Known for an uncompromising commitment to organic agriculture and sustainable business practices, Mountain Rose herbs is raising their eco-efforts to new heights by launching a new program aimed at helping employees reduce their carbon footprint.

The new program focuses on preventing pollution caused by commuter traffic by offering cash incentives to employees who carpool and bicycle to work.  According to the Environmental Defense Fund, U.S. autos emit more than 333 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, which is more than one-fifth of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions. Thankfully, programs like the one offered by Mountain Rose Herbs, can make a real difference.

The program is easy to understand, track and offers tangible awards. It pays staff members who carpool to work 12-cents per mile for each passenger, and for those who bicycle to work, 20-cents per mile. In addition to the cash reward for each mile, Mountain Rose Herbs also offers a yearly $500 cash bonus to the staff member who has logged the most miles.

“We pay our employees in cash for carpooling and bicycling to work. To our knowledge, no other company is offering a cash incentive that reaches the same caliber as ours in the United States,” says Shawn Donnille, Mountain Rose Herbs’ Operations Manager & Director of Quality Control.

The carpool and bicycling to work incentive is just one program in a long line of forward-thinking sustainability programs from Mountain Rose Herbs. As a “Zero Waste” company, Mountain Rose Herbs goes to great lengths to ensure that materials which might be regarded as waste are recycled, re-used, composted, reclaimed, or brought back into the production cycle. Everything is collected and sorted for proper reclamation including the backs of labels, plastic bags, scrap metal from barrels, poly-woven bags, herbal refuse material, buckets, oil and much more!  When Mountain Rose Herbs adopted a “Zero Waste” policy, they went from producing about 3,300 gallons of waste per month (a normal amount for a processor) to producing between 80 to 100 gallons per month–the same as a typical four-person household.

To learn more about Mountain Rose Herbs, please visit www.mountainroseherbs.com.

I’m always on the lookout for sustainable or eco-friendly ways to travel, and it seems more fashionable than ever to ‘travel green’. The ‘Eco-Tours’ industry is booming with breaks all over South America, where travellers can make a difference on their holiday, or stay in a place that protects, rather than destroys the environment.

But what if you’re travelling on a budget? Most of these tours and eco-friendly hotels are expensive, and require a wallet as big as your conscience.

That’s why the new crop of eco-hostels is so exciting. Ranging from backpacker hostels with a conscience to sustainable farmhouses, these environmentally friendly properties are cheap, comfortable and in some of the world’s coolest places. Here are three to inspire your next break:

Cabinas Tina’s Casitas, Monteverde, Costa Rica

Costa Rica leads the way when it comes to eco-breaks, but the Cabinas Tinas Casitas make a budget friendly alternative. Located in scenic Monteverde, the hostel is a stone’s throw from the Green Mountain and the breathtaking ‘Cloud Forest’. Everything about this chic eco-hostel is geared towards saving the environment, with its own reforestation project to save endangered local wildlife.

The ‘casitas’ themselves aren’t too shabby either, decked out with rustic furniture and boasting views of the Pacific Ocean. The owner Freddy is a wildlife fanatic and offers his own guided tour of the area, and the hostel also has special rates for local nature tours. Adrenaline junkies can even brave a zip line tour of the rainforest canopy, or see the wildlife from the dizzying heights of a suspension bridge.

CEL – (Centre Ecologic llemena) Hostel, Girona, Spain

An affordable alternative to Aguriturismos, this hostel aims to be completely ‘sustainable’, from the naturally heated swimming pool to the meals served with organic produce. Surrounded by the lush Girona countryside, CEL is a relaxed rural retreat perfect for escaping from hectic everyday life.

If you’re after a hectic sightseeing break, steer clear –days here should be spent taking long walks, curling up with a book or watching the sunset from the rustic farmhouse terrace. Housed in a beautiful old farmhouse, the owners have created a quirky but homely atmosphere, with family pets and children mingling with the guests at mealtimes.

Hi –Washington, DC, USA

You don’t have to trek deep into the jungle or the countryside to find an eco-hostel – the HI-Washington is an affordable and eco-friendly place to stay, right in the heart of America’s capital city. With the White House only 8 blocks away, the HI is probably the most environmentally conscious hostel around – the carpets are made from recycled materials, there are no disposable products in the kitchen, and the hostel is ‘Energy Star Certified’- meaning that the energy consumption is one of the lowest in the budget accommodation market.

With a recycling and water conservation program in place, and monthly documentary movie nights on environmental topics, the HI will convert anyone into an eco-warrior. But it’s the sociable atmosphere and great extras that make this hostel really stand out – the rooms range from classic dorms to luxury private rooms, there’s a delicious free breakfast, lively events calendar, bike rental and TV room with a library of free DVDs.

High Street Hostel, Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh may be a bustling city, but in High Street Hostel it boasts something very special in environmental terms. The hostel, you see, claims to be 100% carbon neutral. That’s right – a fun, vibrant hostel in a city that leaves no carbon footprint whatsoever.

And it’s a claim that High Street Hostel backs up. Not only does it source its electricity from renewable and non-nuclear supplies, but it also owns and maintains 75 hectare woodland that absorbs more than the hostel’s total CO2 emissions.

Article by Lauren Smith
Lauren is a travel writer and editor of hostelbookers.com, a budget travel website. Passionate about all things green, she is interested in sustainable tourism, and finding eco-friendly but affordable places to stay around the world.

Today I think most people are aware of the negative effects of increasing carbon emissions. And, most people know how to reduce carbon emissions; save energy, switch off lights, don’t leave appliances on standby, buy local produce, walk or cycle short journeys. These are small changes that we can all make without compromising the lifestyle we have become accustomed to.

However, travelling by airplane is a different story. So many far-flung destinations are within easy reach of an airport and flights only seem to be getting cheaper. The taste for adventure is now under our skins. We want relaxing breaks in the sun, we want to visit family in other countries and we want to explore new cultures. But do we stop to think about the carbon emissions from these flights? Or do we just not want to think about it? Whether you think you can offset these emissions with an otherwise green lifestyle or whether you decide you just don’t care enough to give up your annual vacation, it is good to be aware of the facts. No matter what you decide, it is always best to be well-informed.

This CO2 emissions calculator from Tripbase is great for finding out the exact emissions from your journey. It takes just a minute to type in your arrival and departure destinations and the class you will be travelling in. At the click of a button you can discover the CO2 emissions in tonnes of that specific journey. The figure generated is then easily comparable with other journeys and other types of travel. Try it out, but be prepared to be shocked by the results!

Try out the CO2 Calculator here!

Article by Anna Degremont

Living on the island of Bermuda hundreds of miles away from the continental US sounds like it would be a very non-green place to live- especially if you had to ship everything to your front door. That can be true but, fortunately, the government has taken some steps to preserve the beauty and pristine nature of the island.

There are no car rentals on the island. Visitors can rent scooters, take taxis or use the public buses. The winding roads are incredibly narrow- so I definitely did not mind having to sit back and relax while someone else did the driving.

Fortunately as a tourist, the bus routes go all over the island. These buses run quite frequently, are easy to figure out and as a bonus the buses are clean and have big windows. The drivers are friendly and will assist you if you need to figure out where to get off en-route. You will get a big kick out of seeing these big pink buses all over the island.

For the locals that do drive in order to cut down on traffic and air pollution, each family is only permitted one car. As a result, the preferred mode of transportation for most is the scooter. The speed limit is 22 mph on the island and Bermuda is one of the most expensive place in the world for gasoline.

When you first fly into Bermuda, you will notice all of the roofs are a beautiful white. It makes for a very picturesque introduction to the island. But, these roofs serve a very practical purpose. All roofs, by law, have grooves to channel the water and have cisterns beneath them for storing rainwater.

On the recycling front, trash bins on the street have a built-in container for glass and can recycling. At the grocery stores they offer paper, not plastic bags, but most people bring their own green reusable shopping bags. I even bought one as a souvenir!

It’s nice to see that this island has policies in place that are working to help keep it green and pristine. My idea is to get rid of some of the golf courses and turn then into nature reserves!

Yesterday I popped to our local supermarket to stock up. Usually I would avoid shopping on a Saturday at any cost but after a really busy week I realised that I wouldn’t be able to make much of the carrots, apricots and butter which was all we had in our fridge. So off I went to Sainsbury’s with my usual collection of (cotton, canvass etc) tote bags.

When I was paying at the checkout the lady on the till asked “How many bags have you recycled?” At first I thought this was polite chit-chat and wasn’t sure that I’d heard her correctly. Then she pointed to my bags and said again “How many bags have you recycled?” So I answered “3″ – which I had. Then she said “Well, you get points for not using carrier bags you see. It’s a new reward scheme” and handed me 3 mini fold-out leaflets, which turned out to be vouchers for days out to various UK attractions and theme parks. “Also, you’ve got some money off fuel on your receipt which you need to use within 7 days”.

I can see the positive side to this, really I can. And you could say that shopping at the supermarket isn’t the greenest option, I know that (I talked about this a little in my ‘Is is safe to go back to the supermarket?’ post). However, wouldn’t a really great way to reward recycling be to help customers do another green thing? So, instead of money off fuel, give money off train tickets. Instead of vouchers for theme parks give vouchers for organic treats.

Personally I don’t think that people recycle in order to get some kind of reward. Additionally there is probably some economic reason that Sainsbury’s have chosen the particular scheme that they have but to me it just feels like one step forward, two steps back. Is it just me?

Oh, by the way, the vouchers are printed on FSC paper. I thought it only fair to mention that.

Wow, here’s an offer and a half! Fair Trade fashion pioneers, People Tree has teamed up with online travel directory, responsibletravel.com to celebrate the launch of their new Summer Collection with a fantastic competition.

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!

Attention all East Midlands (UK) based GGG readers!

You are cordially invited to an East Midlands Day of Action on the Climate Change Bill outside East Midlands Airport on Saturday April 12^th from 1.30 until 3 p.m.

What’s it all about?

Since Friends of the Earth launched the Big Ask campaign in June 2005 we’ve made amazing progress towards securing binding climate change legislation in Britain. The Government has introduced a Climate Change Bill which will become law in 2008. However the Bill they propose is not strong enough to realise the carbon dioxide emission cuts that are needed to ensure global emissions are kept below dangerous levels.

For this reason Friends of the Earth are now campaigning to see 3 key amendments in the Bill:

· An increase in the overall target for 2050 to 80 per cent CO₂ reductions;

· The inclusion of the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions;

· The adoption of annual targets rather than 5 year budgets. 

What are the aims?

We need to highlight the need for ALL emissions to be included in the Climate Change Bill and show how Gordon Brown and his government are wilfully ignoring the impact of international aviation emissions.  We need to generate as much local media coverage as possible. MPs carefully monitor the local press and coverage and it really does influence the decisions they make. With an impending vote on the Climate Change Bill this coverage could make all the difference.

What’s the Plan?

We’d like to get as many people as possible posing outside the airport wearing Gordon Brown masks with their hands over their eyes, as the planes fly overhead. The image is intended to show how Gordon Brown is wilfully ignoring international aviation.  We have already received support from Members of Parliament across the region and David Taylor MP for North West Leicestershire will also be joining us on the day.

How do I get involved?

We will provide all the masks and props for the day but we need you to register your attendance by contacting callie.lister@foe.co.uk or calling 0115 9506 926, this will allow us to alert the press in advance as to how many Gordon Browns they can expect outside the airport! If you can please wear a dark suit and tie for an even better Gordon Brown effect!

You can find information about public transport to the airport by clicking here.

We will meet by the airport sign outside the front of the airport at 1.30 p.m. (please be very careful if you are crossing the roads near the airport as they are very busy and the traffic travels incredibly fast). If you need to contact us on the day for any reason you can call 07831 648 171 – but please do register your attendance in advance.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries,

Thank you

Callie Lister

Friends of the Earth Regional Campaigns Co-ordinator

East Midlands Region

It is thought that over 80% of holiday makers to Cornwall arrive by car. So when the population of the county swells to five and a half million during the holiday season it is no surprise that the roads simply can’t cope. Going against the norm, I set out to discover if a holiday without the car in this beauty spot of Britain is both practical and, let’s face it, pleasurable.

The mainline railway between London and Penzance serves as the spine of Cornwall’s public transport system. Served both by Virgin Trains and First Great Western, the journey can be epic, long but surprisingly relaxing. Travel by day and enjoy the coastal views between Exeter and Plymouth; or by night on the Night Riviera Sleeper Service and arrive for sunrise in Penzance.

For daytrippers, the mainline trains stop at the principle south west towns and cities including Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth and Truro. From each of these railway towns you should, in theory, be able to reach further towns and villages in Cornwall and Devon. I wanted to put the theory to the test. Armed with a 70 page public transport guide, I left the train at Bodmin Parkway Station (remembering this time round that the station was a few miles from the town itself) and waited for the hourly Western Greyhound bus to Bodmin. Use www.transportdirect.info to help plan the journey to include all forms of public transport.

As it turned out, the Western Greyhound bus service is providing the essential link between otherwise difficult to reach towns across north Cornwall. The network extends from Lands End in the west to Clovelly, Exeter and Plymouth in the east. And it’s pretty affordable. As an example, a single fare from Boscastle to Truro, a total of 40 miles, costs just £4.50. And what could be better bumping around the winding Cornish roads knowing that you need only worry about the stunning views from the window rather than the approaching traffic.

Trouble is among the bus travellers, there was an entire demographic lacking: namely the mid-to-late twenties and thirty-somethings who I guessed preferred taking the car to public transport. Even more revealing was that despite the fact that each of the towns I passed through was buzzing with tourists, I only ever came across two holiday makers travelling on the bus.

One of the best ways to get around is by bicycle. Granted, certain parts of Cornwall are hilly and you’ll come back feeling fitter than before. But cycling through towns, villages and natural landscapes brings you closer to an authentic experience of Cornwall itself.

Luckily First Great Western and Virgin Trains have good cycle facilities which means travelling with the bike from wherever you are shouldn’t be a problem. The Cornish Way, part of National cycle route 3, connects Bude to Penzance and Land’s End via St Austell or Newquay. So you should be able to connect to a cycle route simply by alighting at certain stations. Take Bodmin Parkway station again. You can follow a stretch of the route 3 directly from the station and through to the town and out toward Padstow or Camelford, on the famous Camel Trail. This easy and flat route out of Bodmin follows the meanders of the Camel River and offers a secluded route through the trees.

The big question I came back with was how to encourage more people to leave the car behind when travelling to Cornwall. It’s not an easy one to tackle, as many holiday properties are in remote locations that aren’t served by buses. Certain green businesses will offer a discount for ‘slow’ arrivals, but many still expect their customers to arrive by car. The Financial Times recently pointed out the paradox around the feeling of independence derived from owning a car and our dependency on owning one to get around. Isn’t this the case for holidays? Driving to the West Country gives us the impression of independence but really we are continually reinforcing our complete lack of. Luckily there are alternatives such as car clubs which have diminished people’s dependence on the car. Car Share Cornwall is growing in popularity. However, the website is directed at residents and not travellers, so visitors to the county would have to find their nearest car pooling scheme. For shorter journeys, Explore South West runs a bio-diesel fuelled taxi service which can pick your small group up from the railway station.

With a bit of imagination and a sense of adventure, there are some fabulous journeys to be had across Cornwall by train, bus or bicycle.

Laura Burgess
www.ecoescape.org

Laura Burgess is the founder of ecoescape. ecoescape promotes responsible escapism in the UK and beyond, helping people find ways to get off-grid and enjoy low carbon lifestyles – holidays included. ecoescape is both a new printed travel guide series and an online community offering people inspiration for greener ways to travel and a place to share their stories. In 2007 with the help of Big Lottery Funding, Laura published the first guide to sustainable travel in the UK. You can order a copy of the guide on her website at www.ecoescape.org. The new series will be published in April 2008 by Green Guide and will include an updated UK edition along with the first Ireland ecoescape guide.

With the weather turning cold and the nights drawing in, it’s not hard to find yourself dreaming of sunnier climes. Maybe your ideal getaway is a sun-drenched white sand beach, perhaps your imagining takes you to tropical rainforests full of rare wildlife, or it could be that a visit to a new city, to explore an exotic culture, is your ideal. Whichever way, you’re unlikely to happen upon any of these scenes by staying at home. In fact, there’s a strong possibility that a flight would be in order to reach any of these destinations. So how can any of these holidays be eco-friendly?

Although it is a widely established fact that airline emissions have a harmful effect on the environment, there are many other factors to take into consideration before ruling out an overseas holiday destination. Tourism is a vital source of income for many countries and for many destinations the impact of eco-tourism, rather than mainstream tourism, is actually beneficial to local communities, by bringing in investment and work opportunities and by helping to preserve culture and traditions. It can also be of benefit to natural habitats by assisting with conservation and education efforts. In addition to this, responsible travel encourages cultural exchange and understanding.

Posada Amazonas Eco Lodge, in the rainforests of Peru, is a good example of the positive effects of eco-tourism. This eco-lodge is jointly owned by the local community and has seen the improvement of infrastructure for health, education and transportation in the local area. Due to eco-tourists coming to see the amazing wildlife found in the region, the community has become aware of the importance of conservation and has incorporated regulations which forbid members to hunt in the communal reserve, to fish with nets in the lake, or to cut forest around harpy eagle nests.

Another example of the benefits of eco-tourism is Kizingo Lodge on Kenya’s Lamu Island . While holiday-makers can relax on the 12km beach, the Lodge works to protect baby Green turtles as they find their way to the ocean, and incentivise local fishermen to tag and release turtles caught in their nets. The Lodge also works with partners to operate the Kipungani schools trust, which builds schools in the local and surrounding area and sponsors scholarship students to move on to secondary education.

Even chic city hotels can be eco-friendly. Take the Shinta Mani in Cambodia. While visitors can spend their time visiting the cultural attractions of Siem Reap, such as the temples of Angkor Wat, this hotel has an ongoing commitment to the local community including an Insitute of Hospitality which provides free hospitality industry training for young Cambodians at risk.

Without international tourists, projects like this all around the world could not exist. There would be fewer funds for conservation efforts, there would be less incentive for local communities to protect their natural environment and, with a decrease in income, some communities would be forced to resort back to illegal poaching and logging to make a living.

That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t take any measures to reduce your carbon emissions from flying. For example, you could reduce the number of flights you take each year and stay for longer in the destinations you travel to. As take-off and landing are the worst time for carbon emissions, you could also try to avoid stop-overs en-route when you fly to an overseas destination. Another option is to off-set your carbon emissions through a carbon-offsetting scheme.

Whatever you decide to do, respect the environment and respect the local culture, and you are sure to have a good time!

If you’re interested in finding eco-friendly accommodation for your next holiday, here are a couple of websites which might help you:

ecobookers – This accommodation-only website features a wide range of eco-friendly accommodation around the world, from eco-friendly hotels and ecolodges, to eco-camps and tree houses. The site provides online price quotes and secure booking. UK customers booking through the site can also take advantage of benefits with eco-friendly partners.

responsibletravel.com – This responsible travel agent offers a wide range of holidays which benefit local people and minimise negative environmental impacts. Holidays on offer include cultural tours, safaris, volunteer travel, wildlife holidays and walking holidays, each available through responsible operators.

Summer holiday season is coming to an end, and it’s almost time to stow those suitcases back in the attic until next year. For the more organised amongst us, it’s also time to start thinking about next year’s destination of choice. But if you’re trying to keep your carbon footprint in-check, jetting off to explore foreign climes brings with it a whole new dilemma: not just where to go, but whether flying is really an environmentally friendly choice.

I work for the Air Transport Action Group, which is a global cross-industry coalition including airlines, airports, aircraft and engine manufacturers, air traffic controllers, etc. that have decided to coordinate their environmental activities to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. One of the initiatives we’re working on is called Enviro.aero which aims to illustrate what the entire air transport industry is doing to reduce its environmental impact – we also have a website: www.enviro.aero .

Flying is an important part of both our business and our personal lives, allowing us to visit friends and explore new places, which just wouldn’t be practically accessible by any other form of transport. However, both individuals and the industry need to adopt a responsible approach to limiting aviation’s environmental effects.

This means you need not avoid holidaying abroad, but you do need to be a responsible traveller. And the first step is often the hardest – when you fly… pack light! Yes, they do make suitcases that can carry your entire wardrobe these days, but wouldn’t it be nicer not to have to enlist a team of fellow travellers to haul your bag off the conveyor belt for once? Think about what you’ll really need to take, rather than how big your weight allowance is, and you’ll probably save a good few kilos.

Leaving even one kilo of luggage at home can make a surprisingly big difference. An aircraft will burn about 0.03kg of fuel for each kilogramme carried per hour. Based on that average, and given that the total commercial fleet combined flies about 57 million hours per year, saving one kilogramme on each flight could save roughly 170,000 tonnes of fuel and 540,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Let that be your inspiration, and leave a few things behind next time you fly.

A lighter bag also makes it easier to get yourself down to the nearest train station or bus terminal, and taking public transport to the airport is another step towards reducing CO2 emissions and improving local air quality. Public transport to and from our airports has never been so good. Just look at the effect the Heathrow Express has had in London: it can carry 5.5 million passengers annually, which means 3,000 fewer cars on the road every day.

Once you’ve done all you can to minimise the emissions of your flight, think about offsetting those which are unavoidable. Some airlines, including British Airways, SAS Group, and Cathay Pacific, now offer you the opportunity to offset when you buy your ticket. Although I’d agree it’s not perhaps a long-term solution, offsetting does fund projects, which will contribute to reducing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, so it shouldn’t be dismissed.

And of course, it’s not just you as the passenger who should behave responsibly. The whole air transport industry has a role to play and is in the process of implementing a number of initiatives to fulfil their obligation to reduce emissions. The industry is investing in the latest and most efficient aircraft technology; it is decreasing the weight of planes and saving fuel; it is developing new operational procedures on the ground that save fuel; and is constructively moving towards emissions trading in Europe. Alternative fuels are being investigated for both aircraft and ground vehicles; modified winglets are being introduced which reduce drag and can improve fuel efficiency by five percent, and by working with governments across the world to shorten routes, the industry saved 6 million tonnes of CO2 last year.

Whether we’re flying for business or personal reasons, it’s up to us as consumers to work with the industry to minimise the environmental impact of our travels. We shouldn’t have to leave our environmental principles at home when we travel, and I don’t believe we have to. Carefully planned packing, responsible travel to the airport, and a contribution to offsetting your impact will mean that wherever you end up, on a sun-soaked beach or muddy mountain trail, you don’t need to worry about how you got there (until you need to find your way home…).