Online - August 12, 2006

Travel: Go Green

Understanding Ecoresorts

Ecoresorts are the hybrid cars of hotels — trendy for all the right reasons. (Leonardo is even opening one in Belize.) Here are some of our faves, in varying degrees of ecofriendliness.

Though there is no absolute standard for what an ecoresort is, most use alternative sources of energy (solar or wind power to supplement electric), many conserve and recycle water, and some compost wastes (don’t worry, you’ll never see or smell it). El Monte Sagrado Living Resort & Spa in Taos, New Mexico, has a Living Machine water purification system that looks and gurgles like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Sustainable resorts (that other ecotravel buzzword) do more: They look at the surrounding community and develop a plan to ensure that the needs of people and environment are met in the present and in the future. Inn at Loreto Bay in Baja, Mexico, has surprisingly affordable oceanfront rooms and fits seamlessly into the charming surrounding town.

For artistic environmentalists, Maho Bay on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands has a trash-to-treasures art center where guests recycle the resort’s garbage into glass, clay, and textile craft items and fine art.

By the way, there’s no conflict between green and luxury. To wit: the private island resort of Kamalame Cay off Andros Island in The Bahamas, which has an over-water spa, and the impossibly hip Angsana Resort & Spa in the Maldives, which has won awards for its preservation efforts.

If you’re really committed to understanding how to leave the smallest footprint, check into the comfy Cape Otway Centre for Conservation Ecology in Australia or the jungle huts of Tambo Paititi Manu Eco Lodge in Peru and learn as you relax.

Who said it wasn’t easy being green?

  Do-Gooder, Islands, Outdoorsy