Green Your Weekend Getaway

Photo Credit: Flickr/aaron.knox

Every summer my entire extended family takes part in at least one, if not several, long weekend getaways and over the years they have come to expect my coaching on how we can travel and coexist in a greener fashion.  While they are getting better at identifying their behaviors that will get my green-attention, there is still much more we can do as a family to be less wasteful on these excursions.  I have just returned from such a weekend and use today’s post as a plea to them for our next adventure:

Let us try to limit the stuff we bring.  I know that we are all tempted to bring everything short of the kitchen sink in order to be prepared for anything but the truth is, we will survive without much of it.  The less we bring, the lighter the load will be.  The result?  A lower carbon footprint, since we didn’t use the extra fuel to bring the extra weight with us.  Let’s plan ahead so we can bring what is necessary and eliminate bringing items that we don’t end up using.  Furthermore, if we plan together, we can share the load and avoid disasters such as 5 cans of beans and no can opener!

That being said, let’s remember to bring the important things such as:

• Reusable water bottles – if everyone has their own unique water bottle, we aren’t sharing germs or wasting drinks because no one wants to claim the five half-full glasses of orange juice.  Water bottles can be used for more than just water.  This will also eliminate the need to buy disposable cups.  Even though I know you have the best of intentions to reuse these cups for a while, they still end up in the garbage.
• Travel mugs for hot beverages – the same goes for coffee, hot chocolate or any other hot beverage.  Think of how nice it will be when we have coffee in the morning, not to have to guess which mug belongs to whom.  And then when we are leaving, you can take a lovely cup of coffee on the road with you without having to stop at the coffee shop.
• A stash of cloth napkins – If everybody brings a couple cloth napkins, we can avoid buying the tower of paper napkins that get used so hastily.  And let’s be honest, wouldn’t you rather wipe your face on a soft cloth than one of those weak and rough paper squares?  If you don’t have a stash of cloth napkins, let me know and I will bring extras.
• Reusable grocery bags – we will make several trips to the grocery store and we need some way to carry our goodies back to the cabin.  Most of us are pretty good about doing this at home, but we forget this practice when our routine is disrupted.  They are small and pack well, so if we all just bring a couple we can avoid the collection of plastic bags that we will accumulate over the weekend.

Let’s not forget about one very important thing NOT to bring – bottled water.  Please refrain from bringing cases of water along, especially when there is tap water readily available.  See the above about reusable water bottles for more explanation.  But really, it hurts my green heart when I am near it.

These are just the basics, but these are the things I observe most times I am on the road with the crew.  And I will admit, I am not perfect and sometimes I forget as well.  But if we can just observe these few suggestions, we can really cut down on the waste and still have a great time!

Eco Home Consultations provides green living consultation services in the Seattle area, focusing on practical ways to integrate green living into your household.  Learn more at www.ecohomeconsults.com or email questions about this blog or other green living issues to Melissa@ecohomeconsults.com.