Taking the Kids: Traveling more sustainably

The Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, for example, is one of the first luxury hotel brands to achieve emission reduction targets. The Empress has programs like the Bee Sustainable initiative, which aids in habitat protection and the pollination of the Centennial Gardens and herbs from the rooftop garden with dishes in their restaurants using ingredients from local farmers, as well as herbs and vegetables from their own garden.

The new MSC Euribia, set to begin sailing this June, will have a Baby Club Chicco Eco, a designated play area for babies and toddlers with toys made from as much as 80 percent recycled plastic while the MSC Foundation Youth Centre will be a dedicated area for families to learn more about environmental issues.

Three of Windstar’s small cruise ships were audaciously lengthened and re-powered to improve their environmental performance on the high seas, with less polluting propulsion and generator engines reducing fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 percent per nautical mile.

Each Princess ship has approximately $25 million in dedicated environmental equipment and technology on board. Princess has reduced 50 percent of single- use plastics and 30 percent in food waste over the past few years; Discovery Princess alone recycles nearly 15,000 pounds of glass, 3,300 pounds of cardboard, 8,800 pounds of plastic and 132 gallons of cooking oil each week.

Santa Barbara is the proud title of “birthplace of Earth Day,” having been the site that inspired the creation of the first Earth Day in April 1970. After a three-year hiatus, the beloved Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival makes its return as one of the West Coast’s largest and longest-running Earth Day celebrations on April 29 and 30. The free event features more than 200 eco-conscious exhibitors, impactful climate leaders, a green car show, local art installations, musical performances and more.

In Greater Palm Springs, Visit The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens, which focuses on species conservation, but also preservation of the land, native plant population restorations and research programs.

Through Etihad’s Conscious Choices program, travelers can join Etihad in transforming the way we live and travel; making small changes today that have a big impact tomorrow. The program, which launched in January 2022, allows travelers to accumulate Tier Miles and additional benefits for carrying less baggage on board and offsetting their flights’ carbon emissions using Etihad Guest Miles. Travelers can also pay an emissions surcharge, with the proceeds going toward solutions such as planting mangroves or reforestation.

Grand Canyon’s famous mules are fed on food scraps generated by the Grand Canyon National Park Lodges restaurants. The mules also produce up to 2 million pounds of manure per year. Consider that the most eco-friendly way to arrive at the Grand Canyon — and to help keep some 50,000 cars outside the park each year — is to ride the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams, Arizona, on a scenic 65-mile 2.5-hour route across the Colorado Plateau to the edge of the canyon’s South Rim. The big steam engine turns 100 this year and runs on recycled waste vegetable oil collected from the Grand Canyon’s own restaurants and harvests rainwater to operate its steam locomotives.

Happy Earth Day!

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The Kid’s Guide to Philadelphia and The Kid’s Guide to Camping are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)