Natural and Sustainable

• Hotel Green: (Nantucket, Massachusetts) Environmentally aware hotel, which opened last year. The rooms have been given a fresh coat of milk-based paint and are outfitted with organic French liunens, window boxes of wheatgrass and hemp shower curtains. ($175 a night for a double)

• Proximity Hotel: (Greensboro, North Carolia). This new hotel’s modern lofts are built in an ultra-eco foundation and have gained praise form the U.S. Green Building Council. The building is constructed of recycled concrete and steel, its roof is covered in grass and solar panels, and it uses and “energy recovery” system to circulate air. ($189 a night for a double)

• Devil’s Thumb Ranch: Tabernash, Colorado. Overlooking the Continental Divide, this ranch provides adventures among the Rockies. The ranch uses a geothermal heating system to keep the handsome lodge and private cabins warm in the winter. Much of the food comes from Morales Farms, which is right down the road from the ranch. ($195 a night for a lodgeing double)

• Hotelito Desconocido: Costa Alefre, Mexico. Italian designer Marcello Murilli’s upscale palafitos (Thatched-roof beach bungalows) on the Pacific resemble those in a traditional fishing village. The hotel is solr-powered, and almost everything in the rooms, at the spa, and on your plate is local and organic. ($312 a night for a double with included breakfast)

• Aspros Potamos: Crete, Greece. Origianlly built as harvets-time housed for olive farmers, these 10 stone cottages have been transformed into charming hotel. Each room is lit primarily by lanterns, with a solr-conversion system powering a fridge and a lamp. Stone walls keep the housed cool in the summer and warm in the winter months. ($50 a night or a house.)

• Whitepod: Aigle, Switzerland. Set in the Alps, Whitepod’s canvas domes look like igloos from the outside and cozy hotel rooms inside. The pids are green colored in the summer and covered with white canvas in the winter for maximum energy efficiency, and are built on platforms that won’t leave a trace on the land. Food is provided by local farms as well. ($275 a night for an Expedition pod.)

• Lama Di Luna: Andria, Italy. No chemicals are used anywhere within the hotel. In each of the ten rooms, the heat is solar-generated and unbleaches sheets dress the feng-shui-arranged beds. ($180 a night for a double, which includes breakfast.)

You Know It’s An Eco-Friendly Hotel When:

1. They proviude bikes, so you can cut down on rental-car use.

2. Stocks its menu with food from local farms or local farmer’s markets.

3. Provides soaps and lotions in refillable container in its bathrooms.

4. Has a kids’ club that encourages communing with nature, rather than just the TV for entertainment.

5. Compost and recycles waste.

6. Sprays the grounds with natural mosquito repellents, not pesticides.

7. Uses solar or wind generated energy.

8. Is built with natural or reclaimed materials.

9. Uses a alternative wasy to purify its pool rather than chlorine.

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*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy or borrow pre-used moving boxes. Or better yet if you do purchase them, purchase ones that have been or are recycled.