Don't break from green habits on vacation

Students do their part in cleaning up the environment

Every type of transportation has some type of impact on the environment, but one thing we know is that some transport choices are better than others. How important is helping the environment when all we want is some rest and relaxation?

While vacationing at his cottage Mathew Lendrum said his family didn't really think about the environment, aside from recycling, while Madeleine Lavac's family did the opposite.

"The last big trip I went on was to Washington, D.C., and we definitely thought about the environment. We drove instead of flying," says Lavac. "We just try to be environmental about everything, I guess. We bring our own water when we're walking around, so we don't have to buy bottles."

Naomi Huisman's family took a similar approach while visiting Rome. "It was very dirty, and yes, I did think about helping the environment because I wanted to go around with a garbage bag and just pick it all up. But I couldn't so we took a train instead of renting a car, and we didn't use air-conditioning."

While some families do think about the environment during their travels, are these patterns reaching mainstream consumers?

"The way I see it, most people just completely forget about everything else but themselves," says Lendrum. "When they're taking a break from normal life, they take a break from taking care of the environment."

Lavac, on the other hand, is less quick to generalize.

"It's becoming sort of mainstream to help the environment while travelling," says Lavac, "but I think most people will only go so far and don't want to be inconvenienced. So buying carbon offsets seems to be pretty popular, but most people wouldn't actually reduce their flying."

Alexandra Fortune-Rusynyk is a Grade 10 student at Hillfield Starthallan College in Hamilton.

Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has an established track-record of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network.