If you’ve been taking your home green, you know how ideas can feed off each other. Someone gets picky about paper recycling; someone else becomes the food waste arbiter; pretty soon everyone has their eco-role and the household’s carbon footprint is shrinking.

Hotel Triton Lobby (Photo: Markham Johnson)

Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants realized early on that green grows like that.  The hospitality chain, with roots in San Francisco, has a history of putting eco-friendly ideas in place. Even before green hotel or green restaurant designations were developed, Kimpton was experimenting with eco-friendly practices at its San Francisco properties, such as the Hotel Triton, where motion sensors turn off lights and 60 percent of the waste gets recycled.

Non-toxic products, green cleaners, low VOC paints, low-flow faucets – all these turned up in Kimpton Hotels while other hotels were still on the highway of high-consumption. In addition, Kimpton has restored several historic buildings, supporting pedestrian-friendly urban areas. Stay at a Kimpton and you may find yourself ensconced on an eco-friendly mattress, drinking organic coffee and munching on a Clif bar.

Still, as the Kimpton chain grew greener, it had to figure out how to roll out the plan to all of its properties, including those outside of the Bay Area where environmental practices were not as well understood.

By 2005, the luxury hotel group had decided to standardize its green practices, requiring all Kimptons to adhere to an “Earth Care” program. But it didn’t want to impose a rigid top-down program. The solution: Kimpton named “eco-champions” at each of its hotels and encouraged them to form green teams and let ideas bubble up.

“You’ve got to get people on the front lines, who are doing the work, whose job you’re changing, a voice…and they’re right there, they see where the waste is,” said Niki Leondakis , chief operation officer for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants.

The Kimpton leadership, which currently oversees 48 hotels in cities from New England to California, learned the importance of buy-in earlier. In 2003, when Kimpton decided guests could opt out of having their sheets and towels washed every day, management was surprised that many housekeepers were reluctant to make the change. “The housekeepers couldn’t grasp the idea that they were doing a good job by not changing the towels. They needed training that if the towels were on towel bar, the guest wanted to save water and soap…and it was OK,” Leondakis said.

Today, the staff is more likely to get it, though the hospitality group still treads carefully in determining what clients will tolerate – and remain satisfied customers. That has left several green issues still on the table, such as whether a hotel can reduce plastic water bottles when guests on-the-go seem to expect that perk, or whether guests will accept room amenities in bulk dispensers (foregoing that little souvenir of the trip).

“We were initially, like, ‘We’re going to get rid of bottled water entirely.’ And we’d offer filtered tap water in reusable containers both in the restaurants, and our vision was to create a reusable container almost like a flask that people paid a nominal fee for and then they’d refill it at a water cooler. But the consumer does not seem to be ready for that,” Leondakis said.

Look for the green teams and “eco-champions” to find a solution. So far, the local crews are forging viable new ways on various fronts.

In DC, Chef Robert Weland at the Post Modern Barasserie in D.C. was the driving force behind an herb garden. He not only uses it in his dishes, but gives tours.

In Portland, at the Hotel Monaco, someone decided the facility could get along without those paper-wasting phone books. Now all Kimptons get by without guest room phone books.

Hotel Monaco Chicago (Photo: David Phelps)

In Chicago, the cities’ three Kimpton Hotels, the Monaco, Burnham and Allegro became leaders in the Green Seal green cleaner certification program, prompted by a mayor’s green initiative. Now the three are among just 50 Green Seal certified hotels nationwide.

The 20-year-old program requires the use of green cleaners, energy efficiency and recycling. (For details, see this listing.)

Using green cleaners prevents water pollution, provides for healthier interior air and curbs carbon emissions. The typical silver-ranked Green Seal hotel saves 400 tons of CO2 emissions every year, said Charlotte Teyraud, a spokeswoman for the non-profit Green Seal.

The Chicago hotels also  advocated for a commercial recycling program, that was eventually put into place with the help of city hall, says Nabil Moubayed, manager of the 192-room Hotel Monaco Chicago along the city’s Magnificent Mile:

Now in the “5^th phase” of instituting the Kimpton “Earth Care” program, Moubayed says the Hotel Monaco has found that going green is working on many levels:

• About 60-70 percent of the hotel’s customers use the opt-out linen/towel program, saving money and water.

• The Green Seal-approved cleaners, which the hotel buys in bulk, concentrated form, are saving the hotel about $25,000 a year. The non-toxic cleaners are healthier for staff and guests and biodegradable. (As for that outdated worry about green cleaners not working – Moubayad says surveys burst that myth. “When we look at guest comments. We have the highest score in the company for clean bathrooms and guest rooms.”)

• The hotel recycles about half of its trash, which also saves money because sending out the garbage costs more in trash fees than sending out recyclables, even in this down-market for recyclable material.

Hotel Monaco room overlooking Chicago River

Green ways are catching on among staff, he says. When Monaco’s valet crew discovered that the dry cleaners they were using was discarding hangers after one use, they were aghast. They went to work to find a solution. Now the hangers are reused.

Guests, too, are contracting the green bug. While they remain a diverse group that’s not easily gauged, Moubayed says surveys show that the majority of people stay at Kimpton because of the hotels’ greener rep.

“We’ve seen a pretty high percentage of guests choosing use because we have a strong Green Care program.” he  said. “We don’t want them to feel like everything we doing is in their face. The (guest room) recycling bin for instance is bronze not bright blue. And the low flow shower heads, we don’t’ necessarily want them to notice that, but it  is helping the environment.”

Moubayad had no special sustainability training before coming to the Hotel Monaco, but he has built on what he has learned through Kimpton.

“I found I had a passion for it,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do., not just from the consumer point of view, but as a human, for the future generations. It’s the right thing to do.”

(Another key way that hotels across the US are greening their profile is by building, retrofitting or tailoring operations to meet standards set by the US Green Building Council. For more on these green hotels, see our recent story: A green wave coming, hundreds of hotels finalizing their LEED certification.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

In response to its members’ interest in green hotels, AAA said it will now designate AAA approved lodgings that have been eco-certified through leading government or private programs.

A bright green “ECO” symbol will identify eco-friendly lodgings in the new 2010 editions of the AAA TourBook guides and on AAA.com. Additionally, travelers will be able to customize their hotel searches on the AAA web site to show green properties first in search results.

“The new ECO symbol serves as a notice to AAA members that a property has taken steps to become an environmental advocate,” Michael Petrone, director of AAA Tourism Information Development, said in a statement. “We are pleased to publish this information as a service to members who make sustainability a factor in their lodging selection.”

AAA said it will not be involved in the evaluation of any property’s environmental practices, but will provide the information from recognized organizations as a service to members. Additional information and a list of recognized certification programs are accessible at AAA.com/eco.

North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA has more than 51 million members.

The Bluebell Garden at the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC. (Photo: Proximity Hotel)

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

It’s a rare hotel these days that doesn’t offer to not wash your sheets, in the interest of conserving water. A handful of hotels go further, touting their bamboo flooring, low-flow faucets and other flourishes.

But get ready traveler, you ain’t seen nothing yet. There’s an avalanche of green hospitality heading your way as some 700 hotels queue up to complete their LEED certifications with the US Green Building Council over the next year or so, and after their environmental inductions, you can bet they’ll be serving up more than just local greens. In the competitive travel industry, they’ll be angling for eco-kudos, showcasing everything from their fly ash foundations to their roof-top herb gardens.

For the savvy and weary business traveler, as well as the mom-and-pop tourist, this could be a fun new era. You’ll be treated to organic yogurt, natural mattresses and air quality systems. But it also holds perils for both guests and hotel operators.

Guests wanting to go green could quickly be confused by a cacophony of appeals. Travelocity and Orbitz now rate hotels on their eco offerings. AAA is going to stamp entries in its 2010 book with a green symbol denoting the supposed environmentally elite.

Green Seal, which certifies hotels that use non-toxic cleaners, will continue to push its version of green. Energy Star credentials green hotels, just as it does other commercial buildings. And finally, you’ll be seeing plaques about the US Green Building Council’s LEED program, the respected and most all-encompassing designation for hotel properties. There are four levels — certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum — that can be applied to  newly built or retrofitted hotels.

And as in the army, the stripes and colors mean something. A “certified” LEED hotel may not be doing much more than making sensible changes to reduce energy consumption, whereas a gold-rated operation could be a real striver in the green space.

Now add one more layer. The USGBC offers another rating, for operations. It’s called the Existing Building (EB) certification, and only five hotel properties currently carry that distinction, compared with the 700-plus that already have or are about to receive LEED certification for their structure. Getting EB qualified is about daily green actions, like sending out your potato peelings to be composted and using soaps that don’t kill fish when they’re flushed out into the world. Considering that hotel operations consume a lot of resources and generate considerable waste (far more than residences or offices), this lesser known operations certification,  seems like more than a detail. If the green trend holds, expect to see hotels signing up for this designation as well.

A Platinum Night’s Sleep

As this new green stew simmers, hotel operators find themselves in the unusual position of having to adjust their approach to guests. While they want to promise great comforts, new green standards mean it won’t be coddling as usual. Guests will be asked, either directly or through the power of suggestion, to act responsibly by putting recyclables in the nice new bins in their room, or drinking the perfectly fine filtered water from their faucet instead of indulging in the bottled variety.

Yes, it will be a new day at the Days Inn, or anywhere else changes are being made. At the same time, hotels will want to keep guests comfortable, because, well, that’s their job.

To see the shape of things to come, we took a look at the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C., the only platinum-rated hotel in the United States.

Dennis Quaintance, Chief Design Officer of Proximity Hotel and President of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels, with the 100 solar panels atop the hotel. (Photo: Proximity Hotel)

Stroll into the Proximity, and you’ll be drenched in sunlight, but invisibly enveloped by several state-of-the-art energy innovations that combine to make the hotel use 40 percent less electricity than a comparable building. Solar rooftop panels heat the hotel’s water, geothermal energy is used for the kitchen refrigerators, large windows reduce the need for indoor lights and  offer views of the outdoors while also admitting fresh air. A special “energy recovery” system uses exhausted cool air to assist the AC. Even the elevators run on a new energy-conserving program that recaptures energy generated.

The hotel used recycled materials in the foundation, drywall and steel staircase. Guest room shelving was made with a 100 percent recycled, formaldehyde-free  particle board (SkyBlend). Water use was reduced with high-efficiency Kohler plumbing that saved 2 million gallons of water in the first year. A nearby stream was restored with the use of native plantings and erosion control techniques. Some of the furniture is so local, it was made on site, and the art, by artist-in-residence Chip Holton, came from across the street.

When the hotel was built in 2007, it sent relatively little construction waste to the landfill – 87 percent of the waste was recycled.

All of this earned the Proximity LEED points, and for co-owners Dennis Quaintance, Nancy King Quaintance and Mike Weaver, it became a challenge to leap the highest bar. They wanted to win a platinum rating, not just because they could, but because they believe in preserving the world for future generations. For husband-and-wife Quaintances, it meant considering the legacy they’d leave to their children, and beyond. Would their descendants look back and know they’d done their best for the environment?

Sustainability and nature appreciation walk hand in hand. But surprisingly, there are still just a few U.S. vacation venues lodged lightly in nature’s embrace. If you want to “go green” you can camp out all over North America, but you can’t necessarily find a hotel that hugs the woods (or the beach) and boasts full green credentials and white linen service.

Here are a handful of green getaways that nestle nature, but don’t necessarily involve nesting with nature. We set the bar fairly low, requiring that these hotels have mattresses, hot food, indoor showers, and a LEED rating of some sort. We begin with Callaway Gardens, a great place to enjoy a respite from urban hustle amid botanical delights.

Callaway Gardens, Georgia

Indulgence often brings with it just a twinge of guilt. Riding in the back of a limousine, you can’t help but to think about the tailpipe emissions.

The Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens, a well-groomed paradise about 80 miles southwest of Atlanta, is a place where you can indulge guilt free. The 150-room lodge is one of fewer than two dozen hotels across the country to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the US Green Building Council.

The resort operations are green, too. The Lodge and Spa uses refillable dispensers of all natural bath products in each room, saving nearly 200,000 plastic containers a year. Your piña colada is served in a glass made of corn.

Energy-efficient construction here is pretty easy on the eye, too. The look is upscale rustic, with heavy beams in the soaring lobby and heavy use of earth tones in the décor. The guest rooms feature down comforters with duvets, pillow top mattresses and 32-inch flat screen televisions.

Every room has a balcony. The best balcony belongs to room 8450 – a private perch overlooking the pool (but far enough away to not be noisy) and the treetops of the forest that surrounds the lodge.

While the lodge rooms are nice, Callaway Gardens isn’t a place where you stay indoors. This is a place here Mother Nature is dressed to kill, especially in the spring when thousands and thousands of azaleas – more than 700 varieties – erupt in color. The John A. Sibley Horticultural Center is indoor/outdoor garden with plants from around the world with something always in bloom.

And there is always bright colors to be found at the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, a big glass house filled with 1,000 or so tropical butterflies, or, as Robert Frost wrote: flowers that fly.

A 10-mile bike path courses through the lavish landscape and there are miles and miles of walking trails. There are two golf courses, lakes for fishing and Robin Lake with a wide, white sand beach for swimming.

At the end of the day, you may be too exhausted to feel guilty about anything at all.

Somewhere in between the sleep-away camps, beach excursions and baseball games of summer, kids and parents alike generally see the appeal of the sand-free floors and refrigerated air of a good museum. Institutions across the country know this is a great time to squeeze some education into kid-friendly, entertaining exhibitions; here’s a list of some of the best nature-oriented attractions for vacationers who’ve felt a bit too much heat this month.

Aquariums are wonderful places to spend a summer day: if the weather is cool you can stay outdoors, if it’s hot there are indoor exhibits. Menacing sharks, beautifully-colored fish, gliding sea turtles, manta rays, sea snakes, sea horses, penguins and birds and river otters and performing orcas and porpoises all represent what is most beautiful and exciting about the waters of Planet Earth.

But they also represent a world that is disappearing quicker than we thought possible, and this is where aquariums hold a key to the future of water creatures.

Aquariums have realized that they must conduct research and they must also show us what is alive, what is dying and what we can do to balance it all. And so they tie their exhibits and their activities back to conservation, and tell us how we can help.

The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston has two fun shows that deliver the green/blue message: their ongoing Sea Turtle Rescue Program and the new Penguin Planet exhibit.

The endangered sea turtles migrate annually to, and give birth along, beaches from Virginia to the Florida Keys, so there are many turtles of varying ages that run into trouble: bacterial and fungal infections, the shock from cold water, wounds from boat strikes and shark bites. The South Carolina Aquarium Turtle Hospital receives turtles that are found and its animal care staff administers whatever medical care they can to eventually get the turtles back into the ocean. But the really cool part of this program is that Aquarium visitors are able to go into the hospital; they can adopt injured turtles and can keep track of some of the rescued turtles with satellite tags.

Planet Penguin’s Magellanic penguins are typically found along coastal Southern Argentina and Chile. They are classified as “near threatened” and the South Carolina Aquarium exhibit helps visitors understand what threatens these two-foot tall birds and what can be done to ensure they don’t become full-fledged members of “threatened” species. Visitors will be able to tie in the penguins’ plight to ongoing interactive learning games and educational exhibits on climate changes in South Carolina. (Check out their penguins from anywhere on the aquarium’s live penguin cam.)

California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium has two unusual offerings: a live Laysan Albatross exhibit  and for children 8 – 13, an Underwater Explorers event.

The Laysan albatross lives on tiny Midway Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They fly hundreds of miles, sometimes even a thousand miles in search of food. All too often the shiny thing floating on the ocean surface not a squid or other sea food but instead a cigarette lighter or a bottle cap or other small bit of plastic. The albatross swoops down, swallows it and when her stomach is full she returns to Midway and regurgitates the food into her young; including the plastics. Scientists estimate that as many as 40% of Laysan chicks die from ingesting plastics. This may sound impossible but autopsies prove it. Even healthy Laysan chicks have at least one ounce of plastic in their stomach.

So what’s the green message of Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Laysan albatross exhibit? Properly disposing of plastics, but more importantly finding substitutes for plastic containers, helps wildlife. The live albatross exhibit shows their vulnerability.

The Underwater Explorers swim along the water’s surface and study the sea life below them. By wearing flotation suits and breathing from air (SCUBA) tanks participants are able to float and have a fish-eye view of Monterrey Bay’s Great Tidal Pool below. As the tides ebb and flow the water creatures come and go, so each trip is different and there is always something going on below the surface. Certified dive staff oversee the program.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore lives by a creed of conservation: “Everything we do ties back to a conservation message, telling people what they can do to help protect the environment.” And so this summer they’re exhibiting Jellies Invasion: Oceans Out of Balance. Visitors will learn about the role they’re playing in a changing ocean, where global warming is shifting territorial ranges and creating an over population of jellyfish that can be deadly to other species, especially fish needed for food.

You’ll see nine different species of these pre-historic creatures and learn how the jellies’ existence and increasing population are important environmental indicators.

(Photo credit: Penguin, South Carolina Aquarium; Laysan Albatross, Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By John DeFore
Green Right Now

The old-fashioned American road trip — packing the kids up and driving from one motor lodge to the next — may seem less than 100% wholesome these days, what with eco-conscious drivers becoming as sensitive to the amount of CO2 they’re generating as they are to cries of “are we there yet?” from the back seat.

But getting out into the natural world remains one of the best ways to introduce children — and city-dwelling adults, for that matter — to the environment we all want to preserve. And a well planned road trip can provide vacationers with an array of views and experiences that’s stunning enough to make a phrase like “ecosystem diversity” suddenly sound like a tangible good worth fighting for instead of a dry academic concern.

With its wealth of park lands, varied terrain, and caravan-friendly roads, Colorado presents excellent opportunities for this kind of eco-exposure road trip. I loaded up the car recently to see how much I could squeeze into a week or so of vacation time, and was surprised at the result.

Starting in Colorado Springs, my trip began with sights that have been part of summer-vacation itineraries for so many decades that simply showing up might make the most unconventional family feel like the Cleavers. Cave of the Winds, for instance, one of the state’s many natural caverns open to visitors, seemingly encourages its guides to toss around corny banter almost as crusty as the stalagmites on display.

But one seemingly hokey affectation can have a transporting effect: In addition to regular tours, the cave’s operators offer a lantern tour that uses no lighting other than the kind of oil-burning lamps available to the spelunkers who explored the caves in the late 1800s. Paradoxically, limiting visitors’ ability to see makes the tour more involving, attaching a sense of discovery to geological formations that might be taken for granted on the standard tour.

Other well-exploited points of interest in Colorado Springs include Seven Falls and Pike’s Peak, a mountain that isn’t as high as other summits you’ll scale on a thorough Colorado trip (it’s not even in the top 20), but is the site of a scenic cog railway.

The town’s most impressive asset is the Garden of the Gods, a collection of above-ground rock formations whose starkness is reminiscent of iconic landscapes, like Utah’s Monument Valley, generally found farther west. Its craggy red rocks are particularly stunning in the morning sunlight, and the park’s relatively small size makes it perfect for a pre-breakfast hike. (It’s clearly a favorite jogging spot for locals.)

From Colorado Springs I drove north, through the granola-friendly community of Boulder, to Estes Park, a verdant little spot that, with its creekside inns and unpretentious businesses, makes the perfect spot to gather your strength for an expedition into the Rocky Mountain National Park.

The rock star of Colorado’s natural attractions, the RMNP is big and rich enough that whole books tackle it without covering everything one might see and do within. Outdoor enthusiasts could spend weeks here without getting bored, but those wanting to integrate the park into a larger trip can get a sense of it on a scenic drive like the one along Trail Ridge Road, which winds its way up through forest to a treeless tundra offering breathtaking views in all directions. The cold winds whipping around up here (it’s usually 20 to 30 degrees cooler here than in Estes Park) are just the thing to cool you off after a hike through one of the many trails found lower down the mountain range.

Rocky Mountain National Park is an excellent place to pause and consider global climate change. The park’s tundra ecosystem, high on the continental divide, faces imminent and multiple threats from warming temperatures, according to a 2007 report, Climate Change in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Want to spend the summer restoring a wildlife habitat on the Dolores River? There is a camp for that. Or would you prefer learning first-hand how to cultivate a thriving organic farm? There is a camp for that, too.

With more than 5,000 overnight camps and more than 1,400 teen tours across the nation, there is a camp to suit the interests of almost every child. But we’re not talking basic glue noodles to paper, play tether ball and call-it-a-day sort of camps. We’re talking traveling the world, adapting to foreign cultures, nurturing wildlife and embracing conservation.

And the best part is these summer options are incorporating green practices and green teachings into every aspect of their programs.

“Most parents want to make sure their child comes back from camp with community service or academic credit, ” explains ChoiceCamps.com co-founder Peter Ross. ChoiceCamps.com is a new website that provides expert advice, online recommendations and testimonials from parents and campers on more than 300 of the best summer camps and teen travel programs.

“Often that credit takes the form of some environmental program. That could be anything from studying species migration to building a dam to help supply water to a village.”

“There really is a green theme throughout a lot of these camps,” Ross says. “And parents are certainly happy when their child is doing something like studying the ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands. That’s a life experience.”

Most camps on ChoiceCamps accept applications on a first come first serve basis, and nearly every camp listed on the site still has space available. Be sure to ask about any deals the camps may be running or any sibling or friend discounts they might be offering.

Choosing the Right Camp

With so many options, you want to be sure you’re signing up for the camp that best suits your family.

The most important thing is that you are matching the child to the camp. Certain programs are meant for certain kids, Ross says, so you’ll want to consider these three major points:

1. What does your child really want to get out of their summer break?

2. How long do you want your child to be at camp? Camp stays can range anywhere between five days to more than 30 days, but two week long programs are most popular.

3. Where is the camp located?

It’s also important to decide whether you’re looking into the more traditional overnight camps (usually for younger children) or a more travel-oriented our for teens. Teen tours generally include a community service component, a travel component or a language component – and often it’s all three. Some adventures accept kids at young as 13, but the majority caters to 16- to 18-year-olds. The groups are often smaller (10 to 40 campers) and the staff to camper ratio often higher.

Because teen-oriented trips feature more traveling than traditional camps, they tend to focus on interacting with the environment and methods of preservation (like “leave no trace” camping), says Ross. Overnight camps, on the other hand, can focus on stressing the importance of green practices like organic farming.

Here are a few of Green Right Now’s favorite Overnight Camps and Teen Tours:

It can be a challenge to update an historic building, let alone transform it into a model of green modernity. Rattling pipes crowd walls that need new duct work; old fixtures adhere stubbornly to aging walls and facades retain character, but heating and cooling – not so much.

Still, the historic Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland has recently undergone two green upgrades, and is determined to become a model of sustainability, while sacrificing none of its landmark historic elegance.

The 81-year-old Heathman, like most vintage urban hotels, has been through many nips and tucks over the decades. It got its first green redo about three years ago with the renovation of the guest bedrooms and living areas and the addition of a new heating and cooling system. The project, which won financial incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon, and included switching to CFL light bulbs, proved enlightening: The changes trimmed energy usage by 20 to 30 percent at the 150-room hotel.

“My return on investment, we realized that in less than two years; a year and half for the HVAC investment,” said hotel general manager Chris Erickson. “It was a wise idea and now as we move into the future, it’s all straight to the bottom line.”

Green redo Number Two, is currently underway as the Heathman overhauls its guest bathrooms, all 155 of them, which will save thousands of gallons of water every day. New low-flow shower heads and water-wise commodes (which use 1.5 gallons per flush instead of 3 gallons) are expected to cut bathroom water use in half, without guests even noticing.

Having witnessed during his career how most hotel renovations send tons of refuse to the dump, Erickson decided to turn this latest bathroom project into a study of converting to a more sustainable operation, sustainably.

He contracted with Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects to design the new look of the bathrooms, and also with the non-profit ReBuilding Center of Portland, to whisk away the outgoing material.

The Center sent “deconstruction” experts to assess how everything coming out of the bathrooms could be reclaimed, thus giving the used sinks, fixtures and doors a second life through the center’s resale program, and also reducing the impact on the landfill.

The program they came up with has produced a nearly waste-free, or 99 percent landfill-free, remodel that diverted an estimated 15 tons of debris. Only the mirrors that were accidentally broken while being removed had to be discarded.

Spa guests, already conscious about the health of their bodies, are starting to choose pampering experiences that keep the well-being of the environment in mind as well.

They still want to be indulged, say spa operators, but some are opting for experiences and products that soothe and improve, without nature-damaging ingredients.

Rona Berg, editor in chief of Organic Beauty magazine, says spa guests now look at what is in the products, where it comes from, who produces it and whether it is sustainable. Some even want to know if the company they’re supporting is giving back to the community.

“Consumer demand for healthier, eco-friendly and organic products isn’t showing any signs of stopping,” Berg says. “We’re undergoing a cultural paradigm shift and organic beauty is definitely one aspect of it.”

Americans have spent $7 billion on natural and organic personal care products over the past year, according to the Organic Consumers’ Association, and mainstream beauty brands are, in some cases, removing chemicals like parabens and sulfates, making quality products that skip the toxins.

What does going green really mean? We talked with a few spa operators to find out.

Surprise that special someone or yourself with a green getaway this Valentine’s Day.
While planning your weekend getaway, don’t forget there are a wide variety of green vacations that are available.

The Avalon Hotel and Spa features packages for sweethearts or singles this Valentine’s Day. The Avalon Hotel was built in Portland and holds a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Silver Certification. The hotel is located on the Willamette River, an area which is a protected green space. The site has over 8,000 square feet of protected natural habitat that helps to sustain the butterfly population of the region.

The hotel has done away with incandescent light bulbs and instead features wide windows that provide natural daylight as well as fluorescent light bulbs. The rooms are cleaned every night with GreenGuard certified cleaning products to help maintain indoor air quality. As a final touch, the hotel has installed water saving aerators and shower heads to reduce water waste.

The Avalon Hotel and Spa is offering special rewards for those looking for a quick vacation this Valentine’s Day, see the website for more information. If you are not going to be in the Portland area try these other hotels that are LEED certified:

• Orchard Garden Hotel in San Fransico, CA
• Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC
• Hotel Terra Teton Village, WY

Copyright C 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The multi-edged issues facing the travel industry as it moves toward becoming more green are not hard to envision. First, there’s that sticky matter of getting there – by jet? by car?

There’s a certain built-in, un-green aspect at the core of tourism.

But that said, there are many ways travelers can be less consumptive and more supportive of eco-friendly practices. They can stay at conservation-minded hotels; places that don’t wash your sheets automatically every day; that serve local food and arrange low-impact tours for guests.

Online travel company Travelocity has taken its first steps toward helping consumers find and patronize greener destinations by launching an eco-friendly directory. The Green Directory aims to help travelers sort the green from the “green washed,” and so far features more than 200 hotels and resorts many of which already claim to be carbon neutral, according to the company.

Destinations in the directory include hotels around the world, in Mumbai, Osaka, Calgary, Ottawa, Edinburgh, Geneva, New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando, Montego Bay, Acalpulco and St. Johns. Brand name hotels on the list include Doubletree, Disney, Fairmont, Hyatt, Kimpton and Sheraton.

Not surprisingly, California lodgings are well represented with more than 25 listed hotels spread from San Diego to San Francisco. Orlando turns out to be a green hot spot, also with more than 25 hospitality locales in The Green Directory, including several Disney properties.

It turns out that hotels in U.S. states that have strict green certification programs were ahead of the game because they’d already taken many steps to qualify for their state programs, said Natasha Carvell, director of Travelocity’s Travel For Good program.

In addition to using existing state programs, Travelocity relied on reports from its field managers to develop the list of eco-hotels.

“We’ve asked them, because they’ve been to these hotels, to try to figure out which hotels are walking the talk. They’ve helped us sort out a long list,” Carvell said.