A lot of people have asked me with the summer months coming up, "How can you still remain eco-friendly while traveling?" So, in response to this, I've written a post on some easy summer traveling tips. With summer coming up and everyone traveling, there are still ways for you and your family to remain sustainable and eco-minded. Check out these fast tips to take with you while you travel:

1. Turn off your lights, even if you are in a hotel room. Just because you're not at home doesn't mean you have to loosen up on watching the electricity bill. When you're not in your room, turn them off!
2. Turn down the air conditioner when you are out at the pool or out on the town. There is no reason to have it full blast while no one is even in the room. For the most part, it would be a safe guess that you and your family or friends are only in your room for maybe 30% of the time you are on vacation. The rest of the time is spent out. If you need an immediate cool-down after returning from a day out on the town, jump in the pool while your room cools down. But please remember the environment and leave it off when you go out.
3. Return your room key. There is no reason to keep it, except laziness or the hobby of keeping keys as souvenirs. Either way, it takes just a second to swing by the front desk as you are leaving to return the plastic keys. This saves the hotel from having to purchase more plastics to make keys and also leaves less to recycle if you end up just throwing it away later.
4. Eat locally. There are chain restaurants already around us. Why not go for a locally grown, organic meal?
5. Act like a traveler-- walk around or if you do have to take transportation, jump on the local bus. But try to keep your carbon footprint down since the air flight or car ride to your vacation spot is already creating a high carbon footprint. Anything you can do to walk is much more sustainable on the environment. Embrace the environment as you travel by biking or walking.
6. Stay in an environmentally sustainable hotel. For those of you who really want a challenge, find an environmentally sustainable hotel. There aren't very many out there, however the elite few are amazing and definitely eco-friendly! Check out Gaia, Napa Valley's first environmentally-sustainable hotel & spa. Try searching for eco-friendly hotel options on the Internet or go to travel sites that are more environmentally aware, where more green hotel options are available.
7. Purchase carbon offsets. You have the option of purchasing carbon offsets to offset your own traveling CO2 emissions. Use such organizations as Carbonfund.org to help offset your travel footprint, whether it is via airplane or car-trip.
8. Consider Eco-tourism. It is the new form of tourism that focuses on the environment and learning new ways to live on the planet. It includes programs that help to minimize the negative aspects of conventional tourism on the environment while enhancing the cultural integrity of local people. Your trip will help to conserve and improve the environment you visit, so next time, be an eco-tourist.
9. Don't litter. It is a fairly simple thing that we've all been taught from an early age. But just because you don't live in the place you visit, shouldn't mean you forget this rule. You still have to respect the places you visit.

No matter what you may be doing for summer, there are still ways we can all remain environmentally sustainable. This should be an important reminder for us all that no matter what we do, we can always do it in a somewhat sustainable manner.