Happy holidays from the SustainableTrip.org team! Here are some quick tips for sustainable holiday travel:

• Trains, buses, and other forms of public transportation are the most energy-efficient way to travel.
• If you're traveling by plane, try to take a direct flight--in addition to being more convenient, it uses a lot less fuel.
• Carbon offset programs are an easy way to help mitigate the impact of your trip.
• If you just can't get around driving, make the effort to travel during off-peak times and take your car for regular maintenance before your road trip. Changing oil, properly inflating tires, and driving the speed limit can make a huge difference in fuel efficiency.

See you in 2014!

This entry was posted on December 20, 2013 at 1:30 PM and has received 2454 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

From Selva Verde Lodge's beginnings in the 1980s, it was a pioneer in supporting the local community, especially women. Deep in the lowland tropical rainforests of Sarapiquí, founders Giovanna Holbrook and Berth Carter hired members of remote local communities to work at their budding ecotourism lodge. They established a rule that staff members must retrieve their own paychecks, so that husbands could not collect their wives' earnings, helping women to gain domestic empowerment and independence.

For a long time, attending school was just a dream for Sarapiquí's poorest children because their families could not afford the cost of textbooks. Consequently, in 1993, Selva Verde Lodge partnered with JADE (Joventud Activa Desarrollo Educativo, or "Active Youth for Educational Development") to open a public library to give local children free access to the textbooks they needed. From these noble beginnings, the library evolved over the years into the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center (SCLC), a robust community center that is now the local headquarters for the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor. Today, this impressive place is a community center, conservation organization, and ecotourism operation all in one.

Travelers to the Sarapiquí region come for the multitude of nature activities available in this lush jungle setting, such as rafting on the Sarapiquí River and visiting nearby hot springs, waterfalls, and volcanoes. Twenty minutes away from SCLC is another amazing ecotourism attraction: La Selva Biological Station, one of the world's most important sites for tropical biology research. La Selva Biological Station offers accommodations in its Rainforest Alliance Verified™ ecolodge and nature tours with bilingual naturalist guides. Back at SCLC, travelers can take advantage of the center's rich cultural ties and participate in Costa Rican cooking classes, Latin dancing classes, and visits to local schools and farms.

The Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center remains the only public library in the region. It is currently implementing programs such as a children's theater camp, preschool story time, open lab computer assistance, movie days, adult literacy programs, women's empowerment workshops, and celebrations for national and international holidays, such as World Water Day.

If you're looking for a great gift for an environmentally-conscious loved one (or if you're in the generous holiday spirit yourself), think about making a donation to SCLC's library! You'd be hard pressed to find a better cause than giving the gift of books, learning, and literacy. Learn how to make a donation on SCLC's donation page.

This entry was posted on December 18, 2013 at 12:35 PM and has received 1584 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

If you're looking for a more authentic lodging experience on your way to Machu Picchu but aren't quite the camping type, staying in a local Andean village could be the perfect solution! Turismo Huilloc, a community-run tourism operation, offers comfortable homestays in a traditional community that is home to the porters of the Inca Trail and their families. With support from the TRIP Foundation, villagers participating in the homestay association upgraded their houses to include energy efficient light bulbs, low capacity electrical water heaters, and other environmentally friendly design features.

One popular activity among tourists is the "chaski" ceremony, an ancient Incan ritual of passing information between mountain villages. Travelers can stay the night or just visit for the day and experience the traditional food and customs of the Huilloc.

For more information, photos, and a diagram of a typical house, visit Turismo Huilloc's SustainableTrip profile.

This entry was posted on December 13, 2013 at 1:37 PM and has received 1013 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Sustainable tourism, often equated with ecotourism, is known for providing environmental benefits such as preserving ecosystems and recycling wastes. However, truly sustainable tourism businesses, in addition to protecting the environment, make a commitment to supporting the socially and economically vulnerable people in their local community.

ORO Travel, a Rainforest Alliance Verified™ tour operator and member of the Tour Operators Promoting Sustainability (TOPS) program, announced a partnership this month with the Carita Feliz Center, a Nicaraguan nonprofit organization that provides food, academic support, employment opportunities, and health services to low-income families in the city of Granada. Booking with sustainable tour operators like ORO Travel is a great way for travelers to give back to the communities they visit and know their money is going to responsible initiatives.

More than ten years ago, Carita Feliz founder Peder Kolind saw children begging for food in a local park and bought food for them from street vendors. As word spread and the number of children increased each day, Kolind recruited a local woman to help him cook rice and beans. Shortly thereafter, the Carita Feliz Center was born ("carita feliz" means "happy little face" in Spanish), and it has since expanded to become a robust nonprofit organization. The Center currently employs more than 30 local Nicaraguans and supports more than 1,500 children and teens by offering free meals, classes, recreational activities, dental services, and more. As many children in the city cannot afford the public school fee ($2 per month) or the required school uniform, Carita Feliz has given hundreds of scholarships since 2004 so that these children aren't excluded from an education for financial reasons.

The Center serves eight meals a day, including "big dinners" four nights a week that are accompanied by performances by the children. Tourists are welcome to attend the performances and help serve meals to the children and their families.

Though it focuses on the younger generation, Carita Feliz also supports local adults in several capacities. Two days a week, they serve free lunches for senior citizens. The Center has sewing machines which local people can use to produce school uniforms and other goods to sell. The Center also sells the food made in their cooking and baking classes and gives the proceeds to the students.

For more information on trips and activities offered by ORO Travel, visit their SustainableTrip profile.

To see more photos of the event announcing the partnership between ORO Travel and Carita Feliz, view their Facebook album.

This entry was posted on December 10, 2013 at 1:33 PM and has received 2350 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

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From the early seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, the Spanish established a great number of Catholic missions throughout what is now northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. These settlements were built to spread the Christian faith among indigenous communities and also served as a vanguard for the expansion of Spanish settlements and mining operations. Some of these sites and colonial structures still remain and are wonderful places to visit, especially in places where they are still essential to local cultural and religious activities.

The San Ignacio mission, located in the town of San Ignacio in Baja California Sur, Mexico, is one of these alluring cultural remnants. It was founded by the Jesuit missionary Juan Bautista de Luyando in 1728, and about 60 years later the Jesuits built an impressive church that is known as one of the most beautiful of all Baja's mission churches for its elaborate facade, engraved stone plaques, and plaster ornamentation. This church is largely in its original condition thanks to a 1976 restoration and is used to this day by the local community for masses, weddings, funerals, and daily worship.

Ecoturismo Kuyimá, a sustainable tour operator managed by a community council consisting 95% of local people, offers tours to San Ignacio and its church.

(Source, source)

This entry was posted on December 6, 2013 at 11:35 AM and has received 1231 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

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Our Making a Difference winner this month is Yacutinga Lodge, a very special sustainable lodge in Argentina located in the middle of the jungle and very close to one of South America's most famous attractions -- Iguazu Falls. The hotel is part of a small group of lodging providers in the department of Misiones that recently achieved Rainforest Alliance verification for sustainable tourism. As the first business in Argentina to earn Rainforest Alliance verification, it is a pioneer in the field of sustainability nationwide.

Yacutinga Lodge's director Carlos Sandoval tells us more about why tourists love this hotel, its history, and its efforts to remain an ally of the environment.

Question: What makes Yacutinga Lodge's location so special?

Sandoval: Yacutinga Lodge is located in one of the last remnants of the Interior Atlantic Forest ecoregion, which used to be the second largest forest in Latin America up until the early 20th century. Today, the forest that's left remains an area of very high biodiversity, rich in endemic species, with nearly 500 species of birds and more than 700 species of butterflies. Our guests can explore the curiosities of this subtropical forest accompanied by professional ecologists and native Guarani guides in Yacutinga's private nature reserve.

In addition, we are close to the legendary Iguazu Falls, a main attraction for visitors to southern South America.

Q: Why did you decide to build a sustainable lodge instead of a traditional one?

Sandoval: Yacutinga Lodge was created to be the economic backbone of a larger environmental project in the region. It was made for lovers of nature and for the intelligent traveler who wants to interact responsibly with the environment.

Q: What are the importance and benefits of becoming Rainforest Alliance Verified^TM ?

Sandoval: Achieving Rainforest Alliance verification is a reflection of our commitment to continuous improvement. We are delighted to receive this distinction after working so hard since the lodge was opened years ago to support sustainability. We hope that the Rainforest Alliance verified seal will now help us attract responsible tourists and build a sustainable identity.

Q: What were the main challenges you had to overcome to build and now run a business that is friendly to the environment and the communities?

Sandoval: Throughout the history of this project, there was one undeniable challenge: building with local labor in a quasi-pristine environment of tangled, wet jungle, far from modern civilization. It took us two years of intensive but highly constructive and creative work. Everyone involved participated enthusiastically, sharing technical or empirical knowledge and showing great coordination to optimize costs and efforts in a difficult working environment that had no drinking water, electricity, or roads. We consider ourselves late 20th century pioneers.

After inaugurating Yacutinga, the second great challenge began: constantly improving the delivery of services to ensure guest satisfaction and to keep local staff trained. This chapter is still alive, and it is a never ending process.

Q: How has Yacutinga's private wildlife refuge helped protect the valuable ecosystem in which it's located?

Sandoval: The refuge, which we administer, has been essential in protecting the region's natural resources. This reserve is a stronghold for the conservation of the Paraná Forest. Many scientific studies funded by Yacutinga Lodge have been carried out that have high academic value and have provided important data for improving our management of the area. We've used this information to make the hotel a self-sustaining economic and conservation system.

More than 320 species of birds and 572 species of butterflies have been documented in the reserve, and we even discovered 70 species that were new to Argentina and one subspecies new to science! We have planted over 20,000 native trees in the reserve as part of the project for forestry enrichment that we have been developing for six years. We also have volunteer and environmental education programs that we consider the soul of the Yacutinga project.

Q: Do you do anything to benefit the Guarani indigenous people?

Sandoval: The neighboring Kagui Pora community is a Guarani settlement of about 45 families who have many immediate and structural needs. We are constantly supporting them, not with a "charitable" approach but rather by training them to adapt to the dynamic of today's world without losing their roots. Little by little, and with great respect, we invite them to be involved in our ecotourism activities and our DO project, which aims to recycle non-polluting wastes generated by the lodge and transform them into art.

Q: How can tourists get involved with your sustainability efforts?

Sandoval: We invite guests to actively participate during their stay and provide ideas and contacts to help them do so. We do not ask for help or donations; we encourage them to have a respectful and responsible attitude toward our ecosystem and the local communities.

Q: What are Yacutinga's plans for keeping current and making improvements in the realm of sustainability?

Sandoval: We believe that keeping current requires constant improvement and maintaining the love for what you do. Regarding project sustainability, we aim to get the authorities more actively engaged with our work, since the threats are coming from outside of our gates. We need a stronger stance from those who govern us, one that is characterized by a long-term vision for solving together the negative impacts generated by the exploitative culture that has traditionally prevailed in the area.

This entry was posted on December 3, 2013 at 4:49 PM and has received 1009 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.