We're on a family vacation in Florida (poor us right?). When we're in our usual daily routines we find it pretty easy to go green — but here, with 9 other people all out of our elements, we're finding that staying green is about as easy as staying on a diet during a vacation...
Not only because we don't have access to the usual green options at home, but also because we've got 9 other people, including babies, parents and grandparents to cater to and deal with. There's also lots of temptations - leaving the doors open with the A/C on (because we're not paying the bills), buying paper towels (because there's no napkins or towels at our beach house), and taking jet skis out for a spin (because that's a lot more exhilarating than a paddle board).
But, while we are consuming our fair share of soda cans and beer bottles, we are recycling; while there's no major transit system, there is a trolley and we're walking as much as we can instead of driving; and to be honest, hanging out on the beach doesn't take much energy.
Are you able to stay green while on vacation, or do you take a break? Do you only take trips when you know you can stay green? We're trying our best, but hopefully we're finding at least some happy medium...
(Image via Flickr member nattu licensed under Creative Commons)
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I'm probably greener on vacation than I am at home. I don't typically do laundry, I use minimal cooking energy and it seems like it's easier to recycle in other countries than my own. If I rent a car it's typically compact and possibly diesel (I rented a car in Spain, drove it to France, back to Spain and filled it up just once before I returned it). I like to eat local when I go on vacation so chances are that my food has traveled minimal distance to the place that I bought it from.
view art's profile
A very easy thing to do is bring your own water bottle. If you are traveling by air, bring it empty thru security & fill at a water fountain after the metal detectors. It takes very little space & is so easy. Not to mention the money saved from buying bottled water.
view tallsarah's profile