Travel

When it comes to reducing our carbon footprint and paying attention to how we treat the planet, we're doing it for two main reasons - so that we can provide a healthy home for all the flora and fauna of the globe, and so that we get to enjoy those very plants and animals across the planet. That's what's behind this year's Travel and Nature winners - ways to enjoy everything life has to offer, and celebrate all the amazing living creatures that call our planet home. From the most beatuiful green yoga retreats to the most amazing natural discoveries, see what we think are the best of the best.

Though lucky participants might catch a glimpse of a bottlenose dolphin or two, smokestacks, sewage pipes, and shipping containers are the main attractions on the Urban Ocean Boat Cruise, a two-and-a-half-hour voyage along a part of the Los Angeles coastline not featured on Baywatch.

Today the EPA released its second annual ranking of U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest number of buildings receiving the Energy Star label in 2009. California cities took two of the top three slots, but that's no surprise as these cities are at the forefront of green building.

This train is bound for a greener planet. The brainchild of Bob Wolf of We Are the World Radio Simulcast fame, the Green Train will depart from Portland in April and pass through various parts of the country during a six-week whistle stop tour featuring musicians, actors, writers and artists. The final stop is Washington D.C. where it will spread the message: Drop your political and religious differences and “dig in” by volunteering for Mother Earth.