Archive for Leisure Travel
New cruse ship sewage ban for 2011
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve never been one who really enjoys an extended period of time in a confined space therefore going on a cruise has never held particular appeal to me. I’ve been on ferries crossing the Irish Sea and the North Sea to visit Ireland and Europe but always using the ship as a method of transport not as a holiday. Naturally without my participation the cruise industry is still huge and growing on an annual basis. While I lived in Los Angeles I marveled at the size of the magnificent ships harboured in San Pedro waiting like sentinels to take their cargo of two or three thousand holidaymakers down the Pacific Coast to various Mexican and Central American ports of call. I never realized until reading a recent article that sewage from these huge vessels was not previously restricted for dumping in coastal waters.
Happily new federal regulations will now ban all cruise ships and larger commercial ships from discharging their sewage within 3 miles of the California coastline according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The laws come into play in 2011 and it is estimated that the results will keep approximately 20,000,000 gallons of sewage away from coastal waters annually. In addition to cruise ships commercial boats in excess of 300 tons will also be subject to the same rulings. The US Coast Guard will also have the authority to charge vessels with sewage violations. Naturally enough when a cruise ship with sometimes as many as 4000 passengers takes to the seas it becomes the equivalent of a small city offshore and all the resultant pollution that goes with that many residents.
Many cruise lines are stating that the ban will have little impact as they already have internal policies which reflect an earlier law that was passed in 2005 with many operators now keeping sewage in large tanks to either dump further out at sea or transferred to wastewater treatment facilities. Nevertheless the impact on commercial vessels should also help the water quality on the Pacific coast that has continued to deteriorate in recent decades. The law makes perfect sense especially when stringent laws have already been passed to reduce runoff from rivers and sewage centers and pipes that are onshore.
I still don’t think it’s enough to make me want to jump on a 10 day cruise and have dinner with strangers every evening but it’s good to see the EPA holding the cruise industry to task when it comes to environmental matters. Surely the best procedure of all would result in banning the discharge of sewage anywhere on the seas rather than just the coastal barrier that has now been more properly enforced. One step at a time but it’s most certainly a step in a positive direction.
Expedia.com help bring ‘green hotels’ into the marketplace
Posted by: | CommentsThe days of just booking a hotel by calling the chains toll free number have been greatly changed by large online travel agencies who have cornered the bookings part of the market by combining the best in selection, information and pricing - all key factors for someone planning a trip. Expedia.com® have emerged as the largest online travel agency but in addition to value and scope of selection they have also developed 
an online tool that is ideal for the environmentally conscious traveler. Via a very specific approval process hotels can be approved as green properties and customers can now search with that specific criteria in mind .
The Expedia.com Green hotel program has not been activated for very long but new properties keep getting added to the program which now boasts over 2,000 options for the well informed traveler which also is the largest such range of choices amongst online agencies. Tim MacDonald, senior vice president and general manager, Expedia.com adds:
“Expedia.com is committed to helping travelers find the broadest range of ‘green’ properties in the industry, the recent inclusion of Hilton Worldwide’s brands, that use the LightStay system, in Expedia.com’s Green Hotel Program helps fulfill that commitment.”
Expedia expect the choices to grow rapidly in the years ahead as the immportance of a hotel’s practices will soon be akin to their overall facilities and locations as travelers place this ever higher on their list of needs. The company are partnering with a non profit called Sustainable Travel International.org to build even more inroads within the marketplace. Expedia explain part of the approach more fully beneath:
Find green hotels that balance environmental protection and social responsibility—without sacrificing your comfort. Together with Sustainable Travel International, we’ve pinpointed the green hotels that are pioneering green travel practices. Green travel—also known as responsible travel, sustainable travel, eco-tourism, and geotourism—is redefining the travel industry. Hotels and other tourism companies are being challenged to do business in an increasingly environmentally friendly, socially responsible way. This growing demand has spurred many hotels, both large and small, to implement green business practices. To recognize these green hotels, each striving toward the three main areas of sustainability—environmental protection, socio-cultural responsibility, and local economic growth—we’ve compiled a list with the help of Sustainable Travel International!
The example of newly added Hilton’s measurements are a clear indicator of how individual proprerties will be assessed as over 200 operational practices are measured, including housekeeping, paper product usage, food waste, chemical storage, air quality and transportation. Expedia’s purchasing power also means that people who book green are also getting the best available deals for the hotels in question which makes the choice that much easier.
To learn much more about Expedia’s green hotel program please visit for the specific details on their site - or better still bookmark it and use it the next time you travel!!
Environmental concerns outweigh airport expansion in UK…so why not here?
Posted by: | CommentsEven as most sectors of industry face ever increasing regulation about emissions and environmental safeguarding, one growth industry continues to send emissions levels skyrocketing. It is to be applauded that manufacturing and assembly plants, steel mills and mining operations are under far more scrutiny than before but in the midst of that the seemingly endless upward spiral of air traffic threatens to become a global percentage leader in air pollutants. Currently contributing perhaps 3% to all emissions; in growing and smaller nations these ratios run as high as 10-15% of all emissions.
In a fairly bold but critically observed strategy Britain’s new coalition government has made steps to reduce the growth of air traffic by refusing to build additional runways around London to accommodate more planes. Within a week of being elected Prime Minister David Cameron reversed existing plans to expand Heathrow Airport with a new and greatly needed third runway. Targeting airliners CO2 emissions the leader also promised to deny applications to expand services via runway construction at either Gatwick or Stansted; the other airports that serve London and the Southeast of the UK.
Should governments make decisions as bold as this even when they fly in the face of commerce and demand? Can regulation of air traffic expansion be enforced or will this just force those who wish to travel by air to simply choose an alternate location to begin or end their journey?
The UK Government both past and present have been promising radical success in curbing emissions and as such felt targeting airport expansion would be low hanging fruit. The UK has been at the heart of low fares carriers growth within Europe, its far less expensive to fly to a Mediterranean resort than take a train a few hundred miles within Britain. As a result the British take more flights per capita than any nation in Europe. This naturally doesn’t balance with Britain’s goal to cut 1990 emissions by at least 34 percent by 2020. Teresa Villiers, Britain’s minister of state for transport:
“The emissions were a significant factor. The 220,000 or so flights that might well come with a third runway would make it difficult to meet the targets we’d set for ourselves.”
Virgin Atlantic jet heading into London Heathrow
What Britain is trying is unfortunately not the way of the world by any means as throughout the other major air markets there is a race to add runways, rebuild terminals and do all possible to increase passenger and freight traffic alike. Heathrow already handles the most international passengers of any airport in the world and the 5th most overall and the expansion was seen as being critical. Other rapidly growing airports such as Chicago-O’Hare, Seattle-Tacoma and Washington-Dulles all opened new runways in the last few years, while brand new airports are being built in many Asian cities. In addition to the CO2 emissions attention should turn to the ground and noise pollution that go hand in hand with a busy airport. Heathrow is remarkably small with just two runways, which lead to delays and congestion which further hamper the operations. Critics are leaping on the decision who say this discourages commerce and will greatly harm business in the UK. It does bring back the discussion of just how can needed environmental changes and restrictions work best in concert with a healthy economy. The results of this decision around airport expansion might serve as a blueprint for how best to manage such a scenario. The UK estimates that 6% of emissions are caused by aircraft and failure to lower the trend could see this figure reach 25% over the next 20 years. While those ratios are perhaps unique to Britain and a few other countries its easy to see why such a decision had to be made.
Perhaps what troubles me most….I can’t see a similar decision being made in the United States any time soon. Concessions to business are always placed ahead of the planet which is the definition of short term thinking and we should be ashamed of our politicians.
Yosemite National Park adds green store and hotel rooms
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Yosemite Falls
Sometimes we go about our daily business in such a routine manner that we forget to take the opportunity to see the beauty of nature that is all a around us. We commute, we work, we shop, we cook, we plan time with family and friends and we manage the endless list of tasks that life presents each of us with. We reward ourselves with a hobby or two and we hopefully we have time left over to support causes that we are passionate about. But do we take time to occasionally escape routines and the cities and towns that most of us live in and escape to somewhere we can just bask in nature? Whether you like the ocean, mountains, lakes, forests or prairie I think it can really recharge you to get away from the routines of work and responsibilities and be somewhere where you can marvel at the beauty of our planet. It also reiterates the importance of environmental issues, taking nature for granted is foolhardy in the extreme. We now see that the by product of the industrial revolution coupled with our continued quest for convenience and consumption has left wastage and pollution while destroying resources that took thousands of years to form in the first place. Writing this in the wake of events surrounding the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico makes me even more frustrated.
It is however gratifying that the last 40 years have showed an increased awareness unlike anything we’ve witnessed before in terms of environmental issues and the endorsement of ideas that can make a difference. These changes have snowballed in recent years with actions being taken by individuals, businesses and governments. The potential for real and lasting change has been realised and the continued efforts of so many at least offer cause for optimism in preserving the environment and our natural resources.
One of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in terms of (relatively) unspoiled nature is Yosemite National Park in California. The famed park covers some 750,000+ acres and while the vast majority of the land is designated as wilderness (over 95%) we still have to be concerned with the popularity of the park itself as some 3.7 million visitors visited in 2009. Its a truly majestic place with vistas that are just breathtaking and a sense of space and wild land that has to be experienced first hand. When I was there I noted that the park management were making a strong effort to preserve what makes it so special as recycling, general cleanliness and a committed diligence to keeping visitors in designated areas was noticed. Thus I was excited to read about some recent upgrades that further signal a commitment to keeping Yosemite green.
Ahwahnee Hotel
Yosemite Village is the key starting point when visiting the park and a new new, eco-friendly store called ‘Habitat’ has opened in the village. The 1,000-square-foot shop is a model design for creative green interior design and retail expertise combined. The entire store is unique, every display fixture is created out of recycled items used in the park. Instead of racks and legs, the shop displays are supported upon tall bales of recycled cardboard; the counter tops and display tables are made of recycled tires topped with recycled glass and reused shelving from the original Ahwahnee hotel kitchen; plus wood from a bar top was used to make the cash register counter. Its an ideal place to purchase eco-friendly products too as items on offer include; glassware from recycled bottles of wine, jewelry constructed from recycled metals or paper, and eco-designed purses that formerly lived as computer keyboards, tires or soda-can pop-tops.
Nearby an ideal place to stay is the Yosemite Lodge at The Falls, which has just opened two brand new guest rooms that feature eco-friendly design ideas. If a success the rooms are a model for conversion at the rest of the resort. Featuring automatically controlled energy-saving cooling/ heating systems, insulation made from 85% recycled newspaper, toilets limited to just over 1 gallon per flush, and 100% organic-cotton sheets produced in a solar-powered factory.The management will be monitoring guest feedback to gauge the potential for making the other rooms incorporate the same changes. Keith Erikson, hotel general manager adds:
“A great deal of research and technology is integrated in these rooms, most of it working quietly just beneath the surface. Our guests won’t notice many of these elements, but when they cross the threshold and drop their bags, their rooms will be welcoming, comfortable, affordable and, we hope, inspiring”
If you ever have the opportunity I can’t recommend Yosemite highly enough, going back to everyday living afterward can be quite difficult after seeing such a lovely place but it can really remind you just why making an effort matters.