The immense growth of tourism and travel and its negative impacts on the environment is causing the planet to change faster than the usual rate leading to its deterioration. This happens when the environment’s ability to deal with use, abuse and exploitation fall beyond the acceptable limits of natural change. Responsible or ethical travel alone is not enough to stop or reverse these impacts, but efforts like these can slow down the rate of environmental degradation.
Responsible travelers who want to minimize their impact on the environment have choices. With the rise in their number, manufacturers who recognize the environmental and financial rewards from sustainable practices are responding in innovative ways. Sustainable manufacturing is defined by US-EPA as “… the creation of manufactured products through economically-sound processes that minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources.”
If you are looking for a way to travel in a sustainable way, one option that you can checkout and consider is the use of green products. For instance, imagine the benefit of traveling light. More specifically, think of traveling light while using earth-friendly luggage. The idea sounds perfect and it is! That idea inspired Melanie Haiken, a former North Face executive. She saw the value of “reducing globe-trotters’ carbon footprint while generating green jobs at a former toxic waste site.”
This is the essence of the article Travel Light With Luggage Made From Recycled Plastic Water Bottles posted in Takepart – Article Section. The article talks about how she attained the monumental success of a sustainable product, the Lite Gear, which uses recycled plastic water bottles.
When Magi Raible’s grandmother came West in 1941 to work at the Mare Island shipyards in Vallejo, California, she couldn’t have envisioned that 74 years later her granddaughter would return to the same spot to launch her own company.
Nor could she have imagined that LiteGear would be an environmental success story, the antithesis of the now-shuttered Navy shipyard that left the city north of San Francisco with an environmental disaster that’s taken more than 20 years to clean up.
Headquartered in a 7,000-square-foot plantation-style captain’s house built in 1882, LiteGear makes ultralight travel bags and suitcases out of recycled plastic water bottles. “We ship entire containers of plastic water bottles to China, but it’s time we stopped that,” said Raible. “Because if you think about it, it’s a natural resource, and we should treat it like one.”
Rather than transport these bottles someplace else (an energy consuming process) it is smarter to have these recycled right in her appointed place. The process can save energy, reduce carbon footprint, generate local jobs and save the planet from losing valuable raw materials. With processing, these bottles can actually become polyester fiber, much like an ultralight but heavy-duty yarn, which can be used to make products such as the ones manufactured by Raible’s LiteGear.
LiteGear’s is relatively new in the market having hit it in late 2013 and with its full line being launched in March 2014. Yet, it is showing an impressive growth with over 200 retail stores now carrying the brand around the United States.
You may not have what it takes to be a sustainable manufacturer, but you can patronize their products if you intend to be a responsible or ethical traveler. If more travelers would embrace the idea if supporting these manufacturers, the effort will make a significant dent in slowing down the rate at which environmental is proceeding. It is your decision, it is your option.
