Be an environmentally conscious traveler and help preserve natural resources and ensure that fragile ecosystems and sensitive wildlife are not unduly affected by travel.

When possible and appropriate, use human- or animal-powered transportation such as walking, bicycling, hiking, cross-country skiing and horseback riding. When that's not possible, take a shuttle or carpool.

Stick to trails and follow signs in the back country to prevent impact to delicate vegetation. Fragile tundra plant species can take up to a decade to recover from the impact of human foot traffic.

Recycle always. If a recycling container isn't available, hold on to your aluminum or plastic until you find one. The largest man-made structure on earth is now the landfill on the west shore of Staten Island, one of more than 6,000 landfills in the United States.

Refill and reuse your water bottles from larger water jugs or faucets rather than using several plastic water bottles every day. Americans throw away 270 million tons of garbage each year three times what we threw away only 30 years ago.

Conserve energy whenever possible. Turn off lights, heating and air conditioning in your hotel room. Over its life, one efficient compact fluorescent bulb prevents one ton of coal from being burned.

Use hotel laundry water- and energy-conservation programs. Most hotels will wash bedding and towels every second or third day for guests staying multiple nights and even offer a discount if you agree to this change in service.

With the hospitality industry searching for ways to reduce overhead in the face of falling occupancy, hoteliers who have adopted green practices are finding their conservation measures have reduced the negative impact of the current economic downturn.

For a search of environmentally conscious accommodation, please refer to www.greenhotels.com and to www.ecotourism.org. For links and information about sustainable tourism in Central America go to www.travelsustainable.com.