Clear Lake Golf Course in Manitoba has been able to establish a golf centre and keep it maintained as an environmentally sustainable activity and part of the country’s tourism. So it’s no surprise that they were nominated for the Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award in 2009.

One doesn’t usually think of a golf course as being particularly environmentally sound, other than those who slice into the trees a bit too often. But Clear Lake Golf Course is different than many other courses in Canada.

This course operates with a very small impact on the environment, while still remaining not only profitable but also charitable financially. They take every opportunity that is presented to them, in an effort to promote sound and responsible ecologically friendly practices, which in their case includes herb gardens for their restaurant food, reducing carbon emissions from course maintenance, the use of bio-diesel fuels, less water usage, recycling and composting.

Clear Lake Golf Course was once reliant on chemical fertilizers in order to keep their greens… well, green, but now they rely on organic growing practices. And the level of play on the course has not changed - it still provides a premier, challenging golf experience.

This golf course has not only planted native species on their grounds, but they have also implemented ways to conserve water, including using composting toilets with digesters to minimize the amount of waste water they produce. This set-up has also been utilized to create the resource for a natural fertilization process, and they use biological and natural methods to control fungi and weeds.

This Eco-friendly golf course management technique did not come about by accident. One of the biggest facets of golf courses is their design, and Clear Lake Golf Course has extras in their design that most courses do not. This quality of design includes a variety of hole placements, but also more natural aspects of the course, like the variety of trees and shrubs that are native to the area, to insure that they will remain hardy and healthy.

After you have spent some time with the workers and the founder of Seascape Kayak Tours, you will experience first-hand why the company was nominated for a 2009 Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award.

The founder promotes the ethic of “leaving no trace” of yourself behind, while he teaches kayakers to become good stewards of the land. The company combines paddling with conservation, and they are an often-visited place by Eco-tourists. These are travelers who wish to improve their local communities, conserve their environment and have guides who help to interpret the cultures and environments that they encounter on their journeys.

Seascape Kayak Tours practices sustainability in their tourism, which is highly responsible. Even though the company is small and locally owned, they are one of the leaders in sustainable tourism. This has won them recognition from international leaders in Eco-friendly tours. Bruce Smith, in his Seascape work, has helped to create an awareness of environmental issues, and has helped to protect the land and water where the company operates.

In addition to their 2009 Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award nomination, Seascape also won the 2003 Council Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine, for their sustainable tourism and marine education. They were the winners of the Savvy Traveler Award, and they were nominated the 2005 Adventure Travel Trade Association Pioneer Award.

Seascape follows very sustainable guidelines for their tourism trade. They only take out small groups, to minimize their impact on the environment and on the fragile ecosystems of the coastal areas they serve. The smaller tours also allow the individual tourists to achieve a more enriching connection to the environment they are visiting.

Seascape’s approach to impacting the environment as little as possible in a negative way has led to their methods of traveling as well as waste management, and they currently compost, reuse and recycle, as well as only purchasing items for use that have limited packaging. All of their promotional materials are printed on recycled papers. They are clearly doing all they can for the environment that they love.

It’s no mystery why Cape Jourimain Nature Centre won the Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award in 2009. The Nature Centre upholds highly its responsibility to teach people about choices that help the planet. Visitors can learn about natural choices, renewable energy, food and sustainability. You can learn about all the work done in making their own operation economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

Cape Jourimain Nature Centre is a not-for-profit organization that has dedicated itself to improving the way people understand the natural and human history of the area. They also endeavor to make the smallest footprint on the environment that they can. They teach people who visit to strive at making small footprints of their own.

Cape Jourimain holds programs daily, on demand, and special programs for bus tours and school groups. They hold events every year, including the EcoArts and Osprey Festivals.

The centre offers to show tour groups their efforts at renewable energy, including technologies that help to lower the impact of visitors on the environment of the area.

When Cape Jourimain Nature Centre was designed, it was difficult to determine how a learning centre located in a National Wildlife Area and on an island could use strict ecological rules to protect the nature they live with. The centre was designed so that it would leave nothing behind, as far as waste and foot traffic. They will teach all the visitors to the centre as well, to lessen the marks they leave on the Earth.

The centre uses wind power for some of their electricity, and they use solar power to heat the water in the kichen. They use the energy of the Earth to help cool and heat the buildings, and they collect rainwater to help reduce their use of well-water. They also use composting toilets to reduce the need for water.

The entire Cape Jourimain Nature Centre is a teaching tool and an example for how we can live off the land without destroying it in the process.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, Canada is enormous in size, and offers lovely landscapes that include mountains, forests and lakes. There is much land still to be wandered in Canada, since about 90% of Canadians live within 160km of the US border.

Eco-tourists will be especially drawn to Canada’s scenic, vast wilderness. One such place is Gatineau Park, an area that is protected for wildlife and which offers camping, biking and snowshoeing, all with a strict focus on education in conservation.

There are many Eco-tour operators in Canada, as well. Travel agents can also help you find Eco-friendly tours and trips in Canada. Tourism is a $71.5 billion industry in Canada. This is more than the fishery, forestry and agriculture industries combined. In 2009, 23% of money spent on tourism were by foreign travellers, while domestic travel expenditures reached $57 billion.

Some of the most breathtaking Eco-friendly tours include Wilderness Adventures in Arctic Canada, which will offer wondrous wildlife and wilderness for your camera as well as for your heart and your soul. This is one of the most remote places on the planet, and you may spot caribou, musk-oxen, wild wolves and even the Aurora Borealis!

For a trip more along the agri-tourism lines, you can visit a 19th century family goat farm, in Manitoba. It is situated in front of a boreal forest, native prairie and riparian zones.

Eco-tours are offered in the coastal regions of Canada, near Vancouver Island, where you can wander through rainforest, along with seeing wildlife, marine life and birds. Your guide for some of these trips will be a trained biologist from Interpretation Canada.

Frontiers North has a Tundra Buggy Adventure that will take you to Churchill, Canada, where you can watch polar bears on the tundra. This is an image that may not be seen for many more years, so it’s all the more meaningful now.

You can also book Eco-tours in the Pacific Rainforest of Canada. You will have a guide who is an experienced naturalist, and you’ll have all the comforts of home with your 4-wheel drive travel to the remote beaches and spectacular rainforests of Vancouver Island.

There seems to be so much paper involved in a vacation. Brochures about the place I am going, tickets and passes, pamphlets in each tourist site and the list goes on. It seems each time I travel, but the end I feel responsible for at least one tree. I feel the same way at the end of trade shows and conferences as well.

Use electronic tickets whenever possible. Book and confirm reservations online. Jot down the confirmation number rather than printing out the entire confirmation email. Only print what you absolutely have to print. Look up information online rather than walking away from your travel agent with a binder of brochures for each possible destination. Ask your travel agent, how to access the same type of information online. Can s/he send you an email with links you can click on?

When you are seeing the sites, it is tempting to collect every brochure and pamphlet along the way with good intentions to read them all as you lounge about that evening. If we all left the pamphlets behind, there would be many more trees standing. Instead, grab a book from the library before you take off or when you get back. Reading about the places you visited once you return might even help prolong vacation relaxation.

Finally, when you are looking for post cards, ask the local tourist office if there are e-cards you can send with photos of the sites. Alternately, take you digital camera and upload the pictures (well, not all of the pictures you take.) to your favourite sharing site adding in comments and stories about them. Invite friends and family to logon and see how your day went.  Personally, I still love to tease my brother and what better way then daily pics and stories along with weather reports, while he sits in his office slugging it out behind the desk.

We’d love to hear your travel tips. Leave us a comment.

Enjoy your summer!

Ideally booking a hotel in an area rich in the sights that you want to take in will alleviate questions of how to get about. Once you’ve made it to your destination, try renting bicycles and see the sights on two wheels. Many destinations now have inexpensive bike rentals and what better way to make parking nightmares go away. I remember being surprised that you can’t buy a car in Tokyo without proof of a parking space. A parking space in Tokyo cost more than housing where I came from and I can only imagine it isn’t getting cheaper.

Bikes are also good for those small winding roads that North Americans are unaccustomed to driving on but that can be found in many parts of the world. Cycling also allows you to stop here and there to take in the daily sites along the way and get to know the people and places along the way. You are on vacation. What’s the rush?

If there are sights that are just too far from your hotel, try public transportation. Are you looking for adventure? I have had many adventures on buses and trains in cities and towns including getting lost to meeting new friends who have dropped their daily errands to take me on a tour of their town. There is no better tour guide than a local who is keen to meet new people and show off his or her favourite haunts.

One of my favourite vacations was to Korea, where we met some new friends who took us around to the sights for a day. We had the best time, learned a great deal about Korean people and history and made good friends. Seoul from a tour bus window would have lacked the richness of experience, the sights, sounds, ideas exchanged and we wouldn’t have learned as much as we did about the people and the culture. I am forever indebted.

Travel by foot, bike or public transportation and don’t be afraid to get lost, take detours or make new friends.

My children and I were walking along when suddenly they both froze. No matter what I said they stood stalk still, not a sound. And then I heard it: the ice truck. Summer is upon us and our thoughts are turning to summer vacation, sunny days, and, of course, ice cream. While you plan your summer excursions, make room for sustainability. Here’s a tip or two…

While travelling, we often indulge in life’s luxuries, excusing ourselves from our daily regimen of diet and exercise along with the discipline we hold ourselves to in other areas. It is nice to get away and not be tied to the expectations of home and work. That is what a vacation is all about really. Where do we draw the line on our new limits? And what can we do to help our host city be sustainable.

Sunrise near Maitland

Before you book that hotel, ask them about their green policies. A hotel’s ability to be sustainable is not linked to the number of stars it has earned, so no matter what your budget you can likely find a green hotel that suits. If you are travelling inside Canada, consider one of the hotels listed here. If you are travelling outside Canada, check out http://www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com/

If your favourite hotel isn’t listed, ask them about the restocking of your sheets, towels and toiletries. Make it clear to the front desk that you do not want your room restocked everyday. Also, ask about a recycling program. If they don’t have one, ask where in the neighbourhood you could recycle your plastics and paper and let them know that they should have a recycling program.

Take your own water bottle and fill it up each day, unless you’ve been told not to drink the water. Turn off or down the air-conditioning when you are out and unplug electronics you won’t be using. Did you turn down and/or unplug things at home before you left?

Travelling is a fantastic experience. I left Canada when I was fresh out of university and spent about four years away. I loved it. I learned from it. I encourage others to see the world with fresh eyes even though I am aware of the environmental costs of travel. I suggest we cut down on the environmental costs as much as possible while allowing the experience to enrich our lives and expand our minds.  Over the next few weeks, I will have a few more suggestions for travelling ‘light.’

Weddings have traditionally been all-out affairs – for good reason, but also with no shortage of help from the all-encompassing “wedding industry” which can include everything from the obvious (dress) to the more obscure (releasing butterflies). Rebecca Mead has even written a whole book on the subject entitled One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding. EC believes your special day doesn’t have to be a resource-intensive consumption blitz to be unforgettable. You can celebrate your eternal love both stylishly and thoughtfully if you go over the details with a green-toothed comb. It’s not as complicated as it might sound, we promise!

At EC, we can get a little wrapped up with what’s going on here in British Columbia but we love to learn about your favourite resources from across Canada. Please email us or add your suggestions in the comments section if there’s something you’d like to share – perhaps we can even get a Green Wedding Resource section going for all you conscious brides and grooms out there!

EC spoke with two different specialists in the field about their work and to find out if the “going green” trend has truly permeated the wedding industry. Of course, we also asked if they had any handy tips to ensure your wedding is as eco-fabulous and hassle-free as possible. Vanessa Fedorkiw is the Victoria-based designer behind Isadora Bridal Wear and Stephanie Happach runs Vancouver’s Forever and a Day Weddings & Events.

Isadora began a few years ago as a general clothing line and started incorporating green fabrics last year as the designer learned of the consequences synthetic fabrics have on our planet. Fedorkiw claims she is still a sucker for print and texture so “…making the shift completely is still in the works as green textiles move toward a more fashion-forward vantage point. That being said, I saw this incredible hemp satin the other day – yum!”

Fedorkiw suggests there are many reasons to choose Isadora’s Eco Chameleon Gown or Bridesmaid Dress – they are organic, sustainable, and can even be worn after the wedding. The dresses are also locally made, and potential clients receive personal contact with the maker of the gown. Try that with something shipped in from overseas!

As far as the wedding industry’s growing shift toward Earth-consciousness, Fedorkiw believes we may have a ways to go. “While my line has been well received online, it has been harder to get it into traditional bridal wear stores, perhaps because they are not yet seeing a shift in brides’ priorities.” You see? It is up to us green-minded ladies and gentlemen to increase demand, putting pressure on retailers to supply greener options.

Happach finds today’s brides both environmentally and budget conscious. “A lot of times I see brides looking for items that can be purchased and re-used or rented, and this reduces waste and consumption as well as cost.” Happach notes that personalizing your wedding with your own original details makes it a true reflection of who you are as a couple and avoids making it yet another cookie-cutter event. There are many ways to do this and remain friendly to the Earth at the same time – just use your imagination. You can also check out our Green Wedding Buying Guide for plenty of inspiration and more tips.

How does an eco-conscious wedding planner differ from a traditional planner? Happach finds herself somewhere in the middle. “As someone who’s been quite earth-conscious for many years now, I like to incorporate recycling practices into my work as much as possible and make materials stretch. I always recycle all the packaging of purchased decor items like plastic wrap, paper and cardboard. I try to come up with ways to cut down on materials as much as possible, for example, favours can double as placecards.” Happach suggests working with local vendors and industry professionals where the wedding is going to be held to support local business and economy – this is a green choice for many reasons and also reduces travel.

Other tips for greener weddings an eco-diva may not think of?

VF: I think it’s a simple reduce, reuse and recycle if possible. For our wedding, we had a simple cake but it was decorated with organically grown edible flowers – so pretty. We also decorated with feathers; feather boas at the head table instead of disposable paper stuff. My bridesmaids also got to keep the boas afterwards – who doesn’t need a feather boa in their wardrobe? Also, vases of small peacock feathers became the wedding favours for the guests.

Need help? Here’s Happach’s checklist of what to keep an eye out for in order to land a stellar wedding planner:
- Do you get a quick response to email, phone contact?
- Will they offer you an initial consultation (usually complimentary)?
- What services do they offer?
- Ask for recommendations
- Do they have a portfolio?
- Number of events/weddings completed
- Will they work within your budget?
- Most important – do you connect with them and do they listen to you?

Have you had a wedding recently? Planning one? Let us know your own tips and stories, we would love to share them.