Bury the turtle.

At the Fairmont Kea Lani, the gift shop is stocked with some very eco-friendly fare. To make it easy for guests to see which items are greenest, they tag the items with turtle tags like this one.

Yeah, yeah, a special tag. Whatever. Right? Actually, it's more special than you might think. The turtles are made from biodegradable fiber and actually embedded with forget-me-not seeds. You can plant this turtle inside or outside, the paper will biodegrade, and you'll have your very own pretty, blue, Fairmont forget-me-not flowers. That's not only a very creative way to encourage eco-conscious shopping, it's a great way to have a reminder of your vacation -- or, you know, forget-it-not. (Sorry.)

The Fairmont Kea Lani has a number of environmental initiatives you can read about here, including motion sensors that control the air conditioning and the Recycling Cents program which allows charities to cash in their bottles and cans. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a turtle to bury.

Filed under: North America, Consumer Activism