All posts filed under: Featured Articles

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How the Covid-19 Pandemic Could Give Sustainable Travel a Boost

Global tourism has no doubt slowed down due to the pandemic. Although global economies have experienced hardships because of it, there has been an increased demand to rethink how the sector can start up once more. Tourists and the tourism industry want to get back on their feet, but there must be changes rather than going back to normal. As the world is slowly opening back up to tourism again and people are getting vaccinated, global tourism is on the precipice of rebooting. After the worldwide shutdown, people and industries, including tourism, realized just how much travel harms the environment. When cars and planes stopped, skies cleared, and the air seemed cleaner. The pandemic has redefined normal, and if there was any good to happen in the tourism industry from COVID-19, it’s how the pandemic could give sustainable travel a boost.

stop greenwashing

How to Avoid Greenwashing in Business

Did you know 81% of global consumers want brands to be more sustainable? It’s evident that people really want to buy more eco-friendly products, so companies have adjusted and updated their practices to meet customers in the middle. This switch hasn’t always been genuine, though. Some businesses have instead jumped on the eco bandwagon without making their company or products truly green; this is known as greenwashing. Take a look at how you can, and why you should, avoid greenwashing in business.

eco friendly christmas gifts

Last minute sustainable and eco friendly gifts for Christmas

It’s that time of year again, when you run around like a headless chicken wondering if you’re going to get everything sorted in time. You ask yourself, “Why am I not more organised this year?” and make a solemn promise to be more prepared next year. Yep, we’ve all been there. Every year. For you, my punctually challenged friend, we have a fabulous list of last-minute eco friendly gifts you’ll be able to purchase just in time for Christmas. Reusable water bottle A whopping 500 billion plastic drinking bottles were sold across the world in 2017. That’s 1 million bottles bought every minute; 20,000 per second. The vast majority (79%) of these bottles end up in landfill and our oceans. Those horrifying statistics could be much better by each of us changing just one thing — making a move to using refillable water bottles. There are so many beautiful designs available on the market that there’s really no excuse to have to buy single-use water bottles ever again. The only decision you need to make …

earth day 2020

The Good Earth: Climate Change, Public Health and Corporate Social Responsibility

Our Earth is the only home we have ever known. It is the only home we will ever know. For far too long, it was all too easy to take this good Earth for granted. Nowadays, however, it seems that the issue of climate change is on everyone’s lips. It saturates old and new media. But when we speak of climate change, the first things that spring to most people’s minds are melting glaciers, raging wildfires, and emaciated polar bears desperately scavenging for food. What is little recognized in all the rightful furore over climate change is the profound public health threat that climate change poses. And, as usual, it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable who are affected first and who are affected worst.

sustainable tourism italy

The heart of sustainable tourism in Italy

At last I’ve found the Italy holiday experience I’ve been looking for since before I first travelled to Europe. When I first read about the Italian setup of ‘Agriturismos’ I imagined experiencing an idyllic Italian farm with olive groves and a big kitchen where people gather to cook and eat and drink. A place to be close to the land and people, delving into the cultural traditions of a region. I have enjoyed the agriturismos we have stayed at in other parts of Italy but they were all simply B&Bs (or airBnBs before airBnB was invented) set in the Italian countryside. Absolutely lovely but not what I had in mind. But at last I’ve found it. Here in the Marche region of Italy, Roberto Feretti has created a sustainable tourism dream. Where he shares the riches of this stunning hidden gem of Italian countryside and has evolved a ‘tourism of relationship’ at La Scentella, a place where nature, food and friendship blend to create an experience that awakens the senses. This golden-stoned farmhouse nestled on …

A sprawling green roof is the heart of this forest home, built by mf+aquitetos

Designed by a Brazilian firm mf+ arquitetos, Casa Spain is a stunning forest retreat that blends natural environmental design with a modern aesthetic to create a spacious family holiday home. Located in Calas de Guisando, near Madrid, the brief for this 1,980sqm house was to be open, light, organic and welcoming. The owners wanted it to blend in with the natural habitat as subtly as possible. Surrounded by tall pines and greenery, Casa Spain is secluded with a peaceful ambience – perfect for families looking to leave the hustle and bustle of the urban life behind.