Ford asked me to test drive the 2010 Fusion Hybrid and here are my thoughts.

Again, I love Ford. I like the feeling of being in a car made here. The fact that the new hybrids pollute less, tugs at my heartstrings. These are progressive treats that make things feel hopeful for our world. The hybrid starts on a battery and hums when turned on. I liked the safety features (backup projection with alarm, side view mirror signals to assist with the blind spot.) There is a flower icon on the dash that grows greener as your fuel efficiency improves (we took a 3 hour trip and averaged 37 mph.) The interior is “eco-responsible” and was one of my biggest interests since I love fabric and learning how things are made.  By researching production journeys, upstream and downstream, I can better evaluate the impact.  Online I found assorted information promoting methods explored by Ford:

•    Post consumer recycled material
•    ‘Suede’ fabrics made from pop bottles
•    Soy-foam seat cushions
•    Recycled resins from used detergent bottles
•    Recycled resins from used tires
•    Battery casings recycled into splash shields
•    Battery casings recycled into radiator deflectors
•    Nanotechnology
•    Plastic derived from corn, sugar beets, sugarcane, and switch grass

I don’t know what is true or not. I want to admire green attempts of any company, yet I don’t want to be naïve. In the perfect green world information would flow easily, from the source, for all to understand. I wish Ford would create a green section on their website just for me. I want to see data. I want to see pictures. I want read a FAQ section.   I have a dream for the perfect car and I hope that Ford can move quickly, daringly, and with the truest set of values in the forefront; the earth and how it supports life. As a stepping-stone into the future, this a good start.

So, I was hot for the hybrid. I drove about town and chatted up a storm about it. I was left with one question. When is the NEW FORD FULLY ELECTRIC CAR going to hit the production lines and be available?

Photo: Our road trip to Michigan.

With the economic climate not looking too sunny, it’s easy to spend hours online browsing idyllic holidays that will let you get away from it all.

But don’t think for a moment that lack of funds makes this daydreaming a waste of your (or your employer’s!) time. Oh no. With the deadline for nominations for the 2009 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards looming, now is the chance to put all that in-depth research into action

The Awards are organized by online travel agent, responsibletravel.com and they’d love your tip-offs of tour operators, hoteliers and destinations around the world that are doing their bit to help people and the planet.

Don’t worry, they don’t expect you to be responsible travel experts, just give them the name and a couple of lines to say why you think the hotel / lodge / tour operator / destination is eco-friendly and/or giving something back to the local community and the Responsible Tourism Awards judging panel will dig deeper (read more about the judging process).

Win a holiday of a lifetime

You can make as many nominations as you want and if it turns out you’ve nominated a winner (winners are announced in November), you could be in with a chance to win a holiday of a lifetime for you and a friend.

2008 Award winners Gamewatchers Safaris & Porini Camps are offering a memorable prize safari holiday in Kenya.

The prize includes 7 nights accommodation (1 night Tribe Hotel, 2 nights Amboseli Porini Camp, 2 nights Ol Pejeta Rhino Camp, 2 Nights Mara Porini Camp) and return economy flights from Heathrow to Nairobi.

Read more about this amazing holiday.

Nominations needed

The Responsible Tourism Awards team is particularly keen to get nominations in these categories:

• Best in a Marine Environment – An organisation related to a beach or other marine environment, such as turtle conservation or a marine eco-tourism trip
• Best for Conservation of Cultural Heritage – A tourism organisation or initiative working to protect and promote cultural heritage
• Best Large Hotel – A hotel, lodge or other accommodation of more than 50 rooms that is run with the environment and needs of local people in mind.
• Best Personal Contribution – A person who has made an outstanding contribution to responsible tourism.

But hurry – the deadline for nominations is next Monday 15 June! Make your nomination.

Award-winning holidays

To give you an idea of the kind of holiday that wins an Award and why, let’s have a look at some of last year’s winners…

Kingfisher Bay Resort, Fraser Island, Australia
This breathtaking resort won the Best Large Hotel Award in the 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards.

The judges commended the resort for its low environmental impact, educating its guests about conservation, and getting involved with the local, indigenous people helping them to share their culture and learn new skills for employment.

Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique
A stunning lodge on the shores of Lake Niassa, it’s the perfect getaway: beauty, tranquility, crystal clear fresh water, white beaches and a welcome feeling of remoteness – there are no cars and the only access is by boat. The lodge is very private with only 7 chalets all uniquely designed to blend in with the local environment.

The lodge won the Best Small Hotel Award in the 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards. Not only is it environmentally-friendly in design but those behind it also played a key role in the creation of the Umoji Association which represents 20,000 local people through their chiefs and elected representatives. As one of the first large community associations in Mozambique, it has helped six communities to secure their land rights certificates from the Government.

Ecoventura, Ecuador
Winner of the Best in a Marine Environment Award in 2008, Ecoventura will take you around the awe-inspiring Galapagos Islands while taking every precaution to protect this delicate environment.

Ecoventura won its Award for creating scholarships for education, and developing micro-business for local women, converting a fishing boat into a restaurant and boutique to offer alternative livelihoods for the wives of fishermen.

Ecoventura was also among the first cruise operators to be independently environmentally audited.

Shigar Fort – Palace Restoration Project, Pakistan
This beautiful fort won the Best for Conservation of Cultural Heritage Award in the 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards. It would make a unique and relaxing holiday haven for those who want to get off the beaten track.

The project was commended by the judges for the sensitive restoration of this historic building and its development as a hotel which has placed the property once again at the heart of the community.

It is now a cultural and economic asset which brings employment, microenterprise opportunities, and social and cultural empowerment to local men and women.

Inspired? Get nominating now – deadline Monday 15 June!

Want the latest on the Responsible Tourism Awards? Follow them on Twitter.

Katie
Ethical Weddings

I’d heard about the eco-friendly La Rosa Campsite in Yorkshire from one of our web design clients, ecoescape, but later came to learn that the folks who created the kitsch camping experience are now running a hotel by the sea.

La Rosa’s ethos is low impact and ‘make-do-and-mend’, furnishing the caravans in their campsite and the rooms in their hotel with antique and second hand furniture. Down to the tiniest detail they have carefully chosen pre-loved trinkets and decorations to create a wondrous world in which to escape.

In keeping with La Rosa’s green and gentle vibe, low odour paints and vintage wallpapers have been used throughout the building and lovingly restored items are brought back to life.

The tea room downstairs houses a display cabinet filled with mementos, books, figurines, puppets, dolls and photos inspired by the Whitby Museum. Above the cabinet hangs a huge flag declaring “Our true intent is all for your delight” and I believe them!

Each of the 8 hotel rooms (there is also an apartment called The Crow’s Nest) are given a different theme, including ‘Lewis’ (a nod and a wink to one of the hotel’s previous visitors, Lewis Caroll), ‘Saloon’, ‘Caravan’ and ‘Arabesque’. We stayed in the Arabesque room which was truly romantic and, as they describe, like being inside the genie’s bottle.

Hand made, natural toiletries are provided in the bathroom and for breakfast a picnic in a basket is delivered to your door. It’s these well though out touches, friendly and relaxed service and quirky surroundings that make La Rosa so special.

Next time you’re looking for some “Victorian Seaside Fun” book into the lovely La Rosa Hotel.

Check out their website at www.larosa.co.uk

And here it is! Hot off the press, Geographical magazine in a joint effort with responsibletravel.com has put together an insightful and thought-provoking special edition looking at the future of tourism.

As Justin Francis, managing director of responsibletravel.com says:

“I approached Geographical magazine earlier this year with the idea of producing dedicated editorial on the sustainable future of travel and tourism. I wanted to start a positive and forward thinking debate around the future of our industry. Geographical’s Publisher Graeme Gourlay and Editor Geordie Torr were inspired to dedicate their entire December 2008 issue to the topic.”

So how will we be travelling in 2020? Will we be travelling more locally, closer-to-home? Will increasing fuel prices have pushed us off the planes?

How about hotels? An eco architect expert talks about the latest innovations to create an environmentally-friendly hotel – even down to your hotel bill. “Didn’t use any heating madam? We’ll take that off your bill!”

responsibletravel.com wants to get your thoughts on where tourism is heading – do you even think it has a future? And if you do, how do you think it can be sustainable?

Read articles from this special ‘future of tourism’ edition and join in the debate about what you think the future of tourism will or should be.

Happy travelling!

Katie

Responsible Tourism Awards 2008

First up, we had a great time on World Responsible Tourism Day (12 Nov) celebrating the winners of our Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2008.

This is the 5th year of the Responsible Tourism Awards and they’ve been getting bigger and better each year – we received nearly 2000 nominations this year and around 500 people crammed into the Awards ceremony room at World Travel Market to see the winners announced.

And the Overall Winner was… drum roll please!… NEW ZEALAND!

New Zealand took away the honours for Overall Winner, as well as scooping Best Destination, as the judges felt the destination had proved to the world ‘that it is possible to develop a national strategy which uses tourism to help make better places to live and to visit.’ (Read more)

To discover all the winners in this year’s Awards, visit www.responsibletourismawards.com or browse through our wonderful magazine for the responsible traveller, r:travel which features all the winners and highly commendeds in depth.

You can even watch a short film on the Responsible Tourism Awards by BBC World News’ fast:track team.

IKnowaGreatPlace.com – new online travel community

My next nugget of news is a rather exclusive one. responsibletravel.com has started a brand new travel community that hasn’t yet launched to the general public but all Green Girls are very welcome!

They’re encouraging visitors to share their top tips and local travel secrets to make it easier for all of us to travel with respect for the local environment and culture while having a fab unique and authentic experience.

Register for the community and start to share your travel secrets, post your travel pics, create a travel diary or even look for a travel companion.

Not forgetting to add me as a friend (!) and check out my favourite place in the world!

And as for my final piece of RT news… well, I think that’s enough for now. You’ll have to come back next week for that one

Take care,

Katie

Also according to treehugger.com – Denmark is going to have the world largest fleet of electric hydrogen fuelcell cars..

I will keep you posted when the hydrogen station infrastructure gets going here

Win a holiday and a holiday wardrobe!

To win a luxury weekend break for 2 in Devon, plus £300 worth of vouchers for a Fair Trade holiday wardrobe to match, all you have to do is answer this question:

Both People Tree and responsibletravel.com projects support communities in Peru.

Which of these regions is NOT found in Peru:
a) Amazonas
b) Cusco
c) Himalayas

Enter the competition

Find out more about the holiday, the competition and terms & conditions

20% off at People Tree

And if that wasn’t enough, they’re also offering a 20% discount at People Tree when quoting this special code, RTJUL08, to redeem the offer. You can also place orders at www.peopletree.co.uk or over the phone on 0845 450 4595.

Be quick though as the offer ends 8th July 2008!

In order to promote cycling to ladies in the London borough of Lambeth and to show that cycling can be cool and chic, Lambeth council have decided to organise the bicycle belles competition. There are hundreds of women cycling through and around Lambeth every day and the numbers are increasing. As it is no longer the domain of the lycra clad middle class male, they are looking for images that portray the diversity of women and their bikes. So please send them your photographs of women cycling in and around the borough. More info on how to submit your entries here.

For those of you not living or working in Lambeth like myself there is no need to feel left out. I have discovered a fab website called cyclechic where you can upload photos of yourself cycling and looking glam on their facebook group. So what are you waiting for, the weather is great, get on yer bike and don’t forget to take your camera.

Kate

GreenFinder

The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards, founded and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with our partners, Telegraph Travel, Geographical Magazine and World Travel Market, need your help in scouring the globe for interesting, unusual, innovative but above all worthy nominees for this year’s Awards.

In 2007 we received over 1700 nominations from travellers around the world and we’d love to use your responsible travel know-how to find operators, accommodations, low carbon transport, tourism organisations and individuals who you think are the best of the best in responsible tourism for 2008.

The New Forest – 2007 overall winner

Last year’s overall winner, best destination, and best personal contribution (for destination manager, Anthony Climpson) award winner was the New Forest in the UK in recognition of the work they have been doing for over 15 years with visitors, industry and the community to look after the environment and promote sustainable local development. Find out more and watch a video about overall winners, the New Forest.

What does it mean to win a Responsible Tourism Award?

If you’re not sure whether it’s worth making a nomination, take a look at some of these comments from last year’s winners:

Mark Jacobs of Azafady, winner of the Best Volunteering Organisation Award said:

‘Winning the award has clearly increased the profile of Azafady and its work out in south-east Madagascar.

When potential volunteers look at our website, the knowledge that we have been named “Best Volunteering Organisation” provides an extra assurance that our work has been vetted independently and found to be the best in its field.

We have already received applications from volunteers who have cited the Responsible Tourism Awards as the reason they have applied to us and I’ve no doubt that winning the award will result in an overall increase in the numbers of volunteers going out to Madagascar.’

While Arugam Bay, in Sri Lanka, Highly Commended in the Best Destination category said:

‘Arugam Bay has been rewarded for its unique community tourism offers, most of all, Arugam Bay people are now very proud of their achievements. The Award has helped them to get international publicity and for a long time to come they will cherish this Award. The formal tourism sector and the tourism authorities are now taking more interest in our work and want to help us.’

Read more interviews with our 2007 Responsible Tourism Award winners.

Nominate and you could win a holiday!

You can nominate in any of 13 categories – all we need is the name of the nominee and how to contact them, and a few lines explaining why you think they deserve to win an award. If you nominate an eventual Award winner, you could even win a prize holiday for 2 to India courtesy of Real World Adventures!

In support of the Responsible Tourism Awards

Support for the Responsible Tourism Awards is growing every year. Read what some of our supporters have to say:

Michael Palin
Getting to know more about each other remains one of the most important hopes for the peaceful future of the planet.

If we are really to understand each other better, then we need to be reminded to travel carefully and thoughtfully,
listening to people along the way and respecting the world we are privileged to travel through.

The Responsible Tourism Awards are one of the most important ways in which we can understand how to travel better.
Photograph by Basil Pao

Ben Fogle
The Responsible Tourism Awards scheme is now widely recognised around the world for leading the way in celebrating individual achievements in responsible tourism. This unique Awards scheme, run by responsibletravel.com, inspires travellers and travel companies to tackle the environmental, social and cultural issues that tourism faces, head on.

During my travels in the next few months I’ll be looking out for worthy nominees and encourage all passionate travellers to get on board: dig out those travel journals, tell your travel-mad friends and if you’re on the road, keep your eyes peeled for tourism ventures that are really making a difference. For me, the future of tourism is inextricably linked with this more thoughtful path of travel.

Pen Hadow, Explorer
The significance of each single step towards our shared worldwide goal of sustainable tourism is greater than you
may imagine – and these hesitant early steps are the most important as with any journey.

Your nominations for those that are our pathfinders are of inestimable value in building everyone’s confidence this really is the direction we must all be heading. Support our pathfinders and multiply the value of their efforts by encouraging others to follow their superlative example.
Photograph courtesy Pen Hadow

Alain de Botton, Writer & Philosopher
Over the last few years, we’ve become painfully aware that tourism isn’t just about passively observing a place,
it’s also about changing it – and usually for the worst. Most often we literally destroy the beauty or interest we have come to witness.

It’s therefore paramount that we learn to come up with forms of travel businesses that don’t destroy their host organisms
and The Responsible Tourism Awards sound like an admirable way forward.
Photograph by Charlotte de Botton

Responsible Tourism Awards magazine

Find out about all last year’s winners and read other interesting features on responsible tourism issues in our dedicated Responsible Tourism Awards magazine, r:travel.

I can’t wait to read your nominations!

Happy travelling…

Katie
responsibletravel.com

For those of you who have not seen the inspirational Kris Murrin in action, the last in the series can be viewed on Tuesday evening at 9pm. In the final episode Kris will be in Durham encouraging residents to go car free for a day. I’m hoping she has more success here than in Boston and that the simple, sensible idea of everyone going car free for one day every week will catch on and that this wont be the last we hear of this campaign.

Kate

GreenFinder