New guidebooks help vacationers go green

New guidebooks help vacationers go green

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 25, 2007

By Juliet Eilperin

The Washington Post

As more vacationers have begun to contemplate the impact of their travels on the planet, from the greenhouse gas emissions of their flights to the litter they leave behind in scenic areas, mainstream travel publishers have devised a new category of books to address their concerns.

The new responsible and ethical travel guides, including Lonely Planet’s recent Code Green: Experiences of a Lifetime and the upcoming Green Travel: The World’s Best Eco-Lodges & Earth-Friendly Hotels from Fodor’s Travel, aim to give readers a way to judge the sustainability of operations from lodges to wildlife treks.

In a world in which commercial enterprises are increasingly eager to tout their eco-tourist credentials, these specialty books help travelers distinguish environmental ventures from orchestrated PR. (In fact, Code Green has a short section on “How to Tell if Your Holiday Is Green or Just Greenwash,” and Rough Guides has a similar feature in its recently released 25 Ultimate Experiences: Ethical Travel.)

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