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Some early posts at Go Green Travel Green were part of a series called “Shades of Green Travel.” The basic idea of the initial post, Shades of Green Travel, is that you don’t have to be the most eco-conscious person on the planet to be a green traveler. You don’t need to constantly worry about every little detail of your travels. Rather, you should focus on big categories and choose several categories where you can try to be a greener traveler. We laid out “shades of green” – pea green, Kelly green, and forest green – as ways of scaling how green you wanted to be in those categories.
For example, you might choose to green your accommodation and food. So you might camp or eat local as ways to be a “forest green” traveler. And then you could choose to worry a little less about transportation; for example taking a hybrid taxi instead of public transportation as a way of getting around. In the transportation category you might be a “pea green” traveler.
Thinking about your “shade” of green is just a fun way of thinking about how to be a little bit greener.
photo credit: the missiah
As we’ve recently started writing about having a green home I thought about the shades of green travel post and how it’s applicable to our everyday lives. The best way to think about how to green your life is to consider the categories where you could be greener and then choose to make an environmental difference in those categories. Here are the categories I came up with and a few ideas about how to be greener in those categories. We may write more about certain categories in the future.
Green Home: Actually making your house and your energy consumption in your home eco friendly. For example, buy energy star appliances, use rain barrels, and turn off the lights.
Green Cleaning Products: Buy and use green cleaning products. Better yet – use vinegar and baking soda!
Children: Ensure that your children’s toys, food, and clothing has fewer chemicals and additives.
Pets: Feed your dog natural dog food and buy natural dog toys.
Clothing: Buy used clothing from thrift stores or new clothing made from organic or reused materials.
Cosmetics/personal care products: Ensure that your cosmetics and personal care products are paraben free.
Food: Eat locally grown and organic food. Dine in more.
Shopping/Green Products: When you need a new item reconsider if the purchase is actually necessary or if it’s just creating more waste. When you do have to buy something new try to get a more environmentally friendly product.
Transportation: Ditch the car and opt for public transit or biking.
In what other categories can we try to be a shade greener?
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
we bring our own bags to the market (and grocery store) and the people are always amazed. this is the easiest thing to do, yet not many people are doing it. i think anything we can do is better than not!
I like the green concept of traveling, and am really happy that someone is doing it on the serious way. I would like to share some of my green ways of living. A little piece of news, before that: The cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas – LPG) cylinder (14.5 kilos of capacity, lasts 2 months in a typical Indian family) in my kitchen finished after 15 months of use, and I am happy to have used energy efficient methods of cooking to have achieved this goal. So here are some of my practices:
In kitchen:
(a) Try cooking with a pressure-cooker. It cooks better and faster, also saves energy.
(b) Close/cover the vessel with a lid while cooking, if you are using other vessels. This also saves energy, and cooks faster and efficient.
(c) If you are trying to cook an item (usually milk/meat/veggies) which has been kept in refrigeration, please take the item out of the refrigerator out and allow it to normalize the temperature. If you take out the item at least a couple of hours before cooking, you can save loads of fuel.
I hope this can help save your energy bills and make some positive change to the planet. I also want to write a serious blog entry on how I practice green living in the simple everyday life.
Among all the tips, I love the “food” ideas & “transportation” advice.
My wife & I are trying to grow out own organic fruits at our little yard this summer. We all hope to make our mother’s earth a better place to leave. We also committed to only drive once a week, that being said we will use our bicycle or bus 11
(walking)to the nearby convenient store for our grocery shopping. So far, number 2 has been very successful..and we’re really enjoying it.
Jay Chua
Publisher, PorchSwingSets.com
I’m working on the “food” and “shopping” categories. I find that one of the best ways for me to buy green is just to research my purchases extensively. Buying one item that turns out to be the best choice (for me) and that I will use for a very long time is more green than buying a few similar items because the first ones didn’t work out.
We’ve really greened up our living in the past year. We grow some of our own food,use rain barrels for water collection, cook locally grown stuff and eat “clean”, use canvas bags at the grocery store and have switched to eco-friendly cleaners thanks to our local co-op. We compost and recycle like crazy already. We purchase used books at our library book store. One way we could improve our “green-ness” is to shop for clothes at a thrift store or yard sale. We just don’t buy much in the way of clothes.
Because I work at the Environmental Services Division of a municipality, I constantly look for ways to promote going green to our area residents. Your site constantly provides different and easy ways to improve both our homes and our work places. Keep up the good work, we are paying attention.
I always make a point to ask for my drink in a ceramic mug when I go to a coffee shop, especially when I’m not in a hurry. 99% of time they will not say No. I believe you get 10 cents off your drink if you bring your own mug to Starbucks.
I go to coffee shops all year round, and it’s just a small thing I can do to keep paper/styrofoam cups, lids and sleeves out of the landfills!
We make it a point to use reusable shopping bags EVERYWHERE. Grocery shopping, clothing stores, and even the hardware shops. People always ask questions, and I have given bags away to help encourage others to take their own first steps. I think it helps a little every time!