Eco Blog 9 - Environmentally friendly travel

Dob took the emissions test for our family and we generally do ok since neither of us has a commute and when I do travel in Scotland, I can almost always go via train.

My favourite of our initiatives have been the cloth nappies and the organic cotton. I have picked up some favourite new brands and shops through our e-clothing only mission: howies.co.uk, adili.com, Kuyichi, Green People, cut4cloth.co.uk, totsbots.com - I love you. Disasters have been e-cleaning (more like spreading around the dirt...). While we have abandoned home made cleaning products, we still use all of the Bio and Ecover products, and thanks to EZ for introducing us to Method - love it.

What kills us on the emissions test are our international flights. Including our flights for work and holidays, we would need 2.5 planet Earths to sustain our population living as Glen and I do. So we are already behind when trying to plan an e-friendly summer holiday that requires flights to Italy. How can we dig our way out of the hole (especially since I bought non organic 2010 cotton when in Vancouver!):

- Our flights are as direct as possible to minimise take-off and landings
- We are travelling to the airport by foot and train
- Once in Italy, we are going by train and bus (we will need to take one taxi ride to our beach campsite since they have no public transport)
- We are going to drink the tap water (supposedly all safe although not super tasty(?)) and if needed, will go to glass bottled water
- We will not buy heaps since we are backpacking, but souvenirs will be local and e-friendly

I only thought of it now, but we should have checked out our hotels for e-friendliness. There are sites that rate hotels and special "green stamps" they can go for to prove their efforts, b&bs included.

We leave thursday. Let's hope for dry weather in the Bridge as we hoof it to the train station.

Canada 2008

Well, I forgot the disc that was burned for me with all of team japan's photos, so there will be a delay in actually posting pictures. Our camera is now repaired and home, so this problem will be no more... hopefully.

If I did have pics to post, you would see some of:

- Clever and kind Chi and Aya, taking care of Savvy
- Chi and Aya on clown dress up day
- Building castles on the beach
- Eating at the Blue Table with Chi, Aya, and Joline
- General pics of the family

AND, there would be video footage of

- Aya's "Ganky Moly Ha Ha Ha" super hero slash dance routine
- Savvy sleeping on uncle Chris' chest

We had a rough intro to vancouver with a tear filled flight and some Savage behaviour, but the little one calmed down and soon found her grouve. Highlights for Savvy will be

- Jetlag phase 1: playing in the pantry with popsicle sticks and macaroni at 3am
- Jetlag phase 2: playing in the gym with the giant excercise balls at 4am
- Jetlag phase 3: the park in the dark at 5am
- Jetlag, the final phase: coffee and banana loaf at Bucks/Urban Fare at 6am
- Eating Lynnie's Goldfish during her hunger strike
- Shouting "Daddy" when she saw MegaDob on Skype video
- Hanging with Shark, Ty, Cday and Jbird at the Ultimate pitches
- Learning new words: Cat, Ball, Bye Bye, Ping Pong
- Constant and wonderful entertainment from Chi and Aya
- Learning how to ride Nana's fire truck properly
- Being babysat by Lynnie, Chris, Kumi, and Nana
- Blueberries, cheese, and fishy cheese