Green Daily

(Photo by Natura)

As I've mentioned, one of my other jobs is writing for UpTake.com's hotels blog. It's a fun gig that lets me indulge in my love of travel and in the best of cases, sometimes it also overlaps with my eco-interests.

A great example of this is the Kimpton group of hotels and restaurants. I just recently stayed at one of their properties, the 70 Park Avenue, in NYC, and as always it was a delightfully green hotel stay. In-room recycling, energy efficient water and light fixtures, organic toiletries, and of course we reused our towels.

The San Francisco-based organization consistently demonstrates some of the best environmental practices in the hotel and restaurant industries. In 2005 they formally launched the "EarthCare" program in all of their properties, but they've been practicing green as far back as 1981!

(Photo by Getty Images)

The days are getting longer and school is almost out. That means it's time to make summer vacation plans!

After a few seasons of "staycations," many people are craving a break from their everyday life -- we want a little adventure! By the same token, the economy is still shaky, and the spirit of giving back is still a strong influence on all of our decisions.

How does a conservation-minded person reconcile all of these feelings and motivations?

One answer is to take advantage of the World Wildlife Fund vacation packages that promote conservation while taking travelers to remote sites in a sustainably-managed way. The programs offered include:

• a trip to the Arctic to see polar bears, who might be gone soon and need all the support they can get
• a voyage to Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve to help improve the water and ensure conservation of natural resources
• visit remote islands in New Zealand and help prevent the bycatch of dolphins
• a family vacation to Belize to help conserve the Mesoamerican reef, which you even get to visit on a snorkel excursion!

The International Eco-Tourism Society offers even more choices of location, beneficiary and location, as well as tips and educational tools. The site even has a brand new eco-tourism job board, in case the thought of going home fills you with dread.

If your budget is still a bit tight for international any travel, there's always a day at your local zoo. It may not be as exotic as Kenya or Belize, but it can still be educational, entertaining, and in a way you're supporting conservation efforts. And if you're very clever about how you take pictures, you might even be able to convince the gang back at the office that you were in a truly wild place!

Even though I also write for a travel site, I often struggle to find good green travel options. There is no standardization in the way hotels and attractions report their eco-efforts, and so you have to dig around for information. With The Eco-Travel Guide, by Alastair Fuad-Luke, we green voyagers have a resource book to guide our wanderlust.

Fuad-Luke is a well-known presence in the world of sustainable and eco-friendly design and the founder of slowdesign.org. His design sensisibilities can be felt throughout the well organized and beautifully illustrated Eco-Travel Guide.

The book is set up in four parts. It starts with an exploration of the idea of eco-travel and how our need to move around the world consumes energy and resources. Fuad-Luke also includes a detailed and well-researched discussion on how to "mitigate the negative impacts of travel".

Once you're in this responsible frame of mind, you're ready to explore the world with sections two and three, Eco-destinations and Eco-products.

By their nature, lists of destinations go out of date quickly, but arm-chair travelers and adventurous trekkers alike will be inspired by the descriptions of 200 international spas, camps, resorts and villas. Each entry includes information on green credentials, conservation efforts and activities.

The eco-product line is a bit more evergreen, and just as fascinating. Did you know about the Solar Sailor ferry that runs in Sydney Harbor? Or the very foldable -- and round -- Locust bike? Again, you can really see Fuar-Luke's design aesthetic in the 100 products he includes.

The final section is Resources, which includes a glossary, index of eco-destinations and suggested reading list. It's a great place for beginning eco-tourists or people with more experience who want a quick way to check information.

You can order the book directly from publishers Thames & Hudson for just $29.95.

Of all places in US to launch an experimental car-sharing program, most analysts would probably put any city in truck-month loving Texas somewhere near the bottom of the list. Thwarting intuition, that's somehow the very first place that Diamler is going to test their Car2Go mobility program. The horde of Smart ForTwos for rent will descend upon the Lone Star State's capital city this fall.

We may all be flying a little less in these financially tight times, but we also may be looking for cheaper ways to fly when we have to get somewhere far away. In my case, buddy passes from friends who work for airlines have allowed me to travel more than I could have otherwise.

I was talking to one of those friends recently, who said that when she calculated her carbon footprint, she didn't count her standby flights: the planes would fly anyway, she said, and plus, it would make her carbon footprint huge.

If I took my standby flights out of by carbon footprint calculation, my footprint would go down several thousand pounds of C02. What do you think? Is flying standby greener?

If you are in Austin or on your way there, keep in mind that you can relatively sustainable at SXSW. SXSW is a 22 year old music festival in Austin that is the place to be for musicheads and techie types, and it is in full swing right now.

Here are few things to consider while you do your daily listening:

• SXSW has partnered with Bicycle Sport Shop to provide a variety of rental bikes. Bike, don't drive, or walk. Downtown Austin is not that big.
• Pedicabs are also available. And who doesn't want a ride in one of those?
• Everyone has a battery need at a time like this. Use rechargeable batteries, and buy solar powered battery chargers for your cell phone, iPod, etc.
• SXSW suggests you head to their sustainability panels, and that you read "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannery.
• SXSW also suggests you avoid the brand new "I was at SXSW" t-shirt in exchange for vintage clothes on South Congress
• They also encourage getting your water bottle out and refilling it with tap water or water from the fountain at the Austin Convention Centre.
• As many will be craving an alcoholic beverage, SXSW also suggests you look for local beers and wines. Local means less carbon created in getting your beer to your lips.
  

And check out the SXSW YouTube site if you can't go.

If you notice a school of menacing-looking metallic carp pass by you while you're snorkeling off the coast of Spain, don't freak out. You're most likely not going to get to name a previously undiscovered species. A group of scientists from the UK-based BMT Group have developed a school of robo-fish that will soon be released into the sea to monitor pollution levels. Their first mission: monitor the Port of Gijon in nothern Spain.

It's no secret that prolonged drought conditions have put most of the Western US in dire straits when it comes to water. In what is probably the most glaring examples of unsustainable development outside of Dubai, the warm weather and dry air (and gambling) have made Las Vegas one of the fastest growing cities in the US. Combine that sprawl with declining snow pack in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, and you've got a water conservation issue that is a story all by itself.

Rather than wait for a Noah's Ark sized flood to bail them out, the city government has instituted all sort of restricitons and incentives to help slow the draining of Lake Mead. One of those measures is what I'm calling de-grassification. The city is offerring to pay residents $1.50 per square foot for converting their grass lawns into desert landscaping. Even if don't live in Las Vegas, it's a good idea to rethink your landscaping. Other very visible areas, like golf courses are cutting back on lawn farming. The Angel Park Golf Club, for example, is actually in the process of tearing up 80 acres of unnecessary turf and replacing it with gravel. Crazy.

For years, Disney has be known for bringing fairy tales to life, but can the film studio/retailer of plasticrap/world's most outlandish amusement park operator really ever succeed in completely zeroing out their emissions? Apparently, the minds at Disney think so. On Monday, they announced plans to cut fuel emissions in half at the company's retail stores, theme parks, and cruise lines by 2012. From there, Disney will attempt to eradicate its entire carbon mouseprint.

If the idea of making Disney zero emissions makes your brain hurt, you're not alone. Personally, I can't even imagine how the plan to divert 100% of their landfill waste -- which they also committed to Monday. According to Disney, they plan to completely eliminate their landfill output (which was 300,000 tons in 2006) through composting, recycling, and purchasing post consumer waste. Unsuprisingly, Disney has yet to "put a definite time horizon" on this unbelievalbe transformation. According to Disney, that's partly because some of the technologies needed haven't been developed yet. Wow, talk about lofty goals.

You're probably wondering if the pink dolphin is the latest and greatest eco-friendly sex toy shaped like a dolphin. Well, this post isn't about sex toys at all (try this one). Instead, it's actually about a super rare bottlenose dolphin that's actually pink in color. Quite literally, a pink dolphin. The dolphin was first spotted in an inland saltwater lake in Louisiana by a charter boat captain who notice it's light coloration as it swam. On closer inspection, he discovered that "it was absolutely stunningly pink."

The briliant pink flipper isn't part of a previously undiscovered sub-species -- although that would be awesome -- it's actually an albino, unblemished pink from nose to tail. Even its eyes are pink. As the world's only documented pink bottlenose dolphin, this fuiscia flipper has become an instant tourist attraction for Lake Calcasieu, a saltwater estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico by a ship chanel. Experts ask that any sightseers that come to gawk at the dolphin "respect it - observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it."

[via BoingBoing]

Many a decade ago, Los Angeles World Airports decided to buy land, via eminent domain, in Palmdale. Palmdale is a town about a 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles. In the late 1970s Los Angeles airport officials thought this land could be a great airport, but it never got off the ground. Nothing happened. Now, LAX has an idea for that patch of dirt in the desert.

A solar farm. A local proposition recently passed requires that Los Angeles create 400 megawatts of electricity from solar installations by 2014. That's a lot. It's doable, but a solar farm in the desert would help bunches. The city's Department of Water and Power would like to use about 4,000 acres of the land for a solar farm.

Some officials aren't thrilled about this idea, largely because the land was taken from residents for airport purposes that have never materialized. No carrier has made Palmdale a longterm base, and LAX hasn't gotten around to doing anything with the land. If that hurtle is successfully crossed the Federal Airport Administration will need to approve using airport land for something other than flying planes.

Proponents say the move could create 8,000 jobs. Opponents say it will really just produce high utility rates. The word that both of them use is solar.


[via LA Times]

While there are lots of things that can annoy your skin after a visit to the beach, like the sand, the sunscreen and the sun, you may also be bring home some staph bacteria, according to a new study.

A study from researchers at the University of Miami showed that swimmers at crowded public beaches in the subtropical zone, such as Florida, have a 37 percent higher risk of being exposed to staph, including Methicillin- resistant staph, or MRSA. The researchers believe that the staph comes from other swimmers, and then is transferred in the water. It is also possible that the bacteria is in the sand, but even then, it would originate from other people.

The researchers recommend showering before the beach as not to deposit your own germs into the water, and showering once you leave. They also note that as long as you don't go into the water with an open wound, you should be "fine." I would also think avoiding overcrowded beaches could lessen the risk a bit, if the staph is indeed coming from people.

We already know that Beijing is far from shy when it comes to tampering with the weather, they proved that when they shot anti-rain missles into the sky to keep the Olympic Games dry. Now, the Beijing Weather Modification Command Center (yes, there really is such a thing) is working to bust a severe drought. Over the last few days, they've shot rockets containing 500 cigarette-sized sticks of silver iodide from 28 rocket bases all over the city.

What they got in return for their effort was a mini-blizzard. The snow didn't come out of nowhere, small flurries started falling on Tuesday, so officials decided to try to milk some precipitation out of the clouds and see what happens. Based on the heavy snowfall that resulted, closing 12 major highways I might add, the Beijing's weather modifications are being viewed as a major victory.

"The snow has brought moisture to the soil and that may end the drought."

Whether or not you think it's a good idea, the idea of launching rockets filled of silver iodide into the clouds in order to coax a little rain out of the clouds has to be at best a semi-unsettling last resort. Personally, I find cloud seeding to be a creepy practice, so I'm hoping this doesn't become some kind of standard procedure.

We all remember Beijing's monumental -- and sometimes overzealous -- attempt to make last year's Olympic Games a little easier on the planet. Since then, they've cracked down on vehicle emissions and made some small improvements to their air quality, but they might want to reevaluate the way they party. Despite their efforts, it appears that one massive fireworks display celebrating the lunar new year was so incredibly dirty that it caused Beijing's pollution levels to triple overnight.

Not to mention, it got so out of control that an errant rocket crashed into the 34 floor Mandarin Oriental Hotel setting the unfinished, yet already iconic, skyscraper ablaze. Not super great for the environment. According to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, particulate levels reached 810 micrograms per cubic meter in some places. To put that in context, the WHO's standard for long term exposure is a concentration of 20micrograms per cubic meter. So, to answer a question I asked last 4th of July -- yes, your fireworks can blow up the environment.

[via Treehugger]