In September 2007, Andalusia, the southern province of Spain, welcomed two honeymooners to flaunt their Spanish and lose themselves in the whimsy of the winding streets of Granada, Seville, Cordoba, and Malaga.

Fresh from our eco-friendly wedding in the Marin Headlands, we arrived with adventurous spirits and green dreams. Our mission was to have an authentic experience and to minimize our environmental impact. Imagine our excitement when we realized that our environmentally friendly experiences and our culturally enriching ones went hand in hand.

From a purist perspective, it's a stretch to argue for deep-green travel. That is, unless you're hitting the road on your bike, taking public transportation to the final stop before your trailhead into the wild backcountry, or touring in a vehicle powered by reclaimed vegetable oil from restaurants along your route.

I know a few people who travel like this, but not many. And while I don't mind roughing it with them, I acknowledge that such eco-intensive travel options may not appeal to the masses.

On the other hand, mindful travel is a good and easy way to go: It takes into account the environmental, social/cultural, and economic effects of your presence, and it's a powerful catalyst for change. By crossing borders, comfort zones, and language barriers, explorers of the globe gain a deeper understanding of the bigger picture -- over six billion people share our planet, and we are more the same than we are different.

Travel opens eyes and minds to the reality that in our shrinking global community, the repercussions of our choices extend far beyond us. Such awareness is pivotal to creating a society that makes conscious choices and that embraces the truth that we're all in this together.

As for the honeymooners, our green path was a surprisingly easy one: We took public transportation, frequented locally owned restaurants and family-operated hostels, and even stayed with friends of friends for a truly authentic experience. Sure, at times our bus trips were long and uncomfortable, we occasionally craved something other than whatever tapa the kitchen was serving, and we certainly inhaled more cigarette smoke than our California lungs bargained for in the home of our hosts in Malaga.

Still, we were thrilled to shrink the environmental impact of our travel, to invest our dollars in small local businesses, and to gain a more intimate understanding of Spain and its people. Ultimately, we enjoyed a rich and authentic experience, a beautiful benefit to making environmentally conscious choices that lessened our impact on the planet.

Amelia and Alex Spilger live in Sausalito and invest their working hours in promoting local agriculture and green building. They also guide trips for responsible travelers to Central America.