Need a vacation without a huge carbon footprint? If you're an environmentalist who loves yoga, check out the Telluride Yoga Festival. This second annual event promises to be a relaxing and envigorating weekend yoga retreat -- all while going easy on the planet AND benefiting a local eco nonprofit.

 

Happening July 10-12 in Telluride -- in Colorado's San Juan Mountains -- the festival features yoga masters in a wide variety of yoga practices and classes for all levels. Each of the three days will kick off with daily morning meditation, followed by three two-hour workshops, and end with nightly performances and lectures. In addition, free public events and lectures ranging from setting up a home yoga practice space to hula hooping will happen all weekend.

 

Yogis are encouraged to enjoy the weekend while thinking green, since the festival aspires to be a zero-waste event with the help of Telluride’s New Community Coalition. So take your own reusable water bottle and travel as lightly as possible!

 

Registration for the entire weekend costs $395 -- 25 percent of which will go to the Telluride chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Weekend packages with the Capella-Telluride hotel and spa are also available.