Natural and Sustainable

Always leave a smaller footprint on the environment than when you came. Here’s travel destinations that will help you achieve that.

• Creekside Inn & Resort: Set in Sonoma County, California, the Creekside uses native plants in its landscape, natural cleaning products and guest room soap, shampoo and lotion dispensers (which means no plastic waste from mini disposable bottles.)

• Kimpton Hotels: Kimpton’s EarthCare programs includes paperless check-in and checkout, fair trade coffee along with organic and locallay grown food and discount room rates for hybrid-car drivers.

• Beaches Resort: Throughout their various locations, Beaches has an extensive compost and recycling program that includes kitchenb grease, cardboard boxed, paper and bottles. The hotels also conserve energy and water by using water efficient showerheads, energy efficient light bulbs and solar powered water heaters.

• Hotel Punta Islita: This Costa Rican resort is nestled in a tropical dry forest (unlike a rainforest, dry forests have long periods without precipitation) in the Nicoya Peninsula of Guanacaste. Adventurers can zoom on a zip line above the forest canopy, kayak on the Ora River and ride horses on the beach, while others can enjoy hiking the dry forest while learning about the local species of plants and animals or watch sea turtles hatch.

• Lapa Rios Ecolodge: Founded by two former Peace Corps Volunteer, Lapa Rios is located in Central America’s last remaining lowland tropical rainforest. Set on the Osa Peninsula, its water comes from natural spring, the landscaping contains only local plants and the lodge promotes guest-volunteer programs.

• Carlisle Bay: This Antiguan resort recycles water for irrigation, donates kitchen waste to local pig farmers and gives used equipment to the community.

**Get your kids outside to help them play better and respect nature in a whole new light. Over at Globally Green Living, Sandra Williams has some ideas to help you get them out in the world. Read them here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Print on both sides of the paper, or print paper and after your done use it as scratch paper or add it to your compost pile so it can biodegrade back into the earth.

Forestry field trips and programs that invite discovery and enjoyment are available now through the Oregon Garden Rediscovery Forest Education Programs.

The Rediscovery Forest is a demonstration forest for education, research and public enjoyment. It gives students opportunities to discover the importance of Oregon’s forests, see forest development and understand how forests contribute to our quality of life on Earth.

The Rediscovery Forest contains many trails to explore, most of them are ADA accesible. The following is a list of the lesson descriptions:

1. Tree Identification
2. Wildlife Habitiat
3. Forest Ecology
4. Animal Tracking
5. Tree Treasure Hunt
6. Forest and Wetland Food Chains
7. Role of Fire in the Forest
8. Forest Managment
9. Sustainable Forestry and the Oregon Forest Practices Act
10. Natural Journaling

Planning your visit is an easy one: Rediscovery Forest Education Programs are open to the publid and reserved on a first come first served basis. Most groups arrange programs four to eight weeks in advnace. Spring is the busiest time of the season so book your trip to the Oregon Garden now and learn more than you ever thought you could about the sustainablity of a forest.

Go to Oregon Forests to find out how you can regester to be apart of this great program.

Additional Education Programs Offered Are:
• Teacher Trainings/Workshops
• Envirothon, Natural Resource High School Competition
• Natural Resource Career Fair
• Service Learning and Community Service Projects
• Home Schools/Scout Groups
• Arbor Day/Earth Day
• Group Tours

**Are you afraid of death or even the thought of death does it scare you? Over at Long Relationships, JM has a fun activity to make the thought of it all not so over whelming. Mainly putting something into prespective is all anyone has to do. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use clean energy.

• 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.

**Want to know how to make crockpot pork chops? Then you’re in luck, over at Elementary Chef, Stephanie shows just how to do that. Read how by clicking here.**

*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.

When the time comes to pick a rental-car company at the airport with traveling, you may make your choice one whichever company will save you the most moneu, but keep this in mind when making that choice next time you travel: More than 1.6 million rental cars emit carbon on the road each year. With that knowledge alone and gas prices steadily climbing, why not use this guide to make a more eco-friendly, fuel-efficient decision.

1. Enterprise: 3,999 Toyato Priuses and 41,000 vehiucles that run on E85, a fuel makde of 85 precent ethanol and 15 precent gasoline. $60 million pledged to plant 50 million trees over 50 years.

2. Hertz: 3,400 priuses and 35,000 other hybrids. $1 from each of those rentals goes to the National Park Founation to support environmental preservation and education.

3. Avis & Budget: 1,000 Priuses each in California, Portland, OR; Seatle and Washington, D.C.

If you will be taking a trip with children, give Echo Lake Science Center a try. They offer a hands-on learning environment and teach children everything from eco-friendly ways to help keep the earth safe for many more generations to come.

And Always keep in mind when traveling to leave a lighter footprint every time you travel. Check out Eco.Orbitz. This site offers everything from green hotels to a complete low-impact itinerary for a holiday in the jungles of Belize.

**Arkansas beat LSU 50-48 in triple overtime. Over at University of Arkansas blog here at 451 Press there is a link to the RSS feed to read the whole story. Get the whole scoop by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustianable Living Tip: Find new uses for old things.

Putting plants to work for environmental sustainability and economic development within The Oregon Garden falls under the name of SPROut: (SUSTAINABLE PLANT RESEARCH AND OUTREACH).

SPROut’s Misson is to develop and promote the use of plants and plant material to solve environmental challenges. They build project partnerships and provides outreach and education to integrate research efforts with public and industry development.

What does SPROut offer:

• Outreach:
1. Website and publications
2. Educational literature for Oregon Graden visitors
3. Professional develpment courses
4. Curriculum for Chemeketa Community College’s 2-year Horticulture degree
5. Workshops/Conferences/ Research summits

• Research Support:
1. Research suppoert for Oregon State University’s Horticulture students and faculty
2. Start-up grants to launch research and implementation projects
3. Collaborative grant proposal develpment
4. Background researchg and literature reviews
5. Project management
6. Use of The Oregon Garden site for field-based research

• Research Priorities:
1. Wetlands/Wastewater Remnediation
2. Phytoremediation
3. Urban Water Management and Ecoscaping
4. Native Plant Restoration and Invasive Species Control
5. And Riparian Area Restoration

Current SPROut Research Projects:

• Landowner Tools for Quanitfying Multiple Environmental Services of Riparian Vegetation Buffers for Use in Water Quality Credit Trading in Oregon Watersheds.

• Sustainable Parking Lot

• Botanical Burrito & Floating Nursery Production for Water Treament

• The use of high rate irrigation of Poplar Trees as a nutrient reduction system

• New uses for the World’s Oldest Crop; using Barley straw to control algae in Aquatic Environments.

• Developing Green Roof Plants for Oregon’s Nursery Industry.

For more information contact: Renee Stoops, SPROut Coordinator at rstoops@chemeketa.edu or 503-584-7252 or by visiting The Oregon Garden or SPROut

(SPROut is currently funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA)

**Catch the weekend events over at Albuquerque, New Mexico blog written by Mary McIntyre. If you will be taveling soon, check out the rest of her blog to see if a stop off in Albuquerque will fit in your travel plans by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible. There is many uses in one rechargeable battery then a single use battery. It helps control battery waste in the landfill as well as the carbon impact on the Earth.

These bed and breakfasts reflect the best in eco-conscious building.

• LAS MANOS BED & BREAKFAST (BUENA VISTA, COLORADO)

This relaxing, earthly retreat in Fourteener country named for its mane 14,000 foot or higher peaks, is a glorious Southwestern-style straw bale home. Guests can request a massage from owners Colleen Finley and William McQueen, both certified massage therapists, in their rooms or on a private balcony with breathtaking views of Mt. Princeton. Monarch Ski Resort and Ski Cooper are each about an hours drive away. In summer, rafters and kayakers shoot the Arkansas River rapids. Climbing mountains and dipping in hot springs.

The Green Factor: Completely off the grid, Las Manor runs on solar and wind power. The adobe walls are made from mud collected on the property, wood for flooring and cabinets is locally harvested blue-stain pine killed by beetle infestation. To save enrgy, laundry dries in the mountain air.

• EVE’S GARDEN ORGANIC B&B (MARATHON, TEXAS)

This artsy, quirly oasis is built from adobe and papercrete (light, superb insulation made partically from old newspapers.) The arched, domed architecture is influenced by Spanish, Middle-Eastern and nouveau-California styles. Explore the area’s lively communities: Marathon, Mara, Alpine and Terlingua. Marathon is 40 miles north of Big Bend National Park’s main entrance. The park used to be the main reason to go there, but these days “Far Out, Far West Texas” is an attraction in and of itself.

The Green Factor: Owner Kate Thayer tends an organic garden and sells pesticide-free bouquets; her partner Clyde Curry makes papercrete bricks from old newspapers and junk mail.

• CEDAR HOUSE INN & YURTS (DAHLONEGA, GEORGIA)

Set in the lush north Georgia Wine Country 70 miles north of Atlanta, these yurts feature canopied beds and private decks. Visit Dahlonega’s Holly Theater just west of the historic town square or head to the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi in Amicalola State Park. On you way, stop at the Funky Chicken Art Project, an art gallery set inside an old chicken coop, and visit the Garden of Peace Project .

The Green Factor: As members of the Green Hotels Associatioon, owners Mary Beth and Fred Tanner incorporate passive solar principles throughout the property. The inn’s low-flow toilets and showers and a pesticide free lawn and garden keep with their earth friendly principles. Guests who stay in the light-on-the-land yurts have use if a shower house and composting toilet.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy energy-efficient appliances (look for the Energy Star label)