Environmental pollution is an issue that needs to be addressed more and more not only in poor and developing countries, but also in developed countries. I was very sad to see garbage everywhere in Vietnam, especially after festivals in a certain places or in the sea and beaches like this.
Not only in Vietnam, but I also found garbage disposed thoughtlessly in the countries I have been to, except Singapore. Even in France, there are times when I wonder how people could litter such unconsciously.
One of the waste types which should be highly aware is plastic: plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic utensils ... This is the most destructive and polluting type of waste but the most used one. Do you know how long it takes to decompose an item of rubbish? The photo below will help you recognize better those terrible numbers.
However, many governments, companies and individuals around the world have taken positive steps to minimize the use of plastic utensils such as using supermarket shopping bags, prohibiting plastic food containers or bags, replacing plastic straws by straws made from bamboo, volunteering to pick up rubbish, using personal water jar instead of buying water in plastic bottles, exchanging plastic bottles for money, classifying waste to recycle,...
And most recently, I've read about a great project of a man who has invented simple machines to help recycle everything plastic. He provides all the technical details so anyone can create their own recycling machines anywhere in the world. With this project, he wants to increase the habit of reusing plastic for everyone. You can view detailed information by link below www.preciousplastic.com
Isn’t it a great idea? I think if every village, district, or city has these recycling workshops for people to recycle their own plastic waste, it will greatly reduce plastic waste.
So what can we do as travellers to help protect the environment?
1. Minimize using plastic utensils
When traveling, make it as a habit of bringing a bag with you when shopping, do not use bags provided by the store. Or eat at the store instead of take away. Or you can bring personal toiletries instead of using the ones of the hotel.
2. Refill your water
Carry your own refillable bottle and refill water when needed. Do not buy water in plastic bottles. Try to think how many tourists there are in the world and the number of plastic bottles discharged from those people every day. How terrible it is!
3. Take a scenic walk or bike ride
Download map apps then find and mark where you need to. Take a walk or bike ride to those destinations. Maybe you will get lost a bit but to travel is to explore right? And you may also find interesting hidden places which not many people know yet and physical activities are good for your health.
4. Use public transport or car sharing
The problems of traffic jams and pollution recently are caused by the increasing number of personal vehicles on the road. To minimize this problem, we should use public transport or car sharing when traveling long distances. To read more about car sharing, please visit here.
5. Do not litter
Do not litter when traveling, especially when trekking or camping. You want to have beautiful scenes so keep the beautiful scene for others and then other people will also keep other beautiful scenes for you. It's not hard to keep some of the rubbish around and leave it in the trash when possible. Carrying a garbage bag does not make you look bad, but litter itself makes you bad.
6. Pick up garbage
There is nothing embarrassing when we see rubbish on the road and pick them up right? When we went trekking, we picked up lots of plastic bottles to get rid of them in the trash bin after. You can open the bottle and squeeze it. This will help you be able to take more bottles.
7. Do not use air conditioner
Many people think that I pay for the hotel so I have to exploit it to the full. But you know that air-conditioners use a lot of electricity and also emit a lot of pollutant gas.
8. Do not change bed sheets and towels if not necessary
Unless they are too dirty to be replaced, otherwise do not get them changed every day. At home we do not change it every day right? The amount of water and electricity used to wash them is also cause damage to the environment.
9. Propagate to others
Just as before, we had not been educated on environmental protection and now, after got educated on this issue, we have been becoming more and more conscious. You can also openly talk about ways to protect the environment for people you meet at the place you are travelling to where people are not aware of this issue. Small rain lays great dust. I had a friend staying with me about 2 months. In his pocket there were always some plastic bags. Whenever I bought something, he gave a bag to the seller to put things in before they picked up their bags. Just acting like that but he helped me to be more aware of the restriction of using plastic bags. Or we can propagate to others by the same way I am doing with you through this post.
I hope all of us will eco travel and also apply these to our daily lives to help protect the environment and the landscape!
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