Keen Recycled Materials Harvest Grand Bag

Now that the Earth Day media (and blogger) bandwagon is done for a year, you will see the predictable drop-off in stories about green travel and eco-friendly gear. The world keeps turning and deteriorating though, so we'll keep talking about what does and doesn't help the planet when you are on the move.

I've been trying out one of these cool recycled materials bags from the Keen Harvest collection. The "harvest" name refers to what these totes are made out of: recycled rice paper and "brown haul bag paper." This one is the Harvest Grand, a simple shoulder tote that's like a narrow messenger bag. Inside the flap there's a zippered front pocket, a small interior zippered pocket, a place for a phone/notebook and some pens, and the main compartment.

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The Best Rechargeable Batteries

Earth Day just passed. Are you still using regular throwaway batteries?

With a portable battery charger and a set of rechargeable batteries, you can help the planet and save money long-term as well. A minuscule fraction of batteries get disposed of properly, which means a lot of acid and toxic minerals going into landfills every day. In developing countries, you'll also see them tossed by a roadside or getting into the water supply via a riverside.

Wired magazine tested four models of rechargeable batteries in its April issue, snapping pictures on a digital Canon camera and measuring the number of photos per charge. They also looked at charger time, which ranged from 620 minutes down to 13 minutes.

The top choice in the number of photos per charge was actually the cheapest option: the Duracell 2650 mAH, which run about $4 a battery or $15 to $25 for 2-4 batteries with a charger. With a regular charger they took an incredible 10 hours 20 minutes to fully charge, but for an incredible output: 1,377 photos.

The fastest charger was the Energizer 2450 mAH, which only got 693 photos snapped, but charged in just 13 minutes with the included fast charger. I found a great deal on this package at Amazon: for under $25 you get the quick charger, two AA batteries, and two AAA batteries. And it qualifies for free shipping.

In the middle were the Sanyo Eneloop (759 photos per charge, 150 minutes charge time) and the UltraLast Green Pre-charged Rechargeables (781 photos per charge, 90 minutes charge time).

The UltraLast line is interesting though because of the chargers that are available. There's one $25 package on Amazon that has a wall charger, a car charger, and a sleek USB charger plus four of each size of battery. That's a bonafide bargain and in my book that puts it in the lead. I'll take the average performance if you throw that much into the package.

The USB charger would be quite handy too if you're a business traveler or a flashpacker. It takes up less room than the other options and if you're staying at the kind of hotels where you're going to be plugged in and working at a desk, you can just piggyback onto that power supply without the bulk of a wall socket charger.

Search for more rechargeable batteries and items at Gaiam.com

Editor's note: in May this blog will move to its own domain, where I'm be joined by a female gear reviewer and a frequent business traveler. Get ahead of the game by adding that RSS stream to your reader at PracticalTravelGear.com.

Design Awards for Gear that Works

I almost fell off my chair when I looked at Travel + Leisure's 2009 Design Awards in their March issue. They managed to slide in a few expensive items from potential advertisers as "honorable mentions," but amazingly the most expensive gear item winner was a $225 bag and two items were under a hundred bucks.

The bag was in the "best luggage" category and indeed it does look pretty cool. It's the Hydro Sports Water-resistant T-Tech Backpack from Tumi.

Best Travel Accessory was this pair of Melissa Shoes pictured here. They pack easily, look interesting, and are 100% recyclable. At $79 retail, they seem pretty practical to me.

Amazingly, a $30 coat made the cut, and from Wal-mart no less. It's the Norma Kamali Trench Coat and I have to say it looked better in the magazine than many others costing 10 or 20 times as much.

The last two items I have reviewed and used myself. The Flip Video Camera got the nod, though I reviewed the older version, not the Mino. For $180 retail, it's a dead simple way to shoot video and it stores an hour's worth of footage.

The other item I've raved about for years and I would argue it's probably the greatest invention to come along in a decade for travelers: the Steripen water purifier. It's small, it's effective, and it helps save the planet. Obviously, it's well-designed enough to get the notice of these critics as well.

Good stuff! You can see more in a slideshow here.


Get the SteriPEN Adventurer Ultraviolet Water Purifier

Standardized Cell Phone Chargers? Pinch Me I'm Dreaming!

On this travel gear blog I have bitched and moaned plenty about the lack of standardization with chargers for electronics, especially when I posted a review of something like the iGo charger or Callpod Chargepod. While these are both fine items I am happy to recommend, it's kind of sad that we need them. Why do three phones require three chargers anyway? It's just stupid. All those chargers do is transmit electricity, so the only reason to have a proprietary connector is to lock in your customers, annoy them, and make it harder for them to travel.

Either someone has been listening to people like me or the executives at these companies are finally realizing they are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to helping preserve the environment. I was shocked and elated to see this small headline in USA Today: "Standardized Phone Chargers Coming. "

Here's the full scoop on the announcement from the International Herald Tribune. It is filled with depressing factoids like these:

- Cast-off chargers generate more than 51,000 metric tons of waste a year

- Every 20 months, 48 million to 51 million mobile phone chargers become obsolete.

- The GSM Association...calculated a reduction of 13.6 million to 21.8 million metric tons a year in greenhouse gases from making and shipping replacement chargers.

So they are waiting until 2012 to make this happen because....?

See solutions online at iGo.com

Travel Gadgets and Gear That Work in Practice

About 48 out of 50 travel gear reviews on this blog tend to be based on real world tests. Some sites run gear reviews or stories based on just a press release and a photo, which is putting way too much faith in promises if you ask me.

I recently returned from a two-week trip in Peru: Colca Canyon, the Saltankay Trek, a couple nights in the Sacred Valley, then two days in Lima. I tried out a lot of gear for the first time, indluding the OR Revel light waterproof jacket, a Kombi bamboo weave base layer, an Airzone daypack from Lowe Alpine, and a set of lightweight but waterproof hiking boots from Keen. (Plus an awesome Casio superzoom camera I'll review next week.)

I packed and used plenty of other items though that I have reviewed here in the past. Consider this a list of travel gear items that really deliver in practice, over and over again.

Hiking socks from Gordina Lavawool and Teko. Eight days of hiking, warm feet, zero blisters.

The Steripen Traveler. I just added another country to the list where I didn't even get the slightest case of the runs when using this water purifier. (I'm up to six now.) Yet I only added one throwaway plastic water bottle to the landfill in two weeks' time. With its solar charger case, I also recharged the batteries from a hotel window sill.

The Hymini wind and solar charger. I never had to plug my iPod into a computer to recharge and I left my phone charger at home and just brought the tiny Nokia connector for Hymini. I powered three devices solely on wind and the sun, with no worries about 220 vs. 110 volts.

Western Digital portable hard drive. I am paranoid about losing photos when on assignment, so I save to my laptop every day or two then back up to this hard drive, which goes into a separate bag. With its small size and light weight, it's easy to squeeze in.

ExOfficio quick-dry travel underwear. Carrying 14 sets of underwear for a two-week trip is silly. These dry in a few hours, so it's easy to do a sink washing and have clean undies in the morning.

CoolMax wicking t-shirt from CoolClothing. I have some more expensive wicking shirts, but I like this one because it's black, thin, and dries quicker than anything else in my pack.

Illuminite zipper fleece. Peruvian drivers aren't known for having a deep respect for pedestrians. Wearing this around Cusco and Lima, at least they saw me in the headlights. Plus it's comfy when I don't need to be seen.

Comply noise-reducing ear buds. These are passive rather than active for noise reduction on a plane (squishy like earplugs to block out noise), but are far easier to pack than the Sennheiser headphones I also like.

My Timex Field Expedition watch. Held up well in the elements as usual and I love the Indiglo function at night. Plus you don't need to consult the owner's manual to reset the time or date.

Bamboo Base Layer from Kombi

I'm in Peru right now trying out lots of new gear in the Andes Mountains, but am not near a computer very much. So for a while these travel gear reviews will be coming in drips and drabs.

First up, this wicking base layer from Kombi. I've been wearing it on many a cool morning in Colca Canyon and it will get heavy use on my upcoming trek. It's a soft as a cotton shirt, but is actually made of bamboo. Well, 48 percent anyway, then an equal part of CoolMax and just a dash of Spandex. So the majority of the materials came from a sustainable resource and it doesn't feel as synthetic as the usual wicking layer.

It works well with the zipper open: unlike many of these mock turtleneck designs I try out, the collar lies flat. If the air is cool though, zip it to the top and it provides extra insulation around the neck. Anti-chaffing flatlock seams are a nice touch and the top of the zipper goes inside a fold. Kombi also makes models are a thicker bamboo/merino wool blend and this one comes in four colors.

The women's version is a two-tone affair, in five options like the one pictured here.

As with most bamboo weave products, you can't just toss then in the washer and dryer though. jfjfj. The good news is, if you're on an extended trip and are doing a lot of sink washing, this shirt dries more quickly than cotton or synthetic fleece. It's just a single layer though: bring something heavier if you're facing frigid conditions.

You can find Kombi products at ski shops, or check their site for other options.

Kombi Bamboo Charcoal Weave Hat

All kinds of exotic materials are showing up in fabric now, but this is the first thing I've tested that's made from a "bamboo charcoal weave"---the La Bamba hat from Kombi.

The tag says it's made from 100% bamboo, a fast-growing renewable resource. That's cheating a bit though since the tag inside that hat itself says the shell is made from "100% polyester." So I guess if this flew off your head and into the woods while you were skiing, by the summer the outside would degrade but the inside would remain.

I'm not sure the polyester is necessary from a comfort standpoint as the bamboo weave is surprisingly soft, but this is probably to allow the "moisture-wicking, odor-fighting, and quick-drying" claims.

But how well does it work? Well it looks good and feels good, keeping my ears nice and toasty during the frosty and windy mornings that are already upon us. The only logo is an understated shield on the side with "1961" (Kombi's founding year) on it.

Kombi has also worked this bamboo charcoal weave into pants and base layers. More on the latter after I hike through the Andes with a zip turtleneck in December and give it a workout.

The La Bamba hat retails for $16. I just got gobbledygook code when I searched the dealer locator on the Kombi product site for my state, but you may have better luck. The best bet will be a ski shop, where they probably stock a whole line of Kombi hats and gloves.

Activetrax Travel Crank and Solar iPod Speaker

There are a lot of solar and crank radios out there now, which is a beautiful thing, but this little Activetrax cube from L.L. Bean goes beyond the rest in several ways. It's a speaker for any MP3 player, iPod, or phone. It's an AM/FM radio and a NOAA weather band radio with an extending antenna. It's about 2/3 the size of a Rubik's cube (3"L x 3½"H x 2¼"D), easily fitting into the palm of my hand or the corner of my backpack.

All well and good, but this is an off-the-grid electronic item that I've used for 12 hours without it coming near an electrical outlet. (There is an included A/C adapter for lazy people who want to charge it up before leaving home.) There's a small crank on the side that provides an hour of play time with only three minutes of cranking. Then there's a solar panel on the top that does even better. In my tests, an afternoon in the sun provided the full seven hours of play time.

The Activetrax comes with a carrying case that essentially doubles the size in order to accommodate the adapter, so if packing space is tight it's better to leave it at home. Otherwise, it's heavy-duty and comes with a carbiner to attach it to your bag or tent.

Alas, there's always a trade-off, and in this case it's the sound quality. It's okay, especially for the radio, but nothing like the sound you'll get from most powered MP3 speakers, like the Altec Lansing Orbit speaker I use a lot when I travel. Plus you need the included mono adapter to hear both channels from an MP3 player and the tiny and sensitive radio dial is hard to tune. For me though, it's worth it to have something I can use anywhere, without electrical adapters or batteries. It also gives me a lot of pleasure to use something so practical pulling nothing but green energy.

Most people know L.L. Bean for its quality outdoor clothing at a good price. They do carry some unique gear items too though. The new catalog has a cap with built-in tiny LED lights in the brim and several crank flashlights. Got to llbean.com/gear to see the line-up.

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Casio Wave Ceptor Atomic Solar Watch

Nuclear and solar live together in harmony with the Casio Wave Ceptor watch. No, there's not a nuclear reactor on your wrist, just updates from the official atomic clock. This means once you set your time zone, you never have to reset the watch until you travel. When you do travel, just pick a different city and you'll continually have the perfect time again. Always.

The solar part eliminates one of my pet peeves---having to constantly shell out money and spend time getting watch batteries replaced. With this Casio model, the sun keeps it running and it doesn't take all that much exposure either: it will run five months on a full charge before you'll start getting a warning icon telling you to get out of your cave. (If you live in an Arctic zone and it's winter, a lamp will do the job.)

I've been using this watch for a week and a half now and once I got past the biggest drawback, I've been loving it. The drawback was the steel quick-clasp watchband. It looks nice, it's comfortable, but it's definitely not one size fits all. So when it came sized for a sumo wrestler's wrist, I opened the manual to find out how to adjust the band. Just one problem: there's nothing in the manual on how to do that. Or on the Casio website. So you're on your own.

After some serious Googling, rooting around for my precision screwdrivers, then wrestling with the band under a bright light, I finally got it to fit. I guess the manufacturer figures the watch store will take care of all that for you, but if you buy it as a gift or get it online, be prepared to invest some time learning and poking. Pictured here are the "missing links" that I guess I should just toss.

But the watch itself has a lot of nice features and is carefree once it's set up. This model has a regular hands and a second hand, then the day and date are displayed digitally. There's a stopwatch and an alarm function if you dive into the manual more. The Wave Ceptor is water resistant to 100 meters and has luminous hands that glow in the dark. Get the full specs on Casio's Wave Ceptor site, where you can see the women's model too.

At a list price of $120 (and usually retailing for $100 or less), this watch looks and functions far above its pay grade. You might have to search around to get the particular model you want though. When I tried the "where to buy" section of the website for my million-person city I got a message of "I'm sorry there were no results that match your request." I didn't think a Casio watch would be all that hard to find, but you can definitely get this model online at Amazon.

A Soybean Sweater?

This fall you can get a sweater made out of wool, cotton, alpaca, llama, or...soybeans?

I just spent some time in windy and chilly Iceland, staying warm with my Marker shell, Teko wool socks, and this strange Soy'r V Sweater from ExOfficio. It's made from 45% soybean, 45% wool, and then a bit of Nylon and Spandex.

What's it feel like? Well, like a nice sweater. Warm, comfy, and soft. It looks good too. Supposedly it's moisture wicking and odor resistant, though I was too cold to test those claims.

I'm never quite sure what to make of this eco-friendly clothing push in the travel gear world, but I usually view these items as a "why not?" choice. The eco-friendly tag is kind of symbolic and done for marketing purposes more than anything most of the time, but a sweater that's 90% biodegradable is certainly better than one that's not at all, even if it does require lots of carbon emissions in the manufacturing and shipping.

The problem with renewable eco-wear comes in when there's a sacrifice. In this case it's not in the comfort or performance, but in the washing. Here are the care instructions: "Dry clean or hand wash cold; No bleach; Dry flat; Iron low setting, no steam; Wash separately." Good god, is this a sweater or an antique bustier from the Renaissance?

Apparently "soy beans" and "washing machine" don't go together very well.

The Soy'r V sweater from ExOfficio comes in three colors and four sizes, listing for 80 bucks.

Organic Merino Wool Socks from Teko

I was just in chilly Iceland, where the weather seems to change every five minutes. My feet stayed toasty though in a new pair of merino wool socks from Teko.

The wool came from Argentine sheep, not Icelandic ones, but no matter. The key thing about these socks is that while they're high-performance and warm, this year's line is organic.

So what does that mean when we're talking about sheared sheep? Well, apparently the wool is from 20 farms in Argentina, ones which have been farming wool organically for years and have gotten all the right certifications. No pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides used on the farms, plus the sheep are grazed on large pastures with no motorized vehicles are utilized.

The bucolic image is shattered when you think about all the petroleum then needed to get these socks from South America to North America and out to the stores, but hey, most of us don't have a sheep farm and a sock maker in our town. Be advised though that to make these performance socks and not something your grandma would make, they're far from "all natural." For most versions, around 80 percent is wool and the rest is the product of man's ingenuity: lycra, polyester, and nylon.

Teko tries to use recycled materials though, plus the Boulder-based company buys wind energy credits to offset their electricity use. The key thing is, these work as well and feel as nice as any socks processed with less care and concern, so why not?

The Teko line of merino wool socks comes in several styles, colors, and heights for men and women. You can get them at local gear stores, Campmor, Zappos, or at the links below.


Teko EcoMerino Wool Light Hiking Socks at REI


Search the whole Teko line at Backcountry.com

Eco-friendly Hotel Keys

If you are heading to the Democratic Convention in Denver this year, you will find a little thing that makes a difference in your hand when you check in: a wooden key card instead of a plastic one.

Sustainable Cards and CPI Card Group have teamed up to donate 70,000 biodegradable wooden key cards to 90 Denver area hotels. Unlike the plastic ones, which just add to the mounting landfill waste and are petroleum based, these are completely biodegradable. Heck, if you tossed yours into the woods on the drive home, your card would just break down and return to the land.

So, what will be the counter move from the Republican convention? I'm putting my money on plastic cards made from extra virgin Saudi crude, covered by a thin layer of Arctic caribou skin.

Solar and Crank Radio Flashlight

I do more traveling than camping, but this past weekend I got out of the city and went on a fun canoe and camping trip with a bunch of friends. I got to use some of the gear I've reviewed before, including the mini candle lantern (nice), my shake flashlight (awesome), and even a spork.

This combo solar radio and crank flashlight from Gaiam.compictured here has been sitting in my basement in case a tornado hit, but I finally got to toss it into the car and get some use out of it. This item goes beyond "double duty," with a flashlight, flashing signal light, and radio. It can be powered by an A/C adapter, but that seems to defeat the purpose when you've already got a crank and a solar panel. I stuck it out in the sun for a while and then cranked it for half a minute for good measure. We used the flashlight all night without having to recrank it. The claim is that it will run 25 hours on a full charge.

The AM/FM radio sound could have been better in something that lists for $50 it seems: it sounds like your basic cheap transistor radio with a tuner that seems to drift off signal quite easily. Don't try to find a station when your hand is shaking. The whole thing is surprisingly light though, so there's the tradeoff.

The radio is good enough to provide some tunes without being plugged in though and you don't have to worry about the batteries giving out. When you're not using it, this item can also provide some peace of mind. Keep it in the trunk of your car or in your house and you know that no matter what happens to the power supply during a storm or a breakdown, you've got a light, a signal, and a way to hear the news.

By the way, this is post #200 on this travel gear blog. To catch all the new reviews, subscribe here.

Cupcoats for Your Takeout Coffee

I am fortunate enough to have a coffee shop a block from my house that uses real mugs. The one a little further away in my neighborhood does not, however, nor does the landfill nightmare known as Starbucks. Plus if you're grabbing a coffee to go, you're stuck with a throwaway cup unless you've worked out a deal to fill up your own.

I always say that if every person changed a few insignificant regular habits, they could reduce their impact on the planet far more than by doing more hyped actions such as buying carbon offsets for a flight. Here's one that's dead easy: buy one of these cool Cupcoats to put around your take-out coffee instead of slapping on the cardboard sleeve you see everyone using. If you only buy one cup of coffee a week, that's 52 pieces of garbage avoided. If you pick up a cup every day---whoa Nellie! That's a lot of extra trash (and the fuel to manufacture and ship it) avoided.

These things actually feel better in your hand too, whether it's the soft cloth ones in groovy colors and patterns or the burlap ones made from recycled coffee bags. Yes, made from used coffee bean sacks; talk about appropriate recycling!

As best I can tell from the Cupcoat Expressions website, there are about 40 different designs to choose from, ranging from $7 to $9.50. They switch out designs seasonally though and you can order custom prints or logos for company swag or a charity event. Starbucks could do this too, I suppose, but they'd probably charge you $20 for one.

These reusable cup sleeves fit most 12 to 20 ounce cups, they're made in Canada, and are biodegradable. This item is right up there with the reusable grocery bag, compact flourescents, and rechargeable batteries: a no-brainer.

Search for more eco-friendly travel gear and gadgets at Gaiam.com

Jimi Plastic Wallet

I'm on vacation right now, but am popping in with a review of the Jimi plastic wallet I'm carrying around. It has a slot for credit cards and a money clip, which is about all I need besides my passport.

Why a plastic wallet? Well, paradoxically it can be good for the environment, but I like it for practical reasons. My money stays dry at the pool or on a boat---or in the rain. It pops into a zippered pocket easily on my shorts. And I don't care if it gets scratched up or something. If you want, you can even hang it around your neck on a lanyard, wearing it under your clothing.

The Jimi wallet comes in a variety of colors, is durable, is water resistant, and is made in the USA even, from 100 percent recycled materials. Get your own for $15.

Solio Magnesium Edition Solar Charger

If you have read an article about personal solar power or have seen items featured on a TV show, chances are there was a Solio charger in the mix. The company was one of the first to put out a compact, innovative solar charger and its fan design made it fun to photograph.

Now they have put out a more rugged but far more expensive Magnesium Edition model that is nice, but a dubious upgrade in my opinion. (It lists for $200). Like the original, blades fold out to allow three different surfaces to catch the rays and store them as energy. Then you can charge up your phone, your iPod, or whatever gadget you have the right connections for. Some of those come with this, plus this newer model gives you a coupon for ordering one more. This model also works with the iGo system of plugs, so if you already have that this upgrade will be worth it for compatibility.

I got more stymied by this item than most. For one thing, there is only one button on it, so if the charger is not doing what you want (indicated by coded flashes), good luck figuring out what to do. In my case it would not charge initially using the sun; I had to plug it into a socket first, then use solar after it ran down. It did fully charge my iPod from solar power though, and the company claims it will hold its charge for a year. The rule of thumb is, one hour of sun equals 15 minutes of cell phone talk time or 40 minutes of MP3 music.

This newer one claims to have 25 percent more output, but is it worth $100 more than the original Solio charger? If you are about to climb Mt. Everest, maybe so---or if you already use the iGo charger system. Otherwise, go for the original.

You can get either version of the Solio Hybrid charger---as well as lots of other useful solar gadgets--at Current Energy.

Double-duty Mobile Charger from Duracell

I think I've made it to the point where about 95 percent of my battery use is rechargeable batteries. The main exception is the damn smoke alarms in my house as they only seem to work with throwaway alkalines, even though they're hotwired and the battery is just a back-up.

There's always one big inconvenience though: most rechargeable batteries lose juice over time, so if you charge them up and leave them in a drawer, they'll be half dead when it's time to use them. Most lose somewhere around two percent of their capacity a day. So you have to charge them up close to the time you're going to use them.

The exception to this are so-called hybrid batteries, which come ready to use out of the package and are not so prone to energy evaporation. The ones that came with this Duracell Mobile Charger worked fine right after I wrestled wrestled them loose from the (non-recyclable) clamshell packaging and the company claims that they only lose two percent of their power per month instead of per day.

Then there's the charger. It isn't nearly as compact as the Energizer travel charger I reviewed earlier, but on the plus side it has a USB port. This makes it qualify as a good double-duty charger: you can charge up the batteries by plugging it in or charge up your MP3 player by plugging it into the charger. So you can recharge your tunes without powering up a laptop. Power flows out from the batteries too though, so in a pinch you could pop in charged batteries and send that power to your USB device. Also, this unit has four individual status lights, so you can see when each battery is fully charged.

The Duracell Mobile Charger goes for anywhere from $17 to $29 depending on whether you are buying one stocked with two or four batteries and whether it comes with a car adapter.

Get the car adapter version with 4 batteries for $21 at Amazon
Get one with two batteries only at Amazon

The Best Eco-friendly Travel Gadgets

Excuse the long stretch of no travel gear reviews here, but I am on the move through western Canada until next week and am using stuff instead of logging on and writing about it. More to come.

Meanwhile, here's a rundown of the best eco-friendly travel gear I put together for a new site called Tibesti.com. I'm working as their gear and gadget review columnist, so there are some other ones there and more on the way. This one is topical though, as fuel costs continue to rise and we all look for ways to lessen our impact on the environment as we travel.

Many of these items you have seen reviewed here before, such as the cool HyMini wind charger, the BoGo Solar Flashlight, and the Shake Flashlight.

I will be getting a review of the Solo Magnesium solar charger up here soon, but first I have to spend some more time with it to grasp how in the world the company justifies a $200 price tag for something that doesn't seem to crank out much juice...


Search for more eco-friendly travel gear and gadgets at Gaiam.com

Eco-friendly Sunscreen

If you're going snorkeling around sensitive coral reefs or swimming in cenotes, it is becoming clear that regular sunscreen is a big no-no. It's harmful to the marine life and may kill the coral, according to this National Geographic article.

Four chemicals commonly used in sunscreen activate a virus that can bleach the coral. "The researchers estimate that 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers annually in oceans worldwide, and that up to 10 percent of coral reefs are threatened by sunscreen-induced bleaching."

Of course you yourself won't be bleached if you don't wear any sun protection; you'll be cooked red instead. So the sensible solution is eco-safe/marine friendly sunscreen like that produced by Caribbean Sol. (As in Caribbean Solutions.)

It feels the same on your skin and blocks out the rays with the same zinc oxide (not one of the four culprits in bleaching), but is biodegradable and won't harm the coral or the fish. In my tests it performed just as well as the standard kind. It comes in SPFs ranging from 4 to 25 and there's also a kid's sunscreen version.

If you can't find the Caribbean Sol version, check around for others, but be wary: it's easy for a sunscreen to say "oil-free" or "eco-friendly" and still be filled with the offending chemicals. There's no regulation on the terms. Some outdoor sports and gear stores sell another brand, Mexitan, that is one of the only ones approved for some of the "natural sunscreen only" places in the Yucatan.

The other solution is to wear a sunshirt of some kind instead--probably the best bet anyway if your back will be facing the sun for hours of snorkeling.

Shake Light Flashlight - No Batteries!

A couple years back I ran a review of a shake flashlight (torch) that never needs batteries. I bought that one for less than 10 bucks on eBay though and got what I paid for. After about a year the switch started wigging out on me and I had to hold my thumb on it to keep the light on. (Still makes a good kid toy though.) Now I'm using something more rugged and dependable: the Shakelight from Gaiam.

This one runs $20 to $30 depending on the exact model and where you buy it, but it could be the last flashlight you ever need. Plus you don't ever have to buy batteries for it. If a twister comes through or a meteor wipes out the electric grid, you'll still have light for weeks with just a shake of the arm. Naturally this makes it a good bet for traveling in developing countries too since the electricity supply is often dicey and the acid batteries go straight into the ground or into a burning pile of garbage. This you just shake and the magnetic coil system does its thing.

The Gaiam Shakelight weighs less than a pound, but has a double coil that enables almost a half hour of light after just two minutes of shaking. It's nine inches long and thin except for where the light comes out, so it's not much trouble to pack. It's the little things that often have the most impact on the environment over time. Using an eco-friendly flashlight is one little thing that's painless and productive.

(Just one warning on the box though: avoid this if you've got implanted medical devices and you might want to keep it away from any magnetic computer disks or credit cards.)

Get this version from Amazon for $20.

Search for more eco-friendly gear from Gaiam.com