National Geographic Society

Nearly 200 sustainable tourism experts are gathered today at National Geographic for the second annual Geotourism Change Summit. Coming out of the summit is a trustworthy list of top sustainable-travel destinations and providers. So, if you are planning a midwinter escape, consider:

• Nature Air. It is a 100 percent carbon-neutral airline in Costa Rica that offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula.

• PEPY ("Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself"). PEPY is an educational-tourism program providing adventure bike tours and on-site volunteer projects, like building rainwater collection units, in Cambodia.

• Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, focuses on food as the basis of youth identity, education, and recreation, while you enjoy your time at the beach!

• RiverIndia.com's Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips in Arunachal Pradesh, India, help protect India's Siang River through locally guided expeditions.

• Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia. This Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism, according to summit sponsors Ashoka's Changemakers and the National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations (CSD).

Featured travel companies and resorts both take care of a particular destination and benefit the local people, according to Jonathan Tourtellot, director of CSD. For more information on Ashoka and CSD's top choices, visit CSD's website.

Photo by Nate Olive for VISFI.

--Tasha Eichenseher

With almost every aspect of our lives undergoing a green makeover, it may come as no surprise that insurance companies are starting to reward their customers' environmental choices.

An April 2009 report by Ceres--a network of sustainable-business advocates--discovered that insurance companies are starting to respond to climate change. Several companies, especially in Europe, have created policies that encourage consumers to limit their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

"Consumers should look for products that recognize the benefits of climate-friendly activities," Evan Mills, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an expert in greening insurance, told me in an email.

For instance, keep an eye out for discounts on highly energy-efficient homes or car insurance where you pay by the mile--and in the process save on premiums every time you jump on a bus or a bike, Mills said.

Two well-known climate-oriented companies are Fireman's Fund, which rewards energy-efficient homes, and Progressive, which offers a pay-as-you-drive program for occasional drivers, he said.

Making homes more energy-efficient and sustainable is a popular option. The Ceres report--based on 2008 data--found that 22 insurance companies offer incentives for "green building"--both in constructing new buildings and upgrading old buildings to not be energy hogs. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a certification program run by the U.S. Green Building Council, is generally considered the gold standard for green-building practices. (Related: "Finland's U.S. Embassy Gets Gold Star for Green Makeover.")

For those public transportation mavens, more than 24 companies also have pay-as-you-drive products. Policyholders who drive less than the average driver could get up to a 60 percent discount with some companies, the report says. Progressive's MyRate program allows occasional drivers to plug a device into their cars and wirelessly keep track of how much they drive--the information is used to set their insurance rate.

There's also discounts for owning fuel-efficient or low-emission vehicles. For instance, Fireman's Fund created the first replacement upgrade for hybrid cars. That means if you total your new car, you'll get a hybrid as a replacement. For boating enthusiasts, Travelers gives an up-to-10 percent premium discount for hybrid-electric boats and yachts, the report said.

And then there's insurance that covers the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events. Micro-insurance for low-income customers that don't have access to traditional insurance now covers about seven million people, according to the report. This type of coverage--which was a focus of the Copenhagen climate conference in December--is especially needed in developing countries where food and water shortages are severe.

So if you're already living a low-impact lifestyle, it may be worth checking to see if your insurance can help.

--Christine Dell'Amore

Related:

Green Guide's Home & Garden Hub

Building Healthy Foundations

Whole House Quiz

The much-hyped Apple tablet, called the iPad, was revealed today, and... it may be your greenest option yet if you're in the market for a tablet computer, e-reader, netbook, or smartbook.

At the launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs pointed out that the iPad, which looks like a larger version of the iPhone, is arsenic free, BFR-free, mercury-free, PVC-free, and highly recyclable. It also has a 10-hour battery life, for now.

For more pictures, check out Macworld and Engadget coverage.

The biggest competition in this category could come from Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, and Lenovo, which all announced plans for new tablets at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas this month. Both HP and Apple have a good reputation in terms of green.

E-readers, netbooks, and smartbooks were all the rage at CES this year, but, with e-waste piling up around the world, Green Guide thinks you should skip right over them and move straight on to tablets, which will likely combine and replace all three technologies within the year.

More from the Green Guide Blog:

Dispatches From the Consumer Electronics Show: 10 Green(ish) Products to Look for in 2010

Computer Buying Guide

--Tasha Eichenseher