For the last 6 months or so, travel industry surveys have consistently been ranking green (as in eco-friendly) travel as the 2nd most important factor influencing booking decisions, after cost, which understandably comes in first. But very few people will be able to tell you exactly what you mean by a green vacation and how to go about booking and taking one.

I mean, in terms of the actual travel options - You won't be taking a roadtrip to Tibet or Siberia. You'll be flying. How does that help global warming? And what about the hotels, the food, the tourist attractions, and most importantly, how green is the place you're visiting? If you're looking at a completely green experience, you don't want to visit destinations where the people don't care two hoots about carbon emissions or the damage they're doing to the environment. You want to reward a city or town which takes care to keep the environment clean and healthy.

And even more important, you don't really want to give up on the conviniences you're used to, just to save the earth. Its been observed that even when dual-flush toilets have been installed in restrooms, people don't really take the trouble to use the right one. So what we're looking at is to map out a vacation where all your travel & tour service providers do their best to be green, without in any way cutting down on the comfort level. Let's take this one thing at a time.

Photo credit - Resort at Squaw Creek. Other than the fuel you use up on the actual travel, your hotel stay is the largest contributor to the pollution. There's a lot of hotel groups making a whole lot of noise about being green, but how green are they in reality? Most offer only token measures like recycling waste and using power-saving lamps to attract people, without actually doing anything significant.

There are hundreds of things a hotel can do to improve on its eco-friendliness. Obviously, you can't be expected to keep track of it, or do research to find out how green a hotel is. Which is where some standards, ratings and certifications like LEED come in. If a hotel has an LEED certification, you can blindly consider it to be uber-green and book in. Sadly, very few hotels - like the Orchard Garden in San Francisco, have attained that level. Its gonna take a long, long time to be able to book into an LEED certified hotel at any destination you like.

Fortunately, there are other options. Organizations and websites like Sustainable Travel and Green Hotels Association have compiled, after due research and diligence, categorized and regionwise lists of green lodging providers.

If you go into it in detail, there's even more finely researched green vacation options. For example, winter's coming, and ski and golf resorts are gearing up to offer their usual dose of upscale winter vacations. These winter abodes use up a heck of a lot more natural resources than your ordinary urban hotel or resort. For starters, much of the area on which the resort is located is usually built by cutting down trees and displacing the natural habitat.

Secondly, they burn up a lot more electricity for heating, and water usage at traditional golf resorts is way too high above normal for a resort. Throw in the chemicals and fertilizers which keep the course green, and which seep into the nearby rivers and underground water, and you have a very big environmental problem.

Again, fortunately, there's an organization called Audubon International, which certifies eco-friendly golf courses. I went through their list, and the perfect example of a responsible resort which offers all the luxuries you want, including skiing and golfing at an 18-hole Championship Course, is the Resort at Squaw Creek, in Olympic Village, Lake Tahoe CA. I'm sure you can find eco-friendly winter resorts like this listed with Audubon for most all places which are popular for skiing, golfing and winter vacations.

Point I'm trying to make is that the hospitality industry has already taken the trouble to make it easy for you to enjoy a guilt-free green vacation. All you have to do is make the choice.

Plane travel, naturally, uses up more than your fair share of carbon emissions. Question is, is it really necessary? I mean, this is not like a business trip or traveling home for the holidays. We're talking about vacations, its completely optional, and you could as well stay at home (as in a staycation). Even if you do travel, you could opt for rail, or a roadtrip in a hybrid vehicle. Course, you'd have to stick reasonably close to home.

Let's say you do want to fly to Tibet (or wherever...). What you need to do is buy carbon offsets to equalize your emissions. How would you even know how many credits you need, and where does one get these darn thingies, and how do they cost? And how relaible are these companies, and do they actually make it work?You'll find all the answers you need here.

The next thing to consider is food. You could go Vegan, but like I said, nobody wants to give up on anything to save the world. Besides, its darn difficult to go around searching for eco-friendly restaurants which serve organic food prepared using sustainable and local produce. Best bet is to check into a green hotel which has a green restaurant located in-premises. If that's not on the cards, you should be preparing your own meals. Its not as difficlut as it sounds, once you get used to it.

The last thing you want to ensure is that the destination is as green as possible - the people are aware of the importance of global warming, the City is actively taking steps to ensure that tourism does not harm the surroundings, and businesses have implemented green practices.

Goes without saying that a lot of third world countries find it impossible to balance commerce with environment. Maybe this is a bit harsh, but you need to avoid all destinations which have rampant commercialization without any care for what its doing to the atmosphere and the rivers and nature's fine balance. Easiest way to find out is to visit the City's Tourism Bureay website. If they have anything - anythiing at all listed about their concern for the environment, and offer at least a handful of green facilities and tourist attractions or things to do on vacation, then its should be ok. 'Greening' usually starts at the City tourism offices, and finds its way down to the streets and local tarvel realted businesses and people.