Santa Barbara's "Green" extends from
its lush mountains to the beach where tourists sleep
From its annual
renewable energy event to galleries such as Art from Scrap (artfromscrap.org),
Santa Barbara has become a leader in sustainability issues. "Green Santa Barbara"
program invites tourists to stay at
Santa Barbara hotels and especially green hotels to learn what
vacationers can do to soften their "footprint" during their travels. By no means the only city in California
focused on green practices (best practices for conservation) in tourism, Santa
Barbara is a wealthy city filled with actors, celebrities, intellectuals,
business moguls and the likes
of Oprah (who recently built a $40+ million home in Montecito.) With all these riches
come the spoils. Tourism is one of the largest industries in Santa Barbara, a
city of approx. 90,000 people. Each weekend the town is filled with cars,
traffic, noise and experiences a spike in use of resources such as electricity and water.
Tourism is the lifeblood of this Central Coast beach destination, but also can bring its toll. Santa Barbara
community leaders have stepped up to the plate searching for ways to lead other
tourism communities into a new, greener way of thinking.
A search of
Google
shows that green hotels movements exist in Canada, China and Hawaii. In the
U.S., the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf is but one example of
the nonprofit organizations leading the way with programs to assist hoteliers
and tourists in thinking green as they travel. In Santa Barbara, events such as
South Coast Earth Day invite tourists to join with
the community in learning about sustainability. santabarbaraCA.com / greensantabarbara.com and SBEarthDay.org
|
