The green consumer

There they go again, those beautiful people in the adverts. Running around in the sunshine. Practically naked. Probably paid off the mortgage ... Don't you just wish one of them would trip over and fall on their smug, suntanned face?

Yes, it's the January holiday push when advertisers urge us to forget winter and sign up for our summer vacation. Tourism, however, can have big social and environmental costs. Is cash going to the right people? Where does that water come from to irrigate the golf course? And what of the damage done by aircraft? In a flight from London to Florida, one person produces the carbon dioxide of a year's car journeys (10,000km).

On the other hand, many countries rely on tourist revenues. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the industry employs 214 million people worldwide, accounting for around 10% of global GDP. And this is one economic area, says the UN, where poorer nations are increasing their influence on the global economy.

The answer to this dilemma is, of course, to holiday in a more sustainable way. Independent travel, for example, tends to see more money going to locals, as does booking half- instead of full-board (where you risk all your money going into the pockets of overseas conglomerates). And it's now common to specify how often you want clean towels and sheets, so reducing, if you choose, the amount of washing the hotel needs to do.

So-called eco tourism is a huge growth area. The term covers both low-impact holidays and ones that directly engage with nature or conservation, such as birdwatching. The difficulty here can be distinguishing between the good guys and those on the eco bandwagon ("greenwashing" as it's known). The campaign group Tourism Concern (020-7133 3330, tourismconcern.org.uk) publishes The Good Alternative Travel Guide (Earthscan, £12.99), which lists small travel companies with a good social and environmental record. The Association of Independent Tour Operators, AITO (020-8744 9280, aito.co.uk), has been promoting ethical tourism for years, and has a system of ethically rating its 150 members. Online travel agents include responsibletravel.com (01273 666612) with around 3,000 ideas, from organic B&Bs to swimming with whales. There's also ecotravel.com , with a directory that details each listed company's response to a best practice questionnaire.

You could try a holiday as a volunteer on a conservation project. This might be repairing dry stone walls in the Lake District, or a diving survey of coral reefs in Madagascar. Again, beware of the crooks; go for organisations with a track record in this area. These include BTCV (01302 572244, btcv.org) and National Trust Working Holidays (0870 429 2429, nationaltrust.org.uk/volunteers). For more exotic suggestions, try Earthwatch (01865 318831, uk.earthwatch.org).

Of course, the further flung the destination, the more likely you are to fly. You could doggedly insist on rail and sea travel (the website seat61.com has timetables for trains around the world, and links to a handful of shipping companies), in which case good luck. Or you could "carbon neutralise" your flight. This is where you pay to have trees planted, which absorb carbon dioxide and offset the pollution caused by your journey. Climate Care (01865 777770, climatecare.org) is one organisation doing this. It's an odd way to carry on (a kind of eco blood money) and Friends of the Earth says people should try to reduce energy usage rather than buy a clear conscience. But a world without travel would be a much poorer place.