Gorilla, San Francisco Zoo, CA

I was catching up on my “you better see the gorillas and dolphins now because they’ll be gone in 11.2 years” green reading and found a great post on Planet Green with 10 easy ways to make your hotel stay green.

Some of them are practical and smart, and some of them defeat the whole purpose of staying in a hotel, at least for me.

On the practical (okay, fine, I mean convenient) side, you should:

• Turn off the lights on your way out — this should be automatic, wherever you are
• Turn down the heat or air conditioning before you leave for the day  — the empty room doesn’t need to be warm or chilled, right?
• Unplug everything when you leave the room — it drives my husband crazy when I do this at home, but I know I’m right and now Planet Green agrees

And in the “but that’s why I like hotels” column we have:

• Bring your own towel — it saves them from having to wash one, but hey, I’ll still have to wash it!
• Bring your own shampoo and conditioner — I already do this, just in case the hotel doesn’t have any, or it’s icky, but I love breaking out the little bottles and trying new products
• skip the mini-bar — oh sure, it’s easy to say that when you’re sober and not dying for cashews and a diet Coke … let’s see your green willpower at 2 a.m.!

Sigh. Despite my protests, I know Planet Green is right. Check out all 10 of the tips — if we all at least make an effort, the impact of our traveling would be significantly reduced, and probably buy us a few more years with the gorillas and dolphins.

And if you’re really feeling your eco-tourist mojo (i.e. you don’t mind getting on the phone and sounding sort of … fussy …. ) try out some of the Planet Green “Nine Questions When You’re Booking a Green Hotel“.

Photo: luckycatphotography