Be a Responsible Traveller

2007 will see the launch of our new resource series, Responsible Traveller. We aim for the series to be a collection of useful tools and resources for travellers who want to ensure that they act responsibly when they travel.

I’ll kick the series off with a resource that is not yet fully available, but that I think is worth looking out for - the One Planet Living project.

A partnership between BioRegional and WWF, the vision of One Planet Living is: “A world in which people everywhere can lead happy, healthy lives within their fair share of the earth’s resources” (source: One Planet Living).

To demonstrate this vision the aim is for six One Planet Living Communities to be built in Portugal, UK, North America, China, South Africa and Australia. Each community will consist of homes for more than 5,000 people as well as schools, factories, hotels and health and leisure facilities.

The Communities will be established and live by the following 10 principles:

• Zero carbon
• Zero waste
• Sustainable transport
• Sustainable materials
• Local and sustainable food
• Sustainable water
• Natural habitats and wildlife
• Culture and heritage
• Equity and fair trade
• Health and happiness.

The project is waiting for the final green light before the work on the very first Community, Mata de Sesimbra, can start in Portugal. If the final approval is granted, “8,000 zero-carbon, zero-waste eco-homes, hotels, shops and community facilities for up to 30,000 people” will be built near Lisbon (source: One Planet Living). The official aim is for construction on at least two communities to have started by 2010.

From a traveller’s perspective I think this is a project worth following. While you could argue that building more hotels does not necessarily help with living within our “fair share of the earth’s resources”, staying in a hotel that follows the One Planet Living principles certainly should.

I for one will be following the project at the One Planet Living web site.

Responsible Traveller series

You’ll be able to follow our Responsible Traveller series from this page or by subscribing to our RSS feed. If you know of any resources that you think, we ought to feature in our series, feel free to contact us.

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