If a country merely considering green its national colour doesn't make it green enough for you to want to visit it, then you may like to look at the GreenBox website. The Greenbox region is Ireland's first ecotourism destination - a beautiful, unspoilt landscape boasting unique ecosystems and areas of high conservation value - and Responsible Tourism Ltd (trading as Greenbox Ltd) is an organisation which was created in order to further develop ecotourism in the area. All the companies which offer retreats and tours in the Greenbox region must adhere to a standard known as the The European Eco-label for tourist accommodation services and camp site services (The EU Flower).
Ireland Ecotours runs two particularly interesting looking day-long tours. The Green Scene tour transports passengers round the region in an eco-friendly bio-bus powered with Pure Plant Oil, stopping on the way to teach them about the solar panels, windmills and micro hydro power used in the area. The Two Forests Mountain Biking Tour is a comprehensive tour of the region which also focuses on teaching cyclists how to adopt the most environmentally friendly practises possible whilst out biking. Cyclists are taught not to disturb wildlife, spread seeds, or churn up areas of marsh and wetland, and given a code of practise to take away with them. Alternatively, if you fancy a more spiritual approach, and err more towards the 'retreat' side of things than the 'tour' side, you might wish to investigate the breaks offered by Wilderness Therapy Sessions, The Ard Nahoo Eco Retreat Experience, or Blaney Spa and Yoga Centre.
Love it or hate it - we all have to travel sometime. But now Multimap has joined forces with carbon-reducers Carbon Clear to help us keep our travel carbon footprints to a minimum.
By looking at things like mode of transport and engine size, Multimap will provide information how much CO2 each journey will use up. Travellers will also be able to compare their carbon foot print if they were to take other modes of transport.
Multimap's founder Sean Phelan, said, "We all know that driving has a negative effect on the environment. We've partnered with Carbon Clear to help raise users' awareness of the impact of driving, and also to make it easier to offset the carbon emissions of those journeys."
If you’re booking your winter holiday, why not travel to the Continent by train with Rail Europe? They’re the specialist in online French and European rail travel and the UK’s largest distributor of European rail travel, with over 100 years of experience and a wide range of travel options available.
Rail is the eco way to travel to Europe. The network of 300 km/h services will carry you swiftly and comfortably to literally hundreds of destinations. Rail Europe can book travel on Eurostar, on the entire French network including the high speed TGV, overnight trains including the Elipsos hoteltrain from Paris to Barcelona or Madrid, the Motorail service from Calais to the South of France and the Snow Train, to the French Alps. According to the French Environmental Institute, domestic flights have a carbon footprint of 180g per kilometre for each passenger, whereas trains have a mere 5.7g – choo choo I say.
Related stories: Virgin trains to eco chug on biodiesel | Poll: Train vs. Plane – Which is greener?
If you’re booking your winter holiday, why not travel to the Continent by train with Rail Europe? They’re the specialist in online French and European rail travel and the UK’s largest distributor of European rail travel, with over 100 years of experience and a wide range of travel options available.
Rail is the eco way to travel to Europe. The network of 300 km/h services will carry you swiftly and comfortably to literally hundreds of destinations. Rail Europe can book travel on Eurostar, on the entire French network including the high speed TGV, overnight trains including the Elipsos hoteltrain from Paris to Barcelona or Madrid, the Motorail service from Calais to the South of France and the Snow Train, to the French Alps. According to the French Environmental Institute, domestic flights have a carbon footprint of 180g per kilometre for each passenger, whereas trains have a mere 5.7g – choo choo I say.
Related stories: Virgin trains to eco chug on biodiesel | Poll: Train vs. Plane – Which is greener?
ecobookers.com is a new booking engine for eco-friendly accommodation around the world. Search for accommodation by destination or take a look at one of the lifestyle sections for inspiration, such as eco luxury, eco families or eco on a budget. You can book securely and easily online. I picked a nice country manor in Sao Pedro do Sul in Portugal to keep down my flying footprint. The manor is set in certified organic farmland.
My impression is that it’s a new website and they need to increase the number of destinations available. For example, there was only one in the entire USA. But it’s a nice idea, and one which hopefully will take off and give the average person the choice to book an eco holiday.
Related stories: Organic places to stay in the UK | Ecoescape green travel guide
If you're a real hippy at heart, why not celebrate the Equinox this Saturday with the Big Wheel's Big Day Out at Nottingham Castle. The day is designed to encourage and celebrate sustainable transport and healthy living in general in and around Nottingham.
There's a travel offer for families travelling to the Big Day Out on certain local public transport routes as well as information on local walking and cycling routes. For lunch, there's local organic and ethnic food to eat, and to relax afterwards, try out the Healing Zone with various complementary therapies, such as Indian Head Massage.
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Government backed cycling group Cycling England have said that by encouraging more people onto bikes we could save the taxpayer £520 million and help reduce the effects of climate change. They claim that just a 20% increase in journeys by bike would lower health costs and reduce congestion. They added if the Government were to make an annual investment of £70 million in cycling initiatives they could cut up to 54 million car journeys per year by 2012, which would reduce CO2 emissions by 35,000 tonnes.
[via The Guardian]
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