The Greenest Countries on Earth Are Stunning Destinations

[Celerity]

Ethical wanderlust never looked so good.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/worlds-most-sustainable-countries



Imagine a world where one day every month was a national holiday dedicated to making your neighborhood a cleaner place. In Rwanda, on the last Saturday of each month, they do just that. During Umuganda—the Kinyarwanda word for “coming together in common purpose”—people from around the country of a thousand hills pick up trash, repair roads, and generally help each other to make the world sparkly and just a little more beautiful.



While that’s just one example of a community actually caring about having a liveable home, other countries are making it easier for travelers to participate in metaphorically picking up some of our collective trash. The best part, though, is that these countries are taking on most of the work—just by picking the right places, travelers can enjoy all the perks of seeing more greenery without much personal effort. Just decide where to put your money, so it goes to places with the right intentions, and then kick back and explore forests you just helped to still be there in 50 years.



“We’re seeing a rise in the conscious traveler,” says Jessica Blotter, CEO & Co-Founder of Kind Traveler. According to the company’s 2022 Impact Tourism Report, 96% of those surveyed said it’s important that their travel dollars make a positive impact in the communities they visit. “In 2022 and beyond, we expect to see more hotels and travel companies focus more heavily on building sustainability efforts,” she continues—but in a way that visitors actually notice, beyond just not washing towels as much. Launched in March 2022, Alight became the first hotel booking platform that allows travelers to book their hotel while simultaneously calculating and offsetting their carbon emissions, inspiring what they call a sense of ‘ethical wanderlust’ in all of us.







“The trend across all of these destinations, despite their vast differences, is a push towards sustainability, not because it can be more profitable, but because there is a genuine desire to create a more sustainable hospitality industry,” Alight founder Nelly Gedeon told Thrillist. “If you can avoid flying, the impact of your travel could be greatly reduced; however, we don’t believe you should let flights stop you from traveling and exploring the world. Travel is what inspires many of us to want to create a better world.” Of course, it goes without saying that anytime you board a plane that’s haemorrhaging carbon emissions into the atmosphere, the opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint—whether flying direct, staying longer in the destination, or choosing to stay in a sustainable hotel—has never been more important.

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[niyad]

1. Happy Mothering Mother Earth Day. Thank you for sharing the beauty, and

the stewardship of this movement. May it sustainably grow.

[old as dirt]

2. When I first showed this video to my wife, ...

…she told me, “No, that’s not El Bordo. That’s not possible. There’s nothing like that in El Bordo.”

She was referring to the fancy hotels in El Bordo At 5:45 for tourists. She’s never seen anything like it anywhere in Patia, not even in El Bordo.

My wife always says that Cauca is the poorest department in Colombia, and Patia is the poorest municipality in Cauca.

Guess what? That is indeed El Bordo.

It’s just been a long, long time since she’s been there, that’s all.

In Popayan (the capital of Cauca), this is what they say about Patia. It’s the promise of the future of Cauca.

PATIA, PROMESA DEL FUTURO EN EL CAUCA

Patia, Magica y Ancestral

Incidentally, this video has some of the best views of the Guachicono river (IMNSHO, the most important river in the world) that I’ve ever seen.