It seems like these days everyone and everything seems to be making the effort to become a friend of the environment and hotels are no exception. Hotels of every kind are taking steps to join the green movement and Singapore has some of the best eco-friendly hotels in the world. When booking your Singapore holiday packages be sure to have your travel agent include these options and do your part for the environment.

Siloso Beach Resort

Located on the island of Sentosa, the Siloso Beach Resort has done a lot to maintain its natural surroundings. This eco hotel lives by three main guidelines which are to preserve the natural terrain, only allow 28% of the area to be covered so that the other 78% could be open air, and to preserve the trees in the area and on-site. Not only has the resort managed to work around 200 of the original trees that were on the property before any construction started, but another 450 trees have been planted in an attempt to balance out any damage done to the land. Siloso Beach Resort also takes care of its non-human guests. Fourteen ponds have been made in various parts of the resort in order to attract and make all the frogs, dragonflies, and fish comfortable.

Great efforts were and still are being taken to maintain as low a consumption of energy as possible. When the resort was being designed, lots of research was done so that each and every area could be naturally ventilated and lighted. Many of the solutions that have been implemented make the resort much more attractive. For example, only one side of all the corridors are lined with rooms. This allows guests to enjoy a more free and spacious atmosphere that most hotels are not designed to offer. As a result of all this effort, the Siloso Beach Resort has received several awards.

Most of the rooms face the beach and include facilities such as cable television, access to the Internet, a mini fridge, and a hairdryer. Other amenities around the resort include laundry and dry cleaning, a landscape swimming pool, a gym, function rooms, and an eco-friendly cafe.

Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort

Located on Singapore’s Siloso Beach, the Rasa Sentosa Resort is a five star establishment that also happens to be the only beachfront hotel in all of Singapore. Although the resort is just 15 minutes away from downtown Singapore, guests feel as though they are in a completely different world. This is due to the efforts made to protect the natural surroundings. There are gorgeous waterfalls, and stunning flora and fauna. In fact, the Rasa Sentosa Resort has taken such important steps to be eco-friendly that it was awarded the ASEAN Green Hotel Award.

The resort has incredible activities such as rock climbing, beach volleyball, flying acrobatic equipment, a large swimming pool with water slides, and several water sports options to choose from. The Rasa Spa is a true sanctuary where guests are indulged to new heights. All treatments are performed by trained professionals and the spa menu includes fusion massages, synergy facials, a lavender and rose loofah which is followed by a winery wrap, and a calming mind ritual. There is no doubt that the Rasa Sentosa Resort has been able to harmonize being extreme luxurious as well as eco-friendly.

photo by williamcho

Actual Green Stuff

Arbor Day Tree Growing Kits

A little tree growing kit that any eco friendly person is sure to enjoy. This is one of those great gifts for when you don’t know what to buy.

Organic Tomato Garden

This is the gift that keeps on going. Give the gift of tomatoes! This is a cool gift idea that lets you grow your own tomatoes. These come in a variety of plants and vegetables.

Eco-Friendly Clothing

Aventura Women’s Schaffer Hoodie

A super comfy hoodie that is made of organic cotton. You can’t beat a comfy hoodie thats also eco friendly.

100% Organic Cotton Make Love Not Landfill T Shirt Black

Promote eco awareness with this cool t-shirt. The t-shirt looks like a retro band tee and reads, Make love, not Landfills.

Havassy PIPE Eco Friendly Limited Edition Beach Sandals

These are some super cool looking flip flops that are also eco-friendly. These limited edition eco friendly flip flops also come in a variety of other prints.

Reusable Shopping Bags

Reusable Grocery Tote Bag 6 Pack Combo

A set of reusable bags for grocery shopping or anything else that involves a bag! These are great to keep in car or garage for a plethora of unexpected uses.

Bungalow360 Isabella Sea Turtles Vegan Canvas Pocket Bag

A nice recycled purse/bag for the ladies. Promote eco awareness with this stylish eco friendly purse.

Green Bay Packers Reusable Grocery Shopping Bags

Who says reusable bags have to be boring? Here are some bags commemorating the Packers’ Super Bowl win (and yes, there are other sports teams available, too). Another cool set of reusable bags for the store, car, garage, or house. The uses are endless.

Green Games & Recreation

Eco Squad Board Game

This game, by the people who make Wiggles, is for ages 8+ and can help teach kids about thinking environmentally in a way that’s playful.

New Bicycle Eco Green Deck Playing Cards Recyclable

A deck of Bicycle playing cards made out of recycled paper. Now the world most famous playing cards just got even better by recycling old paper to create a quality product.

Fair Trade Basketball: Eco-friendly

This is basketball made up recycled rubber. A great gift for any basketball loving child or adult. For the price, this gift idea can’t be beat.

Gaiam Eco Yoga Mat

A cool yoga mat with a peace sign over an image of the planet – what better way to achieve inner peace while doing yoga?

Idbid Waverly Eco-Friendly Starter Kit in Blue

Use this toy and book to teach your children about protecting the environment. A high quality toy that can help you raise a green family.

Staying Green on the Go

Green Earth Technologies 5 Pack Car Care Kit

This kit includes environmentally safe products that you can use to clean your car inside and out. Now you don’t have to worry about washing your car outside.

Eco-nique iPod Video Case

This is a sleek iPod case made with eco-friendly materials. These eco friendly cases come in shapes in sizes to fit all the different versions of iPods and many other MP3 players.

Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottles

A high quality water bottle that will last you for years to come. These steel water bottles are both tough and eco friendly. They can dramatically reduce your impact on the environment.

Koolkup – Insulated Coffee or Cold Drink Neoprene Wrap

Carry around your own cozy and stop wasting paper and cardboard ones. These are great for parties or those who just love booze a little too much. They are also cheap enough to buy plenty of extra for events like parties and tailgating.

Green Books

The Green Book

A great book to teach you all about living green. This book includes tons of great information on how to live a more green life and reduce your impact on the environment.

Natural Alternatives for You and Your Home: 101 Recipes to Make Eco-Friendly Products

A neat little book that includes tons of great recipes for making your own eco friendly stuff. Find out how you can get your family to start living green.

Eco-Friendly Families

A nice book that can teach you and your family how to live a green life. Another great book to get your family living more eco friendly. You might be surprised how much this book can teach you.

Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life

If you liked the show, you will love this book. This book is filled with advice from Ed from the TV show, Living with Ed.

Go Green! Eco Friendly Recycled Leather Lined Diary / Journal

A professional looking journal that is made out of recycled leather. This is a nice practical gift that anyone could enjoy.

Making an Eco-Friendly Home

Eco Friendly Polar Fleece Blanket

A nice sized fleece blanket that’s super soft and warm. This is anothe rgift that anyone is sure to enjoy. These make for great TV blankets or for those quick mail runs outside in the cold.

Eco Nap Earth Friendly Pet Bed

Now you pet can go green too with this eco-friendly pet bed. This pet bed is made up almost entirely of eco friendly products.

Eco-Friendly Bamboo Picture Frame

A small eco-friendly bamboo picture frame for your desk or nightstand.

But have you considered volunteering during your vacation? Especially when you plan a round the world trip and want to spend more time in one place or another, you also have time to give a little back to the world.

It can he hard to decide whether to volunteer or not , especially if you haven’t done this before, but the rewards are worth it. Make sure to deal with the charity directly to avoid the extra hassle and huge fees which agencies charge.

Volunteering – while at home or when traveling – has been criticized by many. I felt that “look” myself back in the years when I was volunteering for a reading project in the cities’ parks in a certain European country. But despite all, volunteering can make an impact, even if you don’t have time for long term commitment. Even if you saved the life of one animal or managed to teach foreign children several phrases in English, you have helped.

But before you want to want to try this, do your research. And remember that local organization won’t always have money to advertise their activities internationally, so it’s hardly like to find them online. Make sure to talk to others who have volunteered while traveling and get information from them.

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As is often the case with assumptions, there’s a bit of truth to this one – and quite a bit of falsehood.

There are so many ways to be an eco-tourist that it’s crazy to think that every single method of ecotravel would be extremely expensive. For instance, simply by taking light rail or walking when you’re visiting a new place instead of renting a car or taking taxis is an eco-friendly travel decision. It may be a small example, but all it takes is a series of small eco-conscious examples to make a difference.

While buying carbon offsets or booking an all-inclusive eco-resort trip might be beyond the reach of a shoestring traveler, these aren’t the only ways to travel green. Rather than avoiding international flights because they require so much fuel, try to take direct flights instead of flying indirect routes. Most fuel is expended during take-off and landing, so direct flights use less fuel. As another author on WhyGo EcoTourism once noted, planes are mass transit, and that plane is going to be making the journey with or without you. Doing what you can to minimize your impact on the world in as many other ways as possible makes the few flights most of us take per year a small thing in comparison.

As for those high-end eco-resorts, they are no doubt worth every penny people pay for them – but if you’re traveling on a budget, that doesn’t mean you have to be unkind to the environment, either. By choosing places where your money goes further, you can afford to stay in more eco-conscious places – such as the eco-friendly hotels in Bali, which can sometimes be had for a fraction of what you’d pay in some other places. Not only that, you can choose alternate accommodation options that are generally more eco-friendly even if that’s not what they call themselves. Joining forces with friends and renting an apartment or bunking with other travelers in a hostel encourages pooling resources, which saves both money and (often) the environment along the way.

photo by glittaz

Along with finding the cheapest tickets to South America for your next vacation, it is also important to do some research and understand what you should in order to travel responsibly.

When you plan your vacation, make sure to look for eco-friendly accommodation. If you choose one of the South American national parks , look for low-impact accommodation. In Chile, for example, the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile is home to some dome-like structures, a design inspired by the huts of the nomadic Kawesqar people who used to traverse the land. The electricity used is generated from the sun and wind. You can also find eco-friendly accommodation in many other national parks. They are usually without air conditioning and the water is heated with solar energy.

When you travel, support the local economy. Choose the local tour companies and don’t forget to shop in the markets. It’s cheaper, ecological and you help the locals.

Avoid flying and choose to travel by bus. In the cities or whenever possible, rent a bike instead of using the public transport. Trekking and climbing are also excellent ways to protect the environment (as long as you know how to protect the nature). Camping can save money and protect the environment.

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Among the easiest to implement tips for eco-friendly travel are tips that can also make for a better travel experience. If you have the time, take the train rather than flying. You’ll put out fewer carbon emissions and see more the place you’re visiting. Eating and drinking what’s local means your food travelers less distance to read you (putting out less pollution in transit), you get a more authentic experience, and you support the local economy. Taking public transport and biking around a city can also help you reduce pollution while getting more out of the experience.

But what about times when it seems so hard to go green?  For example, if you’re planning an eco-friendly Hawaiian vacation, you may be concerned about the long flight and how much you’ll need to use your rental car. Well, there’s not much you can do about the length of the flight and the emissions it puts out, but you can buy carbon offsets and limit yourself to just the flight there, rather than flying to island hop. You can also limit the use of your car by staying in a hotel with some shops and restaurants within walking distance. And when you do want to go out and explore, look into a tour or offer to carpool with other guests at your hotel or hostel.

Every little bit adds up  – from buying eco-friendly backpacks to refilling your water bottle rather than buying more plastic – and thanks to the abundance of eco-friendly hotels and green travel products, traveling green is easier than ever.

Photo by sreenisreedharan

Of course, there are plenty of ways that traveling leaves a pretty big footprint on the environment – and most of us who love to travel also aren’t willing to give it up completely. Traveling and seeing the world can increase one’s awareness of environmental issues and commitment to making environmental choices, so travel can be a positive for the planet as well. Thankfully, there are ways to lessen our environmental impact when we travel.

It’s easy to learn how to travel greener, especially when so many of the tips can be easily incorporated into your travel lifestyle. In fact, many of the tips are things many travelers do anyway because they enhance the travel experience. Traveling more slowly, for instance, or packing lighter, buying local products, and taking the train.

Some trips do require specialty gear, however, and buying new gear is a potential stumbling block if you’re trying to stay green. Eco-friendly travel gear is more common these days, however, so it’s getting easier to find bags made from recycled soda bottles or clothing made from stuff that’s sustainable. And of course, another great way to be environmental when you’re acquiring gear is to pick up someone else’s cast-offs – there are so many resources for getting refurbished gear or even gear that’s just in great shape without requiring refurbishing. The bonus is that this method also saves you money.

Being sensitive to the environment can be challenging if you still want to travel the world, but it doesn’t have to keep you from getting out there. With a beginner’s guide to green travel you can confidently travel the world and take care of it at the same time.

photo by Christian Haugen

Probably a bit too late we’ve figure out that our future is eco. We cannot continue to exist as a species unless we don’t do our best to keep our planet healthy. But, we still want to travel and discover new places and culture.

For the eco-conscious traveler, planning a vacation includes to struggle to not affect the environment too much (if at all). Want to travel to Bali for your honeymoon? Or maybe you’ve already made a list of the must-see temples in Bali ? Then, along with looking for cheap flights to Bali , how about looking for a rather different hotel this time?

Introducing the eco-hotels in Bali … the idea behind an eco-hotel is also to conserve and enhance the areas close to the accommodation. That’s, for example, the concept behind the Puri Lumbung Cottages, where the people of Munduk village are involved as much as possible in caring for the guests. Another plus of such eco-hotels is that most of them have their gardens and everything served is fresh and organic. Others offer the possibility to practice yoga.

Eco-hotels come in many forms and are part of our desire to travel responsibly, protecting the areas we visit. Eco-tourism also aims to educate the traveler and directly benefits the economic development of the area.

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Gift membership price: $44

What you get:
A Limited Edition Surfrider Foundation organic t-shirt
or
A tote bag with an exclusive art design.

And you also get:

• A one-year membership to the Surfrider Foundation, six issues of the award-winning Making Waves
• A membership sticker
• Chapter and volunteer contact information and discounts at a growing number of retailers and restaurants nationwide

And better still, the cost of these special gift memberships is 100% tax-deductible, so you get to feel good, get (or give) some cool stuff, and write the whole thing off on your taxes!

To purchase one of these gift packages or get more information go to the Official Surfrider membership page. Do it by December 15 in order to be sure the gift arrives in time for Christmas.

OK, so you might have already heard about this, but if you haven’t, sit up and take note, this really is the job of a lifetime.

Queensland Tourism is looking for an ambassador and caretaker for Hamilton Island, which is part of the stunning Whitsunday Islands. The role lasts for six months and pays a ridiculous amount of money – AUD$150,000 – for doing nothing, practically.

Billed as ‘The Best Job in the World’, candidates for this rare position will be required to, well, enjoy themselves. The job description entails working around 12 hours a month, having to write a blog entry once a week, go snorkelling, swimming and diving as much as is humanely possible and attend the odd Tourism Queensland bash. Oh, and speaking English would come in handy.

The job was advertised on January 13 in over 18 countries. It hit the headlines in England on the morning of the 13th and within an hour the job’s website had collapsed, unable to cope with the traffic. Up to 160,000 people clicked on the link, no doubt to check if it was the real deal rather than to apply, which caused the failure, but it’s now up and running again and taking submissions.

Check out the website and what you need to do to get appointed. Closing date for applications is February 22. Only 11 people will be shortlisted and flown to Australia for the last part of the interview process, which involves some fun stuff, by the sounds of it. Expect some fierce competition though; this is a job everybody wants!

Good luck.

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