Image: travelersjoy.com

Are you getting married anytime soon? I’m not, but I’ve been a part of many weddings in the past few years, and from what I’ve seen, the wedding registry is one of the most stressful parts of the planning process. Sure, it’s super fun to walk around the store with that scanner gun thing and point it at everything you want, but surely you have to rein it in at some point, right?

Wedding registries have got to be even more stressful if you’re a Greenist. If you want to purchase things for your home responsibly, there’s a lot to consider. Besides, if you’re engaged, you’ve got a lot of exciting things to think about, and one of them is your honeymoon. Wouldn’t it be great if you could kill two birds with one stone — the registry and your honeymoon planning — in a green way?   Read more…

Please welcome today’s guest poster, Ashley.

The appeal of snow sports is getting out in the open and enjoying nature. Think about it: The snow is a natural resource (unless it’s the synthetic stuff) and the mountains that many ski lodges and resorts are nestled into definitely aren’t manmade. You are enjoying nature; that’s why going green shouldn’t be too big of an issue for skiers. Everything from snowboard pants to the board, skies, and even the lodge you stay at can go green. Here are a few examples how.  Read more…

I live near the University of Tennessee, and like many college campuses, UT is one that’s very car-centric. Sure, lots of younger students live on campus in the dorms, but many others live a short drive away from school and don’t take advantage of our city’s public transit. It doesn’t help that Knoxville is nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and attempting to bike those hills (and in the Southern heat and humidity, no less) often does not make for a fun outcome.

But like any great college campus, UT is doing its part to change the culture and integrate more green practices into everyday campus life. Currently the university is testing out a first-of-its-kind electric bike sharing program that I think has real potential to catch on. The program is somewhat similar to bike-rental programs in large cities, but instead of just renting a bike, a student uses their college ID to check out an electrically charged battery from an automated system that plugs into the bike. The bike works like a regular bike requiring the rider to pedal, but the electric charge kicks in to power a small motor when pedaling gets more difficult, say when you’re riding one of the massive hills on campus.

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Image from Boston Biker

Last week I was walking out of South Station on my way to the temp assignment I’ve been working at for the last few months. Three young men were standing on bikes handing out leaflets for Hubway. I didn’t have time to chat with the young men so I grabbed the flyer and walked away. Read more…

recycling bank in Dingle, Ireland

I think at this point in our personal journeys to become greener, we all know to be conscious of our actions while we travel. We know to consider forgoing fresh sheets and towels every day at our hotels; we look for public transit whenever possible and we consider carbon offsets when we can’t help a large traveling footprint. Something we may not consider, though, is traveling can also be a source of green inspiration. We’ve all grown accustomed to the green practices of our own town or city, but what can we learn from the places we visit that might do things differently and better?

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Please welcome today’s guest poster, Jacklyn.

When you drive somewhere, you have to park somewhere — and that’s not always green. Currently, up to 30% of city congestion is attributed to people circling the block in search of parking. Even more alarming, one study found that over the course of just one year in a small Los Angeles business district, cars cruising for parking created the equivalent of 38 trips around the world, burning 47,000 gallons of gasoline and producing 730 tons of carbon dioxide.  Read more…

Imagine you’re sitting at your computer in your cheap/swanky NYC apartment one rainy Sunday. You decide you want to get away from the noise and skyscrapers. Pondering where you want to go you google “hostels nh” and find this link. You look at all four. The one in Rumney is the cheapest so you click on the link for D Acres. Their blurb about organic farming and homesteading has you hooked. You book a long weekend in beautiful Dorchester, New Hampshire.

Not having a car in NYC isn’t a big deal. There’s lots of public transportation to get you to and from work and you walk to your local grocer to buy groceries and take a cab to see your grandma. You don’t think much about the lack of car while booking your trip to New Hampshire after all, you can take the train. Right?

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Please welcome back today’s guest poster, Maria Rainier.

At first glance, there’s nothing green about being swallowed up by a commercial jet that, between New York and Denver, generates between 840 and 1,660 pounds of carbon dioxide per passenger. According to USA Today, that’s almost what an SUV generates in a month in the hands of an average driver.  Especially after 9/11, airlines feel they have bigger fish to fry than saving the planet.

Still, under pressure from eco-organizations and, more importantly, current and potential customers, many airlines are experimenting in greener pastures. Virgin has come up with a $3 billion energy efficiency investment to dabble in biodiesel and ethanol, although the project is still very young.  In 2008, Boeing flew the world’s first hydrogen-powered, fuel cell airplane—even if it was only a one-seater, but this will likely change in time. Read more…

Please welcome today’s guest poster, Maria Rainier.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/16684459/

While it is true that no one can do everything and everybody can do something for our planet, some Greenists are going farther than others. The very base from which they work is green, something that cannot be said for most of us who live in apartments or houses of our own.

What Is a Yurt?

The yurt is to the solar-paneled home as a bicycle is to a Prius—they’re all steps in the right direction, but the former is several steps ahead. Pronounced “ger” in Mongolian, a yurt is a portable, traditionally felt-covered, wood-latticed framed home of nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Some might equate it to a modern-day tent, but this is far from the truth. A yurt is decided more homelike, with thicker walls for insulation and protection from the elements, and holds a greater symbolic meaning (in Turkish, “yurt” also means homeland). Read more…

Goat meat from a vendor at the Gateway Market and veggies from our CSA. Pickle I made from my garden last year

Wolf and I celebrate our anniversary and get away to the ocean each year in York, Maine. Since we’ve been vacationing there as a couple for 8 years (I’ve been vacationing there with my family for 38 years) we are well acquainted with many of the local wares available to the the traveler. Local food availability is one of the things we’re taking the time to learn about.

The CSA we purchase from allows shareholders to double up on their order if the shareholder is unavailable for whatever reason. This is what we chose to do. It required a small amount of pre-planning by calling the organizer of the CSA and letting her know we’d be away and wanted to double up. This allowed us to create a meal plan based on what we already had on hand. The cottage we rent has a kitchen which allows us to save on food costs because we didn’t have to eat out every meal like we would if we stayed in motels or hotels. Read more…