‘Eco-friendly’, ‘Sustainable’, ‘Recycled’ ‘Environmentally-conscious’ might sound like pretentious buzzwords widely used by hotels and clothing brands to make your lives tough. This quick guide wants to do the opposite. Here are some easy peasy things you can do to be nicer to nature and still enjoy your next vacation.
1. Get obsessed with a tumbler
Find that one water tumbler and make it your constant travel companion. You will be surprised at how many clean drinking water stations you’d start spotting, replacing those environmentally-unfriendly single use plastic bottles. You can also ask locals to fill up your bottle and we bet they’d be happy to.
2. Local food is the new cool
All the cuisines around the world are accessible to us now, thanks to the boom in cafe, restaurant and food delivery culture. This is one of the reasons why enjoying local food prepared by local people using local produce and love has become more exotic and heartwarmingly special than it ever was. Choose happiness for your taste buds and the local businesses.
3. Say a hard no to littering
Remember going to the neighbourhood park for a family picnic and looking for dustbins to throw garbage? Do the same on your every vacation to every place without a miss – but do it in a grown-up way. Throw dry and wet waste in separate bins. If you have trouble finding trash cans, ask a local and they’d be thankful to have tourists like you.
4. Shop Local
Keep space in your luggage to shop for some local gems like tea leaves, handicrafts, and even clothes which are generally more suitable for the climate of the respective place. Carrying reusable bags while shopping is a bonus tip!
5. Switch off your worries and taps too
Switch off taps while brushing your teeth, lights in the daytime, and all kinds of switches when they are not being used.
Take it as a challenge by reminding yourself that by taking these tiny steps, you can make a big difference to your impact on the environment when you travel!