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Low-impact travel -- how to be a conscientious tourist
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Travel to Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and other popular tourist spots without leaving a negative impact on local people and their environment.
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By Dayna Boyer
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Minimize your impact on the environment
While thinking about boarding a plane to take you to your island in the sun. "Of all the aspects of your trip, your air travel can have the most dramatic impact on the environment through carbon emissions," says Kira Zack from tour operators G.A.P Adventures. But environmentally friendly travel doesn't mean you need to forgo those destinations that require a plane ride. Instead, Zack recommends carbon offsetting your flight.
Carbon offsetting is when you donate money to an organization that puts your donation towards developing renewable fuel sources or boosting fuel efficiency. Visit climatecare.org and gapadventures.com for ways to donate to carbon offsetting.
Harmful tourism
Some tourist activities are notorious for taking a serious toll on the environment and local cultures. The biggest culprits are golf courses and cruise ships.
Water is a valuable commodity for locals in many Caribbean countries, however an average 18-hole golf course consumes approximately 525,000 gallons a day according to Tourism Concern, an organization that works with destination countries to reduce the negative impacts tourism has on local people.
Rather than golf, try a relaxing snorkeling session that doesn't require fuel or time-consuming specialized training. However, make sure you don't harm or pick coral plants since there are only 109 countries with them left, and 90 have been severely destroyed.
Cruise ships may be an affordable and pleasurable means of travel but according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) cruise ships in the Caribbean produce about 70,000 tons of waste each year. To reduce your waste production, the Code Green book in the Lonely Planet travel guide series advises to, "leave excess packaging at home (e.g. film boxes, anything plastic you may need to dispose of). Developing countries generally don't have waste collection services, so your packaging will end up as their pollution."
Contribute to the local community
Instead of handing out money and toys to adults and children on the street, Code Green suggests three things to do instead: contribute money to a grassroots community aid program, leave gifts and toys with local school teachers to distribute evenly, and stay in a homestay (also known as a casa particular in Cuba) that caters to tourists.
Homestays provide a great means of connecting to the Caribbean culture and really getting a taste of local hospitality. Look on the Internet for tourist-recommended homestays.
Check out these two sites for some tried-and-tested casa particulars: thorntree.lonelyplanet.com
www.bedincuba.com For more great online resources, click on the links below.
Your online resource guide
Community Tourism in Jamaica
InfoHub Speciality Travel Hub
Grassroots community aid in the Caribbean
Great websites to get you started
www.eco-web.com
www.ecotourism.org
greenearthtravel.com
www.i-to-i.com
www.ecotravel.com
www.world-tourism.org
Connecting with the local residents of a country is both a fascinating and rewarding experience when traveling abroad. You can experience a country at a community level by searching out local artisans, food and accommodations. Visit local markets outside resort communities and research a few homestay or low-impact accommodations before you go. When you plan a socially conscious and eco-friendly trip, you can feel great about being kind to the environment and being kind to the residents of the great destinations you plan to visit as they benefit from your vacation spending.
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