ETHICAL TRAVELLER:I CAN'T AVOID it any more. Christmas is nearly here – and, with it, the usual brain battle for gift ideas. So if you have a loved one with the ecotravel bug, here are a few of my favourite things, which might help you decide.
My best gift this year was a Roberts SolarDab digital radio (right). Already a faithful camping companion, mine is bright green inside and out, is powered by the sun and, now that Ireland is going digital, is all-round Dab cool (amazon.co.uk, from £64.90/€72, free delivery.)
Travelling light is one of the secrets of being a more ethical traveller. A lighter aircraft is a good thing, and avoiding that pre-holiday shopping expedition means less packaging to dispose of when you are there. So invest in a few ethical goodies, such as an invaluable hemp bamboo pashmina from the eco-chic store Ascension (ascension online.com €24.05, plus €11 postage), and leave the jumpers and jackets at home.
For outdoor travel gear, Patagonia is always my top shop. It measures the carbon footprint of everything it sells, uses organic cottons, makes fleeces from plastic bottles and uses hemp and chlorine-free wool. Visit its outlet shop on Exchequer Street in Dublin or patagonia.com.
The solar-powered baseball cap is a bit gimmicky, but I love it, as do my kids. With a solar panel on the peak, the Solar Light Cap uses LED lights to illuminate midnight trips to the loo, or night-time reading (nigelsecostore.com, £29.99/ €34 plus £11.99/€13.25 postage).
Rambler relatives might also love BioEtic Organic Care for Light Legs, a natural oil designed to revive tired trekkers’ legs. With recyclable packaging, it’s fairly traded and available from Oxfam Ireland’s Fair Trade shops, in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast, for €13.50 (or from oxfamireland shop.com with €8.50 postage).
Mine will be at the top of my backpack next spring in the Burren, where I am exploring some of the walking routes in a stunning guide book by Tony Kirby (who wrote Go's Slievecarron walk on October 31st). I can't think of a more inspiring book to give this Christmas than The Burren the Aran Islands(€11.95 plus €3.85 postage from collinspress.ie). Its beautiful line illustrations, detailed maps and superbly informative text will have you leaping over the limestone in search of that much-needed new-year detox.
For other books, Rough Guides' Clean Breaksis a worldwide guide to the greenest and greatest places to stay, and things to do (eason.ie, €24.69, free delivery on orders over €25 until Christmas Eve; or amazon.co.uk, £12.73/ €14.50, free delivery on orders over €25).
An exciting development is Writingtravellers.com, an open guidebook project set up by two young Dutch guys who gather information on destinations in wiki style: keen travellers send in contributions, which are moderated and then published. You choose which information to download.
You can also pay to have your selection printed as a book, although at the moment it only offers printed versions of South Africa, the Netherlands and India. My 400-page guide to the Netherlands, which cost €18.58, is packed with recommendations that I hope to try out in time for tulip season.
The best way to use one of these guides is by rail, and an InterRail pass has to be one of the greenest tickets around (interrailnet.com). You don’t have to be a student, either. Take a month to discover the superb European rail network and get to the heart of the countries you visit. Prices depend on where you want to go, and for how long, but for the price of a Wii and a few games you could send someone around Europe for a month for real, not just virtually.
Happy days, happy travelling and happy Christmas.
ethicaltraveller.net and twitter.com/catherinemack