The Better World Travelers Club
Arthur Stamoulis
 You're
driving down the road late one Friday night, on your way to visit
relatives a few states over. You're just about a half-hour from making
it, when all of a sudden your car starts acting up. You pull over,
pop the hood and notice smoke. Crud. Even if you know how to fix the
problem, you certainly don't have the tools and supplies necessary
to repair your car there on the side of the road. What on Earth are
you going to do?
If you're like 43 million other Americans, you reach into your
pocket, pull out your AAA card and call the trusty American Automobile
Association for a tow.
Founded in 1902, AAA has been providing drivers with reliable roadside
assistance for almost a century. They also offer free maps, hotel
and restaurant discounts, bail bonds and more. But their work doesn't
end there.
Unbeknownst to many members, AAA also spends their dues money on
car-friendly lobbying efforts that, according to Harper's Magazine,
"fuel pollution and sprawl." AAA has fought against strengthening
the Clean Air Act, and has opposed rules requiring cleaner exhaust
systems for cars, trucks and SUVs. At different points, the automobile
club has opposed safety regulations such as air bags. AAA even belongs
to a lobbying group that goes so far as to claim that building roads
is good for the environment, because "cars stuck in traffic
waste fuel." Mass transit is apparently off that lobbying group's
radar screen altogether.
Auto owners who don't support AAA's anti-environmental legacy,
but are wearisome of abandoning its roadside assistance safeguards,
do have options. The Better World Travelers Club offers similar
service to the venerable AAA for a similar price, but without the
destructive political agenda.
Launched from existing "green" travel agencies by entrepreneurs
Mitch Rofsky and Todd Silberman in 2002, the Better World Travelers
Club offers towing, flat tire assistance, locksmith allowances,
hotel discounts, trip routing, and almost all the rest. But unlike
AAA, the Better World Travelers Club goes out of its way to support
sound environmental policies like mass transit funding and the Clean
Air Act — and they put their money where their mouth is. One
percent of all the club's revenues go towards environmental cleanup
efforts nationwide. Last year, its travel agency alone donated $615,725
to environmental programs.
 This
support of good causes is not unusual for Rofsky, who was former
president of Working Assets Capital Management, a mutual fund best
known for its social responsibility, and before that a consumer
advocate in Washington, DC. Silberman brings long-time experience
with travel agencies to the table, as founder and former head of
Lifeco Services, once the third largest travel company in the nation.
The Better World Travelers Club goes even further in its support
for the environment than simple donations. It offers big discounts
on what it calls "eco-travel services," such as stays
in green hotels and spots in Earth-friendly tours. Better World
also offers discounts of up to 20 percent for people who choose
to rent electric or hybrid cars, and even offers discounts on bicycle
sales.
One of the company's most innovative services is its "Travel
Cool!" program. Recognizing that the average domestic airline
flight in this country releases over 1700 pounds of greenhouse gasses
into the atmosphere, each time one of its members books a flight
through its agency, the Better World Travelers Club makes a free
donation to a project that will offset some of that carbon dioxide
production. The club also sells these pollution-offset credits,
which are certified by the Climate Neutral Network, to people looking
to balance out the emissions from their day-to-day driving.
One project funded through the "Travel Cool!" program
was the upgrade of Portland Public Schools' old-fashioned oil-burning
boilers, a measure that has reduced greenhouse emissions by tens
of thousands of tons, not to mention saving the school district
a considerable amount of money.
This type of innovation — coupled with increased revelations
about AAA — has helped garner the Better World Travelers Club
a fair amount of support very quickly.
Consumer-rights guru Ralph Nader claims, "The Rosky-Silberman
effort in blazing a new trail in the travel business should remind
American business that profit-making enterprises can operate with
a conscience and with an authentic concern about the environment
and health."
"We're signing up [with Better World] immediately," said
Tom Magliozzi, co-host of National Public Radio's popular program
"Car Talk," who added, "If AAA thinks that it's a
good idea for every single person to get to work in 3000 pounds
of iron, we sure don't want to help support such a silly idea. Cars
stink. Everybody knows that."
For more information on the Better World Travelers Club, visit
http://www.betterworldclub.com.
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