Traveling for many people means spending a lot of money for leisure and fun. It can also mean harming the environment. The fact is, it is entirely possible to travel in an environmentally responsible way while saving money. Walking is the simplest and easiest option to save money, improve your health, and help the environment.

By leaving the car behind and simply walking or riding a bicycle, you are doing both your health and the environment a favor. Of course, walking for long distances is not a good option for far away destinations. Renting a bicycle for those trips rather than renting a car can strengthen muscles, improve cardiovascular health, reduce congestion, and generate zero emissions.

Public transportation is widely considered to be the holy grail of environmentalism. Buses, trains, metros, subways, and trams are great ways of getting around. Most towns and cities have adequate coverage. Furthermore, the tourist will not get lost as easily because the driver knows where they are going.

It would be an adventure from buying tickets to finding a seat to knowing when to get off plus saving energy. Also, public transportation is the cheapest method to travel around the city compared renting a car or hiring a taxi during the trip. Tram and metro networks can be found in a lot of cities around the world such as Tokyo, Vancouver, Baku, Rome, Valparaíso, Paris, San Francisco, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, and Pittsburg.

Many airports have good public transportation links, which means getting a bus or train to reach to the airport instead of driving there is easy. In some countries, carrying a bicycle onto public transportation is accepted, especially in Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands. In cities that do not allow bicycles on their public transportation systems, using foldable bicycles is a good choice.

Simply choosing an electronic ticket rather than a paper ticket would reduce the wasted papers and inks. It can also help in reducing the number of trees cut. If you are flying, it is better to bring light luggage rather than a large suitcase. The more a package weighs, the more fuel the plane uses, which affects the surrounding enviornment.

Many airlines also have a weight limit, and will charge you for luggage that exceeds the limit. That might lead to unexpected charges to the travel budget you have planned. Selecting a green hotel during the trip is also a great way to save the environment. Tourists can find numerous environmentally friendly hotels, B&B’s, and lodges for different budgets and rates on the Internet.

While staying in the hotel, try not to waste resources. You can do this by turning off the TV, switching off all the lights off, and turning off the air-conditioner or heat down when no one is in the room. Opting for short showers and using your own toiletries instead of the small and usually over-priced toiletries provided by the hotel can also help reduce your carbon footprint.

Last, try to avoid disposable cameras and bring your own digital camera. Like other modern devices, which takes loads of energy to make and only get used once before being dumped, disposable cameras can be wasteful.

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China’s capital Beijing plans to implement congestion fees on some of its major, highly trafficked roads, Chinese Xinhua news agency reported on September 2 The measure is primarily meant to help reduce the heavy pollution caused by the high number of cars and it should lead to a decrease in traffic jams.

Hopefully, it will also encourage the residents of the Chinese capital to rely more on alternative-energy, environment-friendly vehicles. Officials also hope that the new congestion charge will inspire Beijing residents to start using public transport more than personal vehicles.

However, the reports did not mention how the fees would actually be collected or any other specific details regarding the manner in which the authorities plan to implement the measure. The plan encourages nevertheless the use of the so-called new energy cars, such as electric vehicles, as an environmentally-conscious alternative to cars which use fuel.

Unspecified incentives to buy new energy vehicles will also be provided. For the same purpose, the plan pledges to build more electric-vehicle charging stations and to upgrade the equipment in the already existing ones.

Measures to reduce traffic pressure have been introduced since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when car owners could use their vehicles only on certain days, depending on the number of the license plate. However, the measures have not had the desired impact and traffic jams continued to remain a problem.

In January 2011, Beijing began capping new car registrations at a price of 20,000 per month, available through a lottery. That has not slowed the increasing traffic to a significant extent, however, it has deprived tens of thousands of hopeful car owners of the possibility of  buying a car.

Beijing also continued to raise parking fees, expand its subway system and build parallel roads, all in an attempt to relieve its heavy traffic. There are voices saying that the measure will probably not have the expected effects, due to the complexity of the problem. “Neither traffic restrictions nor congestion fees can end traffic jams, because they fail to address the essence of the problem,” said Zhang Chang Qing, a traffic law expert at Beijing Jiaotong University.

“Although the plan does not clarify the exact road sections the government is going to charge tolls on, it is simple logic that if it is the Second Ring Road only, people will swarm to Third and the Fourth Ring Road and cause traffic congestion there. Currently, all the rings are already seeing heavy traffic, so I believe the government will have to set up tolls everywhere.”

In 2009, China became the world’s largest auto market, which has led to a constant growth of car ownership. By 2012 the already heavily-trafficked Beijing is expected to have a total of 7 million vehicles on the road.
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