Being Green This Holiday Weekend,,,

Hopefully I caught you before you left for the long weekend - Here is an informative article courtesy of USA Weekend. Have a green weekend~

It's easy traveling green
These smart, surprising tips make for eco-friendly trips.
By Natalie Ermann Russell

It somehow seems more important to treat the world well when you take the time to travel it. The greenest thing you can do is vacation close to home -- but for many Americans, that wouldn't count as vacation. Thankfully, there are smaller ways you can travel green.
Road tripping? Watch your speed. A lead foot not only decreases gas mileage, but it also adds extra CO2 to the air.
Go to Portland, Ore. Good for the environment: It was ranked the No. 1 sustainable U.S. city by SustainLane, a green media company. And it's in the right neighborhood: Four of the top five cities are on the West Coast (second through fifth place: San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and Oakland). "There's a real understanding of the fragility of our ecosystems on the West Coast, perhaps because of the proximity of nature, maybe because we haven't been here as long," says SustainLane's Frank Marquardt. Good for you: "Portland has several green hotels, a variety of places to get local food," Marquardt says. "You can get around easily with the bus system, enjoy the park space, drink the water, breathe the air -- it's all part of the experience."
Stay at a green hotel. Good for the environment: "The average hotel goes through more products in a week than 100 families do in a year," says Jen Boulden, who is the co-founder of eco-lifestyle website IdealBite.com. Many eco-conscious hotels put soap and shampoo in shower-mounted dispensers (eliminating plastic bottle waste) and will change your linens less frequently at your request, saving about 5% on utilities, according to the Green Hotels Association (GHA). Good for you: Soap and shampoo dispensers mean no more fumbling with slippery little bottles. Check out greenhotels.com for a member list of the GHA.
Eco-conscious, service-oriented vacations let you have fun while you help the Earth.

Go green when you rent a car. Good for the environment: Whether you're driving the whole way or renting a car after a flight, rent a hybrid, says Wendy Gordon, general manager of National Geographic's "The Green Guide." Your trip will create less pollution. If you're not familiar with how a hybrid car works, many rental places will help you before you set out. Avis and Budget, for example, provide you with a list of do's and don'ts, plus a how-to for starting the engine. Good for you: Fewer stops to fill up translate into money saved. Plus, you'll learn to drive a hybrid -- the way of the future.

Take a vacation with a higher purpose. Good for the environment: Through organizations such as the World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, you can pitch in at an organic farm almost anywhere in the world. Or, at Wilderness Volunteers. you can learn about working on wilderness projects with environmental agencies like the National Park Service. Good for you: These vacations are relatively inexpensive (the Wilderness Volunteers trips are only $239 for a week, including meals), and the groups often are small. Many even take you places you couldn't go on your own.

Buy carbon offsets for your travel. Good for the environment: Carbon offsetting operates with a simple premise: You give money to organizations such as Carbonfund.org and TerraPass.com, and they invest that money in "clean energy" projects (like helping dairy farms turn cow waste into power). The idea behind it is that these clean-energy projects "cancel out" the bad-for-the-environment carbon emissions that were released by the 747 you hopped aboard to go on your Caribbean vacation. Good for you: Peace of mind for under 10 bucks. You can "offset" up to about 6,000 miles on an airplane at TerraPass.com for just $9.95 (mileage and prices go up from there). And any money you give Carbonfund.org is a tax write-off.

Shut down the house before you head out. Good for the environment: Even when turned off, appliances use up energy (including TVs and cable boxes). "Unplug as many things as you can before you leave," says Thomas Kostigen, co-author of "The Green Book." "Set timers for your lights, if you even need them on. If every home in the United States would use a timer for 12 hours per day instead of letting their lights burn 24/7 while on vacation, we'd save $187 million in energy costs."

Good for you: Why pay for electricity used when no one is home?