In my everyday life I work hard to care for my little corner of the earth. I’m not perfect, but I try to make a difference. Whether it’s recycling, eating organic foods or supporting companies that share my views, I continue to plug along-taking baby steps towards making the world a better place.

Being green on vacation takes effort

I just landed from an incredible family vacation. Incredible in the sense that we just spent 10 days hanging out, eating well, watching the sun set and doing a whole lotta nothing-together.  What I noticed on this vacation is how easy it was to place most of my efforts to make the world a better place on hold.

Being green on vacation seems to be counter-intuitive. Vacation is for relaxing and letting go of all effort. So why does it take so much more of an effort to be green and make eco-friendly choices?

I think it comes down to being outside of our normal routine. Also, I’m relaxed and just plain lazy on vacation. Isn’t that a sign that the vacation is doing its job?

Now that I’m home I thought I would take a moment to reflect on my eco-errors and make a list of all the things I could have done to make this vacation, and all vacations, greener. I’m bringing this list with me next vacation!

How to have a green vacation

Bring reusable bags

There’s always enough room in the suitcase for a few reusable bags. We did a lot of grocery shopping this trip and it would have been nice to have my arsenal of reusable bags on hand.

Pack reusable water bottles

We all know that you can’t bring liquids through security. The solution is to pack a few empty reusable water bottles for the family. When you arrive at your destination fill them up and use them for the duration of the trip. Say goodbye to those plastic water bottles that are calling your name in every airport.

Conserve those towels and sheets

Many hotels have sheet and towel cards asking guests to consider not having sheets and towels changed every day. I don’t change my towels and sheets every day at home so why would I need that service on vacation? What a simple way to conserve water and energy.

Recycle

Our room didn’t have any recycling options. It would have been simple to designate one of the garbage cans as a recycling bin to use throughout our stay. There were recycling bins on the grounds which could have been used to dump the recyclables from our room.

Bottom line: Vacation is a lot of fun, but we all have to work a little harder to keep it green.

Are you as green on vacation?

Photo courtesy of my groovy husband, Joel.

I’m at the tail end of my wonderful staycation and already looking forward to the next. Maybe next time I’ll take a vacation to a far off exotic (or maybe not so exotic) place.  As a self-proclaimed “greenie” it has been at times challenging to find ways to make my travel eco friendly. Over the years I have gathered travel tips that have helped reduce my carbon footprint while on the road.

Here are my  10 Green Family Travel Tips which I shared with my friends over at Practically Green.

When you’re finished reading the post be sure to take a look around Practically Green’s site. Take the  Practically Green quiz to see how green you really are and discover what your next green steps could be. Let me know what you find.

What are your tips for greener travel?

[Photo used under Creative Commons from Abdallah/Flickr]

Staycation

As of today I will be taking a short staycation: a vacation where I won’t be blogging and I’ll be sticking pretty close to home (low carbon emissions during this vacation!) for a few days. During my staycation  I’ll be spending time with my three lovely boys before the back-to-school frenzy hits hard next week. We have a few things to accomplish while we’re staycationing:

We will be getting much needed haircuts.

We will be trading in our highwaters (they came in handy this week during flooding from Hurricane Irene) for pants that actually fit.

We will be brushing our hair for possibly the first time all summer. I’m anticipating this task will take a minimum of one to two days to complete. Our hair looks something like the one on the right (our lips look nothing like either pair of lips).

Before signing off  I wanted to share two interesting and important articles that were recently published. Take a look when you have a chance.

1. Mail Online reported : Scented laundry products (dryer sheets etc…) could be releasing cancer-causing chemicals when clothes are tumble-dried.
2. The New York Times reported: The anti-bacterial chemical, triclosan, raises safety issues. Triclosan is commonly found in anti-bacterial soaps, kitchen cutting boards and even a best-selling toothpaste, Colgate Total.

Although I won’t be posting much for a few days, there will still be a few not-to-be- missed things happening at Groovy Green Livin :

• Don’t forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for a Kids Konserve reusable lunch sack with great coupons inside for free products. Entries will be accepted until midnight, August 30, 2011 and 5 winners will be selected.  I will announce the winners on September 1, 2011.
• JOIN ME FOR A TWITTER PARTY: Want to learn some tips and tricks for non-toxic living on a nickel? Join me on Thursday, September 1 at 6pm PST/9pm EST  for a Twitter Party with Healthy Child Healthy World.  I will be a panelist along with Paige Wolfe “Author of Spit That Out”, blogging at spitthatoutthebook.com , Rene of Budget Saving Mom, Emi The Cloth Diaper Report and Easy Peasy Japanesey. We will be discussing how creating a cleaner, greener, safer home does NOT need to cost an arm and a leg (really!).

We will return to our regular scheduled programming after Labor Day. Have a wonderful few days!

[Photos used under Creative Commons from Jeff Turner, D.Sharon Pruitt and Saffy/Flickr]