It is quite common to rent a car when traveling on vacation. Especially, when visiting their relatives, people worry about inconveniencing them by making them drive them anywhere.

Instead, people should consider walking, carpooling, or using public transportation to make the earth greener. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, cars and trucks emit more than 300 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year in the United States.

Many cities, especially throughout Europe and designed for walking almost anywhere. Transportation, alone is responsible for about one-third of our nation's total production of carbon dioxide. So, the least we can do is walk from place to place on vacation and enjoy the sights around us.

When visiting relatives, carpooling is always a great option. Carpooling consists of two or more people sharing a ride to their destination. Relatives usually visit the same places anyways. So, if many people are coming in for one family function, maybe only two or three people could get cars out of a huge group. This would drastically reduce the effect on the environment.


Carpooling is always an option, thanks to Commuter Solutions, who match up people for carpools in cities all across the United States.

Hot travel spots such as San Fransisco utilize public transportation as much as possible, like the cable car, the subway in New York City, or the ferry in Catalina Island.
So next time you travel anywhere, whether in your own city or across the world, look at the city’s website to see what the most eco-friendly transportation options are.

The Not So Green View From Cantelleto Dining Room

After going on Princess Cruises for a week through the Mexican Riviera, I had hoped to interview people and find out more facts about how wasteful or efficient cruises really are.

They may be concerned with fuel and sewage discarding methods, but as a guest, they still have a long way to go when it comes to food and drink wasted and they know it.

At a formal, sit-down dinner every night, I got to choose from as many appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts as I wanted. After you are done with each course, the server dumps your plate of leftovers (if you have any) into a bucket. I was observing this "waste" bucket and saw how quickly it filled up by the second course. I thought this was outrageous, showing that either the food was not that good or that people were already full with another three courses to go!

I wanted to capture photos of this bucket that was continually filled and discarded, but the first time I tried, the servers told me I was not allowed to. I asked why and they said it was just a rule.

Then, I tried to speak with the other servers and people higher on the cruise ship in the food department and they would not speak with me about the wasted food. I was not considered any form of press and they just wanted me to enjoy my stay as a guest and not worry. I guess I did sound a little hypocritical questioning the amount of food wasted when I in fact paid to go on one of these vacations.

Throughout the week I not only snuck more pictures like these, but began to notice other little ways that they wasted food and drinks to better accomodate us.

Every night at dinner I had iced tea and my server began to expect that I would drink about five glasses per night so she would have them lined up by the time I got there, so that she could do her job more efficiently.

On this particular night pictured below, I did not want any iced tea so all of these glasses lined up went wasted and were thrown out.


Also, instead of having two bread baskets on the table for our table of six, they had four. Considering the five courses we selected nearly every night, much of this bread was thrown out as well.

Of course I knew that there is a huge amount of food wasted on cruises before I went on one. However, I did not know that the crew was so resistant to speak about it, as if this has been discussed amongst all of them and they have come up withthe same response "Enjoy your trip".

Now the real question is, do they know that the rest of the "green" world is catching on?

Fuel Efficieny Has Become Completely Green

Since I am about to go on a cruise, I would like to bring up a number of topics that will turn into an article over the course of this week. There are alot of aspects of cruises that are trying to become more environmentally friendly. However, there is one thing that comes to mind when thinking about a cruise and it is food, food, and food.

As far as food goes, we have all seen those people that go back for thirds, fourths, and fifths on cruises. Since food is included, people tend to take an entire order of something and then throw it away. It did not take me until the CatScan to realize how wasteful this is.

According to the Telegraph, cruises are the least eco friendly method of tourism. The combination of food wasted, carbon emissions, and sewage discarding methods make it incredibly bad for the environment. Unfortuinately for the earth, people love these vacations!

The Heritage Foundation recorded that the government spent $693,000 a year on the cruise industry.

Everyone thinks they have an idea about what that money is spent on, but they do not really have detailed facts, nor do they have their real questions answered, which is where I come in this week.

How many pounds of food are wasted, how many people can the wasted food feed, and how much is actually eaten. What about how many pounds do people gain on average when they go on a cruise?

After this week, I expect to educate all of you with a realistic sense of what is actually occurring. Stay tuned for my article.

No Cheese Please

I have learned from traveling in Europe that your chances of being able to substitute or request something specific at restaurants, is slim to none. I have a hard time asking for dressing on the side, so I can only imagine the difficulty of trying to eat organically.

When it is not possible to eat organically at restaurants, a doable substitute is to only order vegetarian or vegan dishes.

Pattrice Jones, Coordinator of the Global Hunger Alliance says that becoming vegan is the biggest change you can make to reduce consumption. “Every time you eat an animal, you eat all of the grain and soy that was fed to them and all the water they had”. Jones says that livestock’s operations contribute even more to global warming than transportation.

HappyCow’s Vegetarian Guide lists vegetarian and vegan restaurants all over the world. They are listed by continents. You can pick the city you are interested in and look at all of the vegetarian restaurants, comments, and prices.

I am often the tourist hoping that people speak English, but when it comes to food, you should try to learn some terms that will help you get what you want. Happy Cow lists how to say Vegetarian or Vegan in every language. It also tells you what the terms mean in different countries. “Organic” or “vegetarian” are subjective in different countries.

Travel Notes: (from HappyCow website for France)
vegan (feminine) végan, végétalien(ne)
I am vegetarian (feminine) Je suis végétarien(ne)
To the French people, "végétarien" does not necessarily exclude fish or chicken, so be clear about what you want or don't want.

People also usually fear gaining weight from all of the heavy food and eating whatever we want. Being a Vegan not only helps out the environment, but our waist. Vegans offer a variety of health benefits since you eliminate foods with cholesterol.

The Food Pyramid for a Vegan looks different and people wishing to adapt to this lifestyle should look at the Vegan version in order to eat healthily.

Here Fishy Fishy

It is well known that women and men alike everywhere enjoy spa services. We all eagerly dip our feet, hands and hair in any chemicals we are told, despite the toxic ones that are in most products.

One alternative that is catching on and is about as natural as you can get is called “doctor fish”. Doctor fish are toothless fish, originally from Turkey that eat dead skin and flesh off of feet.

This treatment is supposed to be free of pain. People who have gotten this treatment done say that they feel an itching sensation.

They use Garra Rufa fish. These fish evolved in hot springs where there were few animals, so they ended up eating flesh and skin. When there are no human body parts for them too feed on, it is normal for them to begin to eat each other.

The Kangal Spa in Turkey has used the fish doctor treatment for 100 years.
According to the life and health guardian website, this treatment not only heals people with typical skin, but is known for treating people with Psoriasis. They have about 3,000 visitors every year to receive treatment for their psoriasis.

After researching the fish doctor spas and listening to people comment on their experiences, I would actually consider trying this method. Though, it would definitely be the most unorthidox pedicure I have ever received.

So whether you are traveling across the world or the state, there may be a spa close to you that offers the doctor fish treatment so you can heal your feet, naturally.