It’s been a lovely year for travel. We like to travel but we can’t always find the time. We have demanding jobs and demanding cats. This means we don’t always get to stay as long as we would like to when we do get to travel. It is some times hard to take the time to assess a city and it’s zero waste features and possibilities. But even a few days can give you an idea of how it is to travel zero waste. Here are my impressions of two of the four major cities we visited this year.
Jackson Square in the French Quarter on a cloudy day.
New Orleans, LA
NOLA is pretty much an anything goes kind of city. So it’s easy to ask for things in your own cup or bag, no one looks at you funny for bringing your own utensils or to go containers. There’s tons of cafes, restaurants, and shops that are easy to eat-in so as not to create waste. New Orleans is pretty environmentally conscious due to it’s precarious nature and history. When I was there in February, I noticed some places with paper straws, paper packaging, and other signs of awareness. There are a few places I have read about that are specifically geared towards zero waste, but I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting them. Hey! Cafe (where environmental activist and zero waster Rob Greenfield visited in 2017) and the New Orleans Food Co-op are definitely on my list for my next visit. There is a broad network of trolleys and buses, but it’s also easy to get around on foot as a visitor. I love New Orleans and think that it is definitely in my top ten cities that I would gladly move to.
Washington Square in The Marigny section of NOLA.
The downside of NOLA waste would definitely be the souvenirs, beads, and decoration waste mostly associated with Mardi Gras.
Overall, I think being zero waste in NOLA is pretty easy, as long as you stay conscious and avoid the really touristy things, like to go beverages in plastic cups, drive throughs and all the plastic trinkets. You can walk or take trolleys to explore the city. And feel comfortable that asking for no plastic is not the weirdest thing anyone has seen all day.
A vista near Buffalo Bill’s tomb outside of Denver.
Denver, CO
From what I had heard about the hippy dippy nature of Colorado (and I guess my preconceptions about all the pot smoking) I thought Denver would be very progressive. A “hippy” city. I was quite surprised with my observations. One of the first places that we went to get a bite to eat was billed as a veg and eco friendly. It seemed to be neither and didn’t herald a prosperous start. throughout our 3 day trip, I saw a lot of plastic, lots of straws, a lot a disposables. Some restaurants we visited, like Uncle Ramen, did have higher standards. Uncle uses disposable chopsticks and napkins but also makes sure these all go to composting. There were quite a few farm to table restaurants, used book shops, thrift and vintage shops that we found and really enjoyed. No one seemed to mind when I asked for things in my own cup and it was clear that water was a necessity in the hight elevation. We saw lot of reusable water bottles. Being a very health conscious and outdoorsy place, I’m sure there are a lot of resources for those activities, but we didn’t find them on this first visit. The main transport seemed to be driving but there was a light rail that went to the airport and the heart of the city.
The downside of Denver Waste seemed to be that it’s a very large and spread out city. It didn’t seem possibe to travel easily by public transport and walking was impossible. With that and the seemingly lack of awareness, it made it hard to feel comfortably zero waste. Many places still presented purchased items in plastic bags and the city streets had a lot of litter.
The Chatsfield Reservoir south of Denver.
Overall, Denver felt like a big dirty city to me. I felt that I mostly had to go out of my way for zero waste options. That is how it is in much of my day to day experience is, to be fair. But it surprised me bc of my preconceived notions about CO. After visiting Denver once, I would really like to see more, get a better feel for it and visit some of the surrounding cities that are supposedly more progressive (CO Springs, Boulder…etc…). But upon first visit it didn’t strike me as a place I could ever see myself living.
I definitely have a bias where these two cities are involved, as I LOVE New Orleans and already feel comfortable there. I did the minute I got there on my first visit. So it would be helpful to hear from my readers! Have you visited these cities? What were your thoughts on them from a zero waster or generally traveller?
We visited two other cities this year, stay tuned for the reviews on those places!