The YC is Eco-Friendly!

by Melissa Crawford

The Yuma Cabana Motel has joined the green bandwagon, and slowly but surely, is doing things to make the business and your lodging experience more environmentally friendly.

I was motivated by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia and author of a riveting business book entitled "Let My People Go Surfing." I am fascinated by his business model. He is not out to be the "biggest" and make the most money, and yet his company does tremendously well. He is most significantly a pioneer in green business making, and the world should follow suit. One question I asked him was, "You speak about how operating a "green" business saves money, but becoming green for an existing company can be quite expensive. How do I turn green without going broke?" He said, 'Don't go broke going green." His message was to do it little by little, as each small step makes a big difference.

The Green Plan
We asked our employees and got their suggestions. Here's what we have come up with so far: (1) A Recycling and Re-Use program for the Front Desk, Maintenance and Housekeeping departments; (2) Creating overall less waste; (3) Call on our guests to help us use less water in the laundry by posting in all the rooms a request that you hang your towels for re-use, and drop on the floor if you want us to launder them; (4) The YC only uses fluorescent light bulbs.

• YC TRAVELTIP: Do your part to help the environment and save water and electricity when traveling. Hang your towels up that you can use again, and turn off the lights!

Swim in Soft Water
Probably the most noticeable effort so far is the swimming pool. We have done away with harsh chemicals and are now using salt to purify the pool. We have implemented a natural process whereby table salt is converted to chlorine. The health department approves this wholeheartedly. A "saltwater" pool is not chlorine-free, it's just that the germ/bacteria killing agent is produced naturally, without superficial chemicals. Better for you, better for the environment. I think we are the only salt-water pool in Yuma, and definitely the first!

• YC TRAVEL TIP: Look for hotels that have salt water pools. They are environmentally friendly, feel better to swim in, and kill bacteria just like chlorinated pools.

You know that feeling after swimming in a chlorinated pool of wanting to wash it off your skin right away, and you smell, well, bleachy? During my recent I had such a wonderful dip in the pool, and swam laps. I haven't gone swimming in the YC pool in a long time because I do not like the chlorine. This was a wonderful experience. My skin and hair felt soft, and it was a great way to exercise. This is the method that all the expensive spas and hotels are now using in their pools. So, you get a $400 per night experience for as little as $37! Beat that!