.parent {
display: inline; position: relative; line-height: 30px; float: left; color: #82be41;
}
.parent a{
margin: 10px;color: #82be41;text-decoration: none;
}
.parent:hover > ul {
display:block;position:absolute;
}
.child {
display: none;
}
.child li {
line-height: 30px;width:115%;text-align:left;
}
.child li a{
color: #82be41;
}
ul{
list-style: none;margin: 0;padding: 0px; min-width:10em;text-align: center;float: right; font-weight: 550;
}
ul ul ul{
left: 100%;top: 0;margin-left:1px;
}
li:hover {
background-color: white;
}
.parent li:hover {
background-color: white;
}
.expand{
font-size:10px;float:right;margin-right:5px;
}
.parent a p{
display: inline; margin: 10px;color: #6e706b;text-decoration: none;
}
Sustainable Traveling Methods to Reduce Your Furry Family Members’ Carbon Footprint
Written by Rj Ross | March 21, 2021
As the saying goes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull person! If you are as hard-working as this Jack character, then a fun getaway is essential for some guaranteed radiance in your life. You’re looking up your budget, your schedules, and suddenly, you hear a bark, meow, or some other animalistic onomatopoeia; that’s when it hits you: your fur baby deserves a vacation as well! Just how ecomadic encourages sustainable traveling for all human beings, we recommend it for your precious pets as well, for they also contribute to helping or harming the environment. Before you load that luggage, here’s an itinerary of suggestions to make your passage with your pet easy and eco-friendly.
Background Check Before Booking
Just as you want your stay to fit your environmentalist values, you should also want an accommodating location for your animal babies. First, have an open and thorough discussion with a veterinarian about what medical and health needs must be fulfilled for your pet not to negatively affect the new environment, and vice-versa. After that vet visit, it’s time to find a location. Besides making sure the lodging practices sustainability, it’s essential that it’s a safe haven for your howling or meowing pets; places with outdoor and indoor recreation areas for animals is perfect, especially those with an exercise/walking routine (most pets love a routine). In case you want to go somewhere that prohibits pets, leave them at the establishment’s animal play space where the pet can have a fun vacay from you until you return! Lastly, figure out the best method of transportation. If you’re planning on driving to the destination, map out all the pet-friendly rest stops along the way. It’s important during long drives for your pet to get out and stretch and go to the bathroom, especially if you’re stopping to relax or grab a bite; remember, leaving your pet in a car alone for a period of time – especially when it’s hot – is a hazardous no-no.
If you plan on using public transportation such as a bus, train, or plane, make sure you look up the fees, rules, and regulations for each transportation service company to prepare yourself for boarding said vehicle. If you choose to take a flight with your pet, but they can’t join you in the cabin, make sure you choose a direct flight to avoid the hassle of your pet being transferred from one plane to another while in the cargo holds. Also, make sure you read up on reports on the respective airline pertaining to animal incidents in said cargo holds. After recommendations from the vet, and reading the backstories of the location, lodging, and transportation, only then can you officially book the destination.
Pack Compact, Pack Green
Once the destination and transportation have been finalized, it’s now time to bring the suitcases out. Packing for yourself can be quite hectic, and if you overpack, it becomes pretty costly, and not just financially. The same applies to your pets. As Henry David Thoreau once said, “simplicity, simplicity, simplicity”. Avoid landfill and pollution by buying new toys or clothes for your pet for the trip. Bring items they are familiar with: bed and blanket, litter box, favorite toy, favorite treats, and anything the vet or transportation service requires you to bring. Regarding food, it’s best to substitute waste-producing canned foods for fruits, veggies, and grains packaged in eco-friendly, disposable, and collapsible travel containers. Also carry water and refillable containers usable for you and your pet.
Furthermore, if you decide to try the local cuisine during your vacation, make sure you get enough so that your pet will be able to consume some, and feed two mouths with one meal! Be sure to also bring green, absorbent wipes and biodegradable bags to clean up after your pet when they relieve themselves, or to make sure substances latched onto them in an environment remain in said environment; avoid introducing invasive species when you can. Now that the packing is complete, it’s just a matter of going on the trip! Or is it?
Acquaint Your Animal
Piggy-backing on one of the former points regarding familiarity, while humans have the capability of treading to new territories easily, it isn’t the same case for pets; which is why it’s essential to get your fur babies accustomed to what lies ahead in advance, and avoid harming their health and the health of the habitat you’re voyaging off to. For starters, take them to busy spaces weeks prior to the trip, specifically the train station or airport if that’s how you’re traveling to your destination; let them be aware of the sounds and citizens of that setting. Be sure to have a few treats to hand out for reassurance when they’re adjusting well. Since most modes of transportation require pets to be in a carrier or crate, make sure you allow them to be acclimated to said carrier or crate for a long period of time beforehand. Allow them to release their energy via playing and exercising so they’ll be fatigued enough to want to enter the carrier or crate. Pad the area with nature-friendly, absorbent wipes or tissues before they sit in the crate or carrier, in case they excrete anything while in said area. Give them treats when they’re doing well in said area for positive reaffirmation.
As for the vacation portion, it is difficult to bring an entire ecosystem to your humble abode; however, there are ways to acquaint your pet to the foreseeable, foreign lands. If you’re traveling to an area with a completely different climate, try messing around with the heat or A/C to examine how your pet reacts in hot or cold temperatures. If you’re going to a beach area, take your pet to the local lake or body of water, accessible to pets and people, and observe their behavior. If you’re planning on outdoor excursions such as hiking, show your pet images of the species they’ll see in these settings. Keep doing this within the few days or weeks leading to the vacation in order to fix or reward the behaviors you’re witnessing. Like humans, animals also make mistakes; when that happens, bring out those well-acquainted toys and treats to soothe your fur-baby’s feelings, alongside those biodegradable waste bags and wipes to clean up the mess, and secure the earthly surroundings
Bon Voyage!
You’ve now reached the end of ecomadic’s checklist preparing you and your pet for a planet-friendly passage. We hope you have a sweet, safe, and sustainable travel filled with memories that’ll make you say “it’s one for the books”!
meet the author
Rj Ross
Rj Ross is a writer at ecomadic. With his BA in communications and love for creative writing, he hopes to inspire and inform many generations about sustainable living and responsible traveling.
ecomadic 