All holidays, including yoga holidays,  have positive and negative impacts locally and globally. We believe responsible travel should maximise the benefits and minimises the negative effects of tourism.

The following are some tips on travelling responsibly:

• Plan your route to minimise carbon emissions – travel by train and public transport where possible, and minimise internal flights. Ask us about rail or coach travel to your destination.
• Minimise flying time and stopovers – the worst carbon emissions are emitted during take off and landing. For the flights that you cannot avoid, or the cheap airfare deals that you just can’t pass up, offset the carbon emissions of your flight with ClimateCare.org. Your money is invested in carbon reducing initiatives around the world, offsetting the emissions caused by your flight.
• Read up on the local culture and learn a few words of the local language – travelling with respect earns you respect.
• Remove all excess packaging before you leave and recycle whatever is possible – waste disposal is difficult in remote places and developing countries.
• Buy local produce in preference to imported goods and when meals are not included, use local restaurants and cafes rather than large hotel restaurants.
• If not included in your holiday, why not hire a local guide – you’ll discover more about the local culture and people’s lives and they will earn an income.
• Do not buy products made from endangered species, hard woods or ancient artefacts.
• Respect local cultures, traditions and holy places – if in doubt ask advice.
• Use public transport, hire a bike or walk when convenient – it’s a great way to meet local people on their terms and reduce pollution and carbon emissions.
• Use water sparingly – its very precious in many countries and tourists tend to use far more than local people.
• Remember that local people have different ways of thinking and concepts of time, this just makes them different not wrong – cultivate the habit of asking questions rather than the Western habit of knowing the answers!
• If you’ve promised to send pictures or gifts to local people remember to do so, many are promised and not all arrive.

Prana Holidays and the environment

We do our bit as much as we can. We recycle all possible materials we use in the office and use recycled paper for all our correspondence. Our electricity and gas comes from renewable sources.

We are happy to advise and book train and coach travel on our holidays. A lot of our destinations are reached by long-haul flights and we accept that this adds to carbon emissions and encourage all our clients to offset their flights.

Greenwashing

You may not have heard of the term ‘greenwashing’ but we are sure you have been subject to it. The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green (that is, operating with consideration for the environment), rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. This is often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product, to give the feeling of nature, for example putting an image of a forest on a bottle of harmful chemicals. Environmentalists often use greenwashing to describe the actions of energy companies, which are traditionally the largest polluters.

For further details, visit the Greenpeace website – http://www.stopgreenwash.org/introduction