Back in January, I wrote an open letter to Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and to David Cush, the CEO of the Virgin America airline, asking them to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated by their planes. A few days later, Richard Branson wrote back! Now, after working together with Virgin America […]
01/29/2013 Update: Richard Branson responds to my letter on his blog today: Plastic On Our Airlines. Dear Richard Branson & David Cush, This letter serves two purposes.  First, to express my sincere gratitude for all you have done to make Virgin America the only airline I can fly without crying the whole time, and second, […]
Every time I stay in a hotel (and nowadays, with all the travel I’m doing to promote my book, I’m getting to visit more and more of them), I inevitably roll my eyes at the preponderance of single-sized, plastic-packaged amenities: little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and single-sized soaps. Â Sure, many guests love them and […]
So, two weeks ago, I was out of town staying in a hotel with friends and looking forward to a much deserved vacation, when I started to feel the tell-tale signs of a cold coming on. My face hurt, my head throbbed, and by the second day, I had a sore throat. I’ve written before […]
As I mentioned on Monday, I’m out of town this week. But I don’t give my plastic-free habits a break just because I’m not at home. I have developed strategies over the years to avoid accumulating new plastic even while living out of a suitcase. Here are a few things I brought along with me […]
A guest post by Alexandra Grabbe. My husband and I have been green innkeepers on Cape Cod since 2004. The name of our B&B is Chez Sven, and our blog is Chezsven Blog: Wellfleet Today. Over the years, we have learned to target green guests, who care about the environment, turn out lights when they […]
Do you flip through the SkyMall Catalog when you fly? Isn’t it great? In addition to adding greenhouse gases directly to the atmosphere from the flight itself, we can also shop our way to global warming. (And yes, I feel guilty every time I get on an airplane.) Here are a few of the SkyMall […]
While traveling, I bring my stainless steel travel mug or water bottle with me for everything from water to soda to coffee. On the cross country trip with my dad, I ended up with some plastic, but none of it was plastic bottles or cups. In 7-Elevens and mini marts across the country, I brought […]
Dad and I set out on Thursday from Oakland, CA and headed east. I’m trying my best to avoid plastic while traveling, but some things seem unavoidable and others are just accidental. First of all, we need to carry a cooler for snacks and drinks. Dad likes to have lots of soda. And we are […]
Hi everybody.  Writing this post sucks. But then, so do a lot of things in life. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be leaving tomorrow for a 2-week trip and may not blog much while I’m gone.  As many of you know, my parents have lived part-time in Hawaii for several years, and I’ve […]