Going green when you're going away
If you read last Monday's Monitor insert, Green Guide Winter 2010, you're no doubt planning to shrink your carbon footprint by driving better, buying locally, making your own cleaning products and growing some of your own food. But what about when you vacation? 
Defining green: There are several levels of "green," beginning with paying attention to water usage. Many hotels and resorts will place neatly printed cards on beds and in bathrooms saying that sheets aren't changed daily and that they will assume you'll re-use your towels unless you leave them on the floor or in the tub. This is pretty basic, and something Bud and I have seen in places as unexpected as Bosnia, Cambodia, and (closer to home) Foxwoods Resort and Casino. From there, it goes up the ladder to programs like the use of bulk soap and amenities (saving landfills from individual packaging), use of composting (usually smaller rural B & B's), environmental cleaning products, recycling, serving of local food, donating leftover food and goods to local charities and, the biggie, use of alternative energy sources - think solar, geothermal and the like.
Finding green: It can be a challenge (but great fun, too!) to find a truly green lodging, but there is help. Green Seal is a D.C.-based nonprofit working towards a more sustainable world by developing standards for sustainable living and offering third-party certification for products and services that meet those standards. About 100 hotels across the country have earned the Green Seal including several (but not all) Westins, Fairmont's, Marriott's, Hiltons and Hyatt's as well some tony properties like The Muse Hotel in New York and the Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco. Visit greenseal.org for listings and links. There are only four in New England, all in the Boston area. Check out the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge (hotelmarlowe.com).
What about New Hampshire? New Hampshire, of course, not only relies heavily on tourism, but also embraces the idea of being a good steward of the environment. Hence the New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging and Restaurant Program, which works to promote all kinds of sustainable practices and also offers a certification program. Visit nhslrp.org to check out its standards and browse certified lodgings and restaurants by geographical area.
(E-mail Chase Binder at ChaseBinder@comcast.net.)
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Scott's Contracting
scottscontracting@gmail.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com
scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com
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