As today is Tuesday, April 22, 2025, the theme for Earth Day 2025 today is to call for “everyone to unite around renewable energy so we can triple clean electricity by 2030” — but even though they may not fit the theme, you can take some actions which may be related to travel that will help the environment.
6 Simple Things You Can Do While You Travel: Earth Day 2025
Without further ado, the five 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.
An increasing number of lodging establishments are currently using bulk dispensers for such toiletries as shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and moisturizing skin lotion; so this option is becoming less prevalent.
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.
5. Conserve Energy and Fuel.
Leave as few electronics and lights on as possible when leaving a room at a hotel or resort property. If you have enough clean towels and really do not need housekeeping services, have members of the staff come the next day to take care of the room. Just because electricity may be included at no extra charge in the room rate does not mean that it should be needlessly wasted.
Be efficient with climate control systems in hotel rooms. For example, do not leave 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; and do not keep the door to the room open while heating the room.
Also, take routes that help to conserve fuel when driving a rental vehicle; and do not leave the motor vehicle idling for more than 30 seconds —except when in traffic.
6. Consider Alternative Transportation to Your Destination.
No one expects you to walk 20 miles to get from your hotel room to a restaurant — but if a dining establishment is within a mile from where you are staying, consider taking a nice walk. You will get some exercise, work off some of those calories on your way back from your meal, and you can explore your surroundings at your own pace.
If for some reason walking is not an option, consider taking public transportation — such as an electric trolley or a bus that is powered by natural gas, if they are available. Both Waymo and Vay offer driverless transportation options using electric vehicles — but they are currently available in a limited number of cities. You can also specify with a ride sharing service that you want to use an option that is energy efficient.
Final Boarding Call
Caring for the environment does not mean one has to panic about global warming, block roads, and otherwise act like a lunatic. Doing your part with simple little things will 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, energy, or fuel than necessary is another way to help conserve natural resources.
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.
As the theme for Earth Day 2025 is to call for “everyone to unite around renewable energy so we can triple clean electricity by 2030”, I really like the idea of renewable energy — whether it is solar, powered by wind, or hydroelectric — but the reality is that we cannot completely depend on it, as both resources and technology are still quite limited…
…and energy that is not renewable is needed in order to create renewable energy, which is rather ironic. As a result, renewable energy can potentially cost more than energy that is not renewable.
All photographs ©2017, ©2019, ©2020, ©2022, ©2024, and ©2025 by Brian Cohen.
