Then, we bring the right toiletry bag:organic mosquito repellent, sunscreen without chemical filters, soaps without phosphates (especially when there is no wastewater treatment and it flows directly into a river or in the sea. We're going to go swimming then what...), plus hybrid solar charger for phone and MP3, dynamo flashlight (works without batteries)
We do not take pictures of people without asking their permission. And if we promise to send them the photo, we keep our word. We mainly learn about local customs:caressing a child's head, reaching out to a woman, walking around town in shorts... it's not always well seen everywhere. A little respect, please!
Even if Dominica or Costa Rica are destinations strongly involved in ecotourism, you don't have to travel so far to go green. The Marais poitevin is also very good!
Why? Because by leaving with a tour operator certified ATR (Acting for responsible tourism) or ATES (Association for fair and united tourism), we are sure that he is concretely committed to minimizing the impact of his activities on the environment and to develop the country economically (by employing local guides and paying them properly, for example). While we are spending holidays just like the others!
