Travel and Climate Change
Feb 21, 2007 Environmentally Friendly, Going Green, Website Reviews
I love to travel. Most people do. Seeing new people or people you love, travelling to someplace other than home is just a lot of fun.
Unfortunately it’s not all that environmentally friendly. Travel can produce a lot of carbon.
I’m not against all travel. Taking a trip to a new place means seeing new things and maybe learning about a different way of life, if you travel to someplace not like where you live. It helps keep us connected to the rest of the world and to realize why living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle is important.
There are ways to make your traveling plans more environmentally friendly. It won’t work for every trip, but you do what you can. Consider traveling by train. If that won’t work, consider buying carbon offsets. Expedia has partnered with TerraPass to make it easier for you to buy carbon offsets to match your travel. It’s not perfect, as offsetting is still in its infancy, but it’s certainly better than nothing.
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Environmentally Responsible Jewelry
Jan 17, 2007 Website Reviews
I’m a big fan of jewelry. I worked my way through college at a jewelry store. But I am well aware that it is not exactly environmentally friendly. In fact, it often isn’t all that good to the people doing the mining; hence all the talk about conflict diamonds.
But I did just run across a rather interesting website called greenKarat. They use recycled gold in their jewelry.
Their store isn’t very big, but the concept is very interesting. They even have a ring you can have made from slices of the pebble of your choosing.
They have the option of adding a voluntary carbon tax to your purchases. It’s an interesting concept but I would have to read more to really understand the impact of choosing to pay it. They use the money to support projects which adhere to The Gold Standard. The project which they are supporting may change, so I won’t list it here.
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