Any trip you take in California can be environmentally friendly—especially once you realize that the term “sustainability” can mean a lot of things. “It's not just about ‘eco-friendly,’ ” says travel blogger Oksana St. John, who recently road-tripped through California in an electric car. “It doesn't have to be [about] these big certifications 和 big programs. It's supporting local communities 和 making places better than you found them. Doing small bits definitely helps.”
在最新一期的 California Now播客, St. John 和 her husb和 Max join two other sustainable travel experts to discuss how a green approach to vacationing can be quite simple—和 incredibly gratifying.
Jessica Blotter, founder 和 CEO of online travel agency 这种旅行, starts by offering tips on booking a sustainability-minded trip. She tells host Soterios Johnson about the platform’s “give-和-get” program, in which travelers donate a minimum of $10 when booking a participating hotel; the hotel sends the donation to a local charity, then thanks guests with perks during their stay. “We'll tell the traveler first what that impact will do,布洛特说。, “和 $10 can do some amazing things. It can clean up 250 pounds of trash with the 俄罗斯河流保护 在 索诺玛县. It might provide a day of care for a marine mammal patient at the 海洋哺乳动物护理中心 in 洛杉矶.”
Blotter also tells Johnson about hotels making their own impact, such as 酒店SLO in 圣路易斯奥比斯波, which has a refillable water system for guests, electric-vehicle charging stations, 和 easy ways to participate in beach cleanups. Lowering your own carbon footprint is simple, she notes. “Look at how you actually travel. Book direct flights instead of multi-leg trips, 租一辆电动车, 坐火车, 多走走. Choose places that have good walkability, so you're not driving the entire time.”
Next, Johnson speaks to travel bloggers who put those principles into action. 圣. 约翰，背后的博主 喝茶 & 旅行, took a Tesla road trip from the 旧金山湾区 to 蒙特利县 和 文图拉. The Tesla they rented was a “basic version,马克斯说。, “but that thing has serious pickup 和 really cool tech.” Charging it was no problem either, he says: “We could have stopped every 20 or 30 miles for a coffee break—there were Tesla superchargers pretty much anywhere you looked.”
一路上，他们探索着 旧金山的唐人街 和 rented an electric moped. “That was something we weren't expecting,马克斯说。. “It was a cool way to see all the sights.” They tasted wine (和 tea) in 利弗莫尔山谷我看到野生动物 Point Lobos State Natural Reserve 附近 迦密在海边一样, then went thrift shopping in 文图拉. Oksana describes 文图拉 as “hip, vibrant, 和 just so colorful”—especially its walkable downtown.
Johnson’s last guest offers more ways to both see 和 help wildlife on a trip. Ida Kaller-Vincent, of conservation nonprofit 海洋连接器,导致 游船、自行车和皮艇之旅 of 圣地亚哥迷人的生态. “There is a vast area of marine life here that's quite amazing,” she says. “I didn't even know before I moved here that there's a healthy green sea turtle population in our bay.”
She shares details about different experiences, such as a 独木舟之旅 进入湿地 丘拉 (where you might see those turtles) 和 the 海狮 & 港之旅, which combines local l和marks with sea-lion sightings 和 some fun facts. (When sea lions “balance” a ball on their noses, 例如, they’re actually grasping it with their whiskers.) On some excursions, like the biking-和-birding之旅 和 观鲸之旅, guests can use apps that help track wildlife, 和 the data is sent on to local researchers. “We do a little bit of citizen science,” she says, “so you can also be part of the conservation.”
