As today is Saturday, April 22, 2023, the theme for Earth Day 2023 today is to “invest in our planet”, which could mean actions as simple as disposing of trash and refuse properly or growing a tree — but it could also mean some actions which may be related to travel.
4 Simple Things You Can Do While You Travel: Earth Day 2023
Before this article begins, today is not only Earth Day 2023; but it is also the first day of National Park Week, which is one of the five days in 2023 with which you can visit any national park in the United States without having to pay an entrance fee.
Without further ado, the four simple things you can do while you travel — with links to articles for additional information and details — are as follows:
1. Where to Get Free Air For Tires On Your Rental Vehicle
When driving your own personal vehicle around the area where you live and work, you likely know of the best places to fill it up with fuel and to put air in your tires to keep them properly inflated — you might even own your own air pump — but when renting a vehicle while traveling, you can use a certain tool which helps you find places where you can fill up the tires free of charge, which thereby saves you money on fuel while contributing less pollution to the environment.
2. Recycle Single Use Plastic Bottles
Forget those silly and confusing recycling symbols for plastic bottles: recycling single use plastic bottles does not necessarily mean throwing one in a designated recycling bin and hoping that it will become reincarnated as a useful item for someone else. In fact, the very concept of recycling plastic is controversial at best. Rather, simply use a single use plastic bottle filled with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, or moisturizing skin lotion until the product inside has been exhausted — and then refill it and use it again for your travels.
3. Clean the World by Recycling Used Soap
Thousands of bars of used soap — as well as small plastic bottles of toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, mouthwash and skin cream — can be discarded from one single hotel property daily. Find out in this article how Clean the World gives those discarded soap bars — as well as the aforementioned single use plastic bottles — a second life.
4. 6 Ways to Conserve Water
Access to fresh water is something which many people around the world take for granted. For example, guests automatically expect hot water in the bathrooms of rooms at hotel and resort properties — so much so that the question was asked as to whether a guest who is in a room without hot water for a shower or bath should be compensated. Find out what are the six ways in which you can conserve water.
Final Boarding Call
Caring for the environment does not mean one has to panic about global warming and act like a lunatic. Doing your part with simple little things help and can potentially go a long way — like waiting until approaching a container for the disposal of trash rather than simply littering. Not using more water than necessary is another way to help conserve natural resources. Be efficient with climate control systems in hotel rooms — like not leaving the window shade or curtains open and allowing the hot rays of the sun to shine strongly into the room while the air conditioner is operating; or not keeping the door to the room open while heating the room.
Common sense — not fanaticism — is what will allow us to strike the best balance between traveling with a lifestyle of conveniences while simultaneously doing our parts to conserve our resources, protect our environment, and preserve the planet.
All photographs ©2017, ©2019, ©2020, and ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
