10 Sustainable Gift Ideas for Travelers
These days, lots of companies are making it easier for travelers to minimize their footprints without sacrificing adventure. This holiday season, grab one of these eco-friendly gifts for the wanderer in your life!
1. Reusable Water Bottle
Instead of creating waste with disposable plastic water bottles, carry a reusable stainless steel one—they keep you hydrated, they’re eco-friendly, and the woman-owned company regularly gives back to communities in need. What’s not to love?
For outdoor adventurers, consider a water bottle with a purifier built in.
2. Reef-Safe Sunscreen
Unfortunately, most sunscreens contain chemicals that are incredibly harmful to coral reefs, which are endangered ecosystems that our planet depends on. Luckily though, plenty of brands have developed reef-safe alternatives that keep you safe from the rays and don’t harm the ocean! Check out this list for guidance on what to buy and what to avoid.
3. A Travel Guide
For an immersive eco-adventure, chose one of these destinations:
They've been dubbed America's best idea for a reason: get inspired, get outdoors, and discover the wild beauty of the United States with Moon USA National Parks.
Whether you're zip-lining through cloud forests, relaxing on a wellness retreat, or swimming with manta rays, discover the real pura vida with Moon Costa Rica.
With turquoise waters, dreamlike islands, and pristine rainforests, Belize is a sensory feast. Dive in with Moon Belize.
4. Keep Nature Wild Collection
Everything from this store is ethically made and sustainably sourced, and the company physically picks up one pound of trash for every product sold. Consider us…sold.
5. Fair Food by Oran B. Hesterman
A host of books and films in recent years have documented the dangers of our current food system, from chemical runoff to soaring rates of diet-related illness to inhumane treatment of workers and animals. But advice on what to do about it largely begins and ends with the admonition to "eat local or "eat organic."
Fair Food is an enlightening and inspiring guide to changing not only what we eat, but how food is grown, packaged, delivered, marketed, and sold. Oran B. Hesterman shows how our system's dysfunctions are unintended consequences of our emphasis on efficiency, centralization, higher yields, profit, and convenience -- and defines the new principles, as well as the concrete steps, necessary to restructuring it. Along the way, he introduces people and organizations across the country who are already doing this work in a number of creative ways, from bringing fresh food to inner cities to fighting for farm workers' rights to putting cows back on the pastures where they belong. He provides a wealth of practical information for readers who want to get more involved.
6. Ethical Hiking Boots
These hiking boots are perfect for their next epic trek. And they also happen to be super eco-friendly: VivoBarefoot makes their shoes with zero biomechanical interference, sustainable materials, and environmentally friendly production processes.
7. A Solar Lantern
Watch their face light up when they unwrap this handy lantern that’s the perfect clean light source for a camping trip.
8. An Eco-Friendly Backpack
Keep them sleek, stylish, and sustainable with these backpacks made entirely out of recycled bottles.
9. Travel Towel

It’s now commonplace for hotels to encourage visitors to reuse towels to help conserve water and thanks to Nomadix, eco-minded travelers can join in on those conservation efforts. Their versatile “Only Towel You’ll Need” is made with certified post-consumer recycled materials and a portion of sales go toward protecting the planet through organizations like 1% For The Planet.
10. Plastic-Free Toiletries
Ditch the toiletry bottles and plastic packaging with Ethique’s cleansing bars, which are made with cruelty-free, fair trade ingredients. The company also plants one tree for every order placed.
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