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Check out the latest in green travel news with our round-up of what's hot
Hurray for Hollywood
The Kimpton Hotel group has opened an eco-chic hotel in the Westwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles. The Hotel Palomar's environmentally friendly focus includes in-room recycling bins, energy efficient lighting, toiletries made from natural ingredients and a restaurant that follows the Monterey Seafood Watch's sustainable seafood guides.
All without sacrificing style or comfort, so the California Environmental Agency has awarded Kimpton its top eco honour. Prices from £143 per person per night on a room-only/two sharing basis. See www.hotelpalomar-lawestwood.com.
Charity begins at home
Virgin Holidays has become the first mainstream tour operator to build a donation towards sustainable travel into its pricing. The worldwide tour operator is incorporating a 50p donation (25p for children) per passenger to the Travel Foundation into all of its holiday packages. Virgin Holidays is a Tesco Clubcard Deals partner, so every £10 in Clubcard Vouchers can be exchanged for £40 worth of Deals Tokens to pay for all or part of your holiday. For more information visit www.tesco.com/clubcard.
Trains, planes or automobiles?
A recent independent survey by YouGov of over 2,000 people across the UK reveals more of us are concerned about environmental impact when travelling. Over half those interviewed said they think about the environment when planning a short-haul journey. Which may explain why Eurostar, the first train operator in the world to make all of its journeys carbon neutral, has reported more than a 21 per cent rise in the numbers of passengers compared to the same period this time last year. Eurostar also now monitors energy consumption on board its trains. And under its Tread Lightly initiative, in collaboration with Friends of the Earth, it has set a target of reducing its CO2 emissions for each traveller by 25 per cent per journey by 2012.
Landscape sculpting
See the past, present and future of the Suffolk coastline with The National Trust's Dunwich Heath art installations. This year is 'International Year of the Planet' and the large wave sculptures highlight the environmental transformations predicted to take place in the next 50 years. See www.redearth.co.uk or visit www.eastofengland.com for details.
And stay at the nearby eco-friendly Strattons Hotel & Restaurant in Swaffham, Norfolk, which has its own unique environmental policy. All waste is weighed to enable the hotel to calculate how much goes into landfill, so they can reduce it. Prices start from £75 per person per night for The Seagull room, based on two people sharing. See www.strattons-hotel.com.
Eco island
The Isle of Wight has announced plans to become an eco-island by 2020, focusing on the theme of sustainability. Its aim is to have the lowest carbon footprint in England. The Savoy resort, www.savoyholidays.co.uk, offers four-star, self-catering accommodation in cottages on the Isle of Wight. The Savoy also offers a unique service to customers, calculating emissions produced on their journey and allowing them to offset it. Cottage rentals start from £195 (per unit, sleeping two), including return car ferry crossing and
no flights are involved.