Here’s Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. In Part 4, we’ll be looking to find eco-friendly tourism tips and info on the official state tourism websites of the 10 states from New Mexico to South Carolina, alphabetically speaking.

New Mexico (www.newmexico.org/):- No seperate green page. Search came up with a couple of eco-friendly lodging options and some sustainable event press releases. The one thing, which was both useful and interesting, was an article about Santa Fe and the Sunrise Springs Resort and Spa, which says that a stay there is supposed to be an ultimate ‘green trip’. This one article gets them out of the doghouse, but I’ll keep New Mexico on probation, because they need to add more articles and stuff like the one linked above. And a seperate page listing things like this wouldn’t hurt either.

New York (www.iloveny.com/):- No seperate green page. Search showed up exactly one listing each for an eco-tour, a golf course, a B&B, a sustainable seafood restaurant and a listing for the Forest Industries Exhibit Hall, which has displays of 5,000 useful projects made from wood and sustainable forest management.

Sad part is, I’ve written so much about green New York hotels, winter resorts, tourist attractions, green weddings and God knows what else, that I could plan out a green NY trip for you even in my sleep. And that makes the state tourism website’s apathy even more appalling. Especially if you consider the fact that the NYC tourism website has one of the best official green pages in the world which has everything you’ll need to ‘Go Green in NYC’.  ‘I Love NY’ too, but maybe they could benefit from NYC’s Company. :)

North Carolina (www.visitnc.com/):- No green page. Search came up with with two eco-tourism destinations, and one listing for a green retreat type farm with cottages. Plus, there are some listings for organic products and farm produce. But I’ll forgive the sparse content because they did list the one thing which you shouldn’t miss as a green traveler in North Carolina - The Proximity hotel.

North Dakota (www.ndtourism.com/):- No green page, and search shows one listing for a golf course and one more for some sustainable gardening.

Ohio (www.discoverohio.com/):- I did find this very useful page which, even if a bit dated, is still relevant and lists low impact, low budget eco-friendly fall getaways and trip ideas. The page is not linked to from the home page, and I had to search for it. Its still way better than what most of the states so far have.

Oklahoma (www.travelok.com/):- No green page. Search came up with a ‘Living Kitchen Farm’ which offered tours and dining, and then there were a couple of green event listings, long expired. They do have listings for ecoregions, but that’s more outdoorsy stuff than anything specific eco-friendly.

Oregon (www.traveloregon.com/):- No green page, although they do have a page for Mountain Ethics. Its not exactly what you’re looking for as an environmentalist, but its got a few links to other sites which are closer to the mark. Search revealed a bucketload of restaurants offering organic food with sustainable and local produce. And nothing more.

Pennsylvania (www.visitpa.com):- No green page, and nothing in the searches. Total wash.

Rhode Island (www.visitrhodeisland.com/):- Nice Geotourism page. Definitely will help make your trip green, but the best part is the prominence that this page gets. There’s an entire column on the home page which links to this page, and has excerpts of the latest related articles. Shows that they actually consider this important, rather than just as a nod to the pesky treehuggers.

South Carolina (www.discoversouthcarolina.com):- No green page. Nothing in the search except one golf course with an eco-friendly turf.

So out of these 10 states, Rhode Island was pretty good and Ohio has a decent page (which is not linked from the home page, though). The other 8 states are pretty clueless, and I’m sorely dissappointed with New York’s site.

Continued in Part 5.

Posted on October 18th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Sustainable Travel