A view of Jordan Pond in the Acadia National Park of Maine, USA

By Maria Rainier

In the spirit of giving this holiday season, don’t just consider minimizing your carbon footprint during an eco-tour.  Consider what more you can do to give back.  Many tours and travel experiences that encourage you to volunteer—voluntourism, as it were—are much more affordable than their lounging-on-the-beach varieties.  With a carefully planned eco-tour of your own or hopping on the bandwagon with like-minded do-gooders, you can face the new year with your wallet intact, a cleaner conscience, and a cleaner planet.

Cactus at Big Bend National Park in Texas

Stay Local to Mind Your Carbon Footprint

Not only do air fares skyrocket during the holiday season, we leave a hefty carbon footprint every time we step on a plane.  Instead, consider riding a train or even cycling to your eco-destination, depending on your location.  If you call North America home, consider the Big Bend National Park in Texas.  It’s got 800 acres of America’s biggest national park and it’s open year-round, although it may close on Christmas Day.  Rather than driving around and pitter-pattering carbon footprints across the park, get out and enjoy the outdoors and camp in one of the three campgrounds, $14.00 a night after a $10 seven-day pass per individual.

If you’re on the east coast, consider the Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, North Carolina, where you can bring the whole family (even the dog) and go hiking and fishing, and relax after a day spent outdoors at its gourmet restaurant with its own two acre organic garden.  During the summer and fall, guests can learn how to grow, harvest, and cook assorted veggies, herbs, and flowers you might find in such a garden.  A room costs $89.00 a night.  If you’re planning a holiday vacation here, consider the Christmas Day Buffet Celebration Weekend Package or the Christmas Eve 4-Course Dinner Weekend Package.

Meanwhile, up north awaits the Acadia National Park, from where you can see the Atlantic coastline and the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.  You can camp for between $14 and $20 a night depending on the site.

Raspberry bushes at a small WWOOF participant farm in Wattamolla Valley, near Berry, NSW, Australia

Give Back to Save Greens

If you’re feeling more industrious and a little bit like pinching pennies this holiday season or in the coming year, consider bartering your way through an eco-tour.  Sierra Club’s Outings program has countless trips ranging from $400 in the U.S. to over $5,000 trips to safaris in Botswana and boat tours in Antarctica.  Be prepared to volunteer your time and your muscle, however, as is the nature of true voluntourism.  Similar programs include Ecovolunteer, which allows you to participate in efforts to protect nature and its inhabitants through local conservation organizations.  Coral Cay Conservation is in the same vein and is also worth a look.

Perhaps the most rewarding and budget-friendly experience is World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), which welcomes travelers across America to participate in their daily goings-on.  The cost ranges between a $20 and $50 registration fee and transportation fees to the farm—that’s it.

WWOOF has counterparts in other countries; you can go to Tuscan wine country and pick grapes for weeks and not only enjoy some of the most beautiful countryside you’ll ever see in your life, but make good friends, eat good foods, and even pick up a little Italian, too.  In this way, you can make this season and 2012 a year of win-wins—for the planet and your wallet.

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education performing research surrounding online universities and their various program offerings. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Closed off "Turtle nesting site" in the ruins of Tulum

This is a double post! (Are you excited? Woooo, you should be!)

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter. This is one of those times. Whether you consider yourself an eco expert or a newbie, skim this list in case there’s something new in there for you! And please feel free to add to it in the comments section.

• Stick to the rules that ask you to refrain from tresspassing into spots such as sea turtle nesting areas. The ruins in Tulum, for example, display a few signs with this message.
• Go ahead and pick up some trash and toss it in the garbage bin when other people have been inconsiderate. Help undo the harm with your kindness and compassion for life and the environment.
• Bring your own aluminum bottle to refill rather than wasting money and resource to buy and toss glass and plastic drinking bottles and cans (even if you can afterward recycle them, it’s better to reduce your use of resources to begin with :)). Why aluminum? Because plastic is toxic – and its carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, chemicals leech into water and food and enter your body (here is a plastic buying guide). Stay safe by recycling your water and nalgene bottles and switching to aluminum. Be sure to check whether the tap water in your area is safe to drink! The water in Tulum, for example, is not.
• Rent and ride a bike/walk/rollerblade/etc rather than drive when possible.
• Remain quiet in biodiversity areas – even the beach! And especially at night, when many animals venture out to nest, spawn, feed, and so on. Even whispering and small amounts of light have been found to disrupt the mating and normal behavior of wild birds and other animals.
• Do not feed birds, reptiles, and other wild animals.
• Be kind to the stray dogs that dot the areas where you’re spending your time – they’ve done nothing wrong. Consider buying them some food, at least giving them your leftovers, and setting out a bowl with water for them, particularly in hot weather. We all just want love and have the same basic needs, including food and water.
• Do not remove coral, rock, etc. when diving, snorkeling, and so on. Any removals can upset ecosystem balance – no matter how much you want that object as a souvenir!
• Support eco establishments and products!
• And speaking of eco products… remember that all toiletries and cleaners can be toxic (and usually are). For example, sodium laureth sulfate, which is in everything, has been found to cause cancer. Look it up here. Try switching to mindful brands for your body and the planet. Yes – they can be expensive. Cheap alternatives include using baking soda as shampoo and toothpaste, baking soda or cornstarch as deodorant, coconut oil to style your hair and as personal lubricant,honey or organic cold-pressed oils to cleanse your skin (this is excellent even for acne-prone skin), and so on. Find a deodorant recipe here plus more ideas here and here.

This planet is yours, mine, and everyone else’s – this includes non-human animals. It is not anyone’s to tras. It is our home. Let’s humbly bow and thank our Mother Earth for sustaining us, and offer our efforts to be sustainable in return. Join in the cycle of life, not destruction.

Costa Maya - photo by lecates

The Mexican Government said last month that discussions on an ecotourism project on Costa Maya are back on. No further news has been reported since then.

The 47,938 acre- (19,400 ha) area would span 28 miles (45 km) of beach in the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco south of Tulum, near Mahahual, Noticaribe reports.

The project would create 30,000 jobs, said Delegate for the Environmental and Natural Resources Secretary (SEMARNAT) Gabriela Lima Laurents. This is extremely beneficial and significant, especially considering the devastating effects the H1N1 outbreak has had on the tourism industry in Mexico for the past few months.

“There are various spheres [of influence] involved and so the process is long – everyone must meet an agreement and respect the environment,” she said.

Sixty percent of the land will be reserved for ecological preservation.

Environmentalists, three levels of government, and – of course – private investors have been attending the meetings. This is precisely why the project was delayed. They were also awaiting a second meeting with representatives from the Urban Development and Environmental Secretariat (SEDUMA).

“It is a complex project because it has many subprojects, it is not SEMARNAT that has halted it … but the red tape,” she explained.

The beach in this area resembles that of Cancun, Lima Laurents noted, with white sands and waters in different shades of blue – which *cough* business(wo)men and tourists from all over the world would love *cough*.

Ecotourism + nature conservation = Fantastic

The Philippines, where almost 26 million people (30%) currently live in poverty, has been brewing up big, green plans to help boost its economy. Its goals are to instill socially and environmentally responsible, ecologically sustainable, and community-friendly methods and projects to create more jobs and draw in tourism.

As Ecotourism Philippines tells us, the following statement by the National Ecotourism Congress in Bohol got the ball rolling: “The State shall develop and promote ecotourism as a tool for sustainable development to support the development, management, protection and conservation of the country’s environment, natural resources and cultural heritage. The state shall establish an integrating system to focus greater efforts to sustain the viability of ecotourism development in the country.”

The Philippines provides many options for eco activities: trekking/hiking/mountaineering, bird and other wildlife watching, diving and snorkeling, caving, kayaking/canoeing/rafting, and surfing.

By exploring the jungles you will find the kinds of tribesmen you see on National Geographic documentaries, waterfalls, cliffs, pure forests-a lot of unharmed nature lays in the Philippines. For example, Lake Danao in Leyte has been “the cleanest body of water” in the area for three years now.

Another example is Olango Island (located 5 km. east of Mactan Island) becomes the home of thousands of migratory birds from February to April each year. The Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary is a 920-hectare area composed of “extensive coralline sandflats, mangroves, seagrass beds, and offshore coral reefs.” It’s a universally recognized wetland known for its unique faunal and floral biodiversity.

And as far as eco hotels in the Philippines, I found a few. Many participate in green activities, but not many are green themselves, offering constant AC and other traditional amenities.

One that I found is located in Manila, Edsa Shangri-la Manila, but only got 2 out of 5 eco-friendly branches ($169+). It is the only eco hotel listed in Green Travel Hub. A high-end, eco-hotel is Cacao Pearl Island in Palawan.

Another place to search for travel ideas, packages, and hotels is Responsible Travel.