Tag: Eco Travel
World Travel Watch: Smog in Hong Kong, Heavy UK Snowfall and More
by Larry Habegger | 01.06.10 | 11:25 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
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Yahoo! BuzzVideo: Black Carbon Travels the Globe
by Eva Holland | 12.16.09 | 1:39 PM ET
Wired has a video simulation (and brief explanation) of the movement of black carbon—the emission from diesel, wood and coal burning—around the earth’s surface. Who knew pollution could look so cool?
On the Move: ‘Climate Migrants’ in Bangladesh
by Eva Holland | 12.14.09 | 5:16 PM ET
World Hum contributor Joanna Kakissis reports for The World on the growing numbers of Bangladeshis displaced by a changing landscape. The story’s also available as an audio file. Here’s a sample:
[T]he farmers of Kalikabari are on the leading edge of what could be a great wave of migration. Studies estimate that the effects of climate change could force 30 million Bangladeshis from their homes by the middle of this century. Many environmental migrants are already showing up here—in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.
Photo You Must See: The World in Copenhagen
by World Hum | 12.11.09 | 3:06 PM ET
REUTERS/Christian Charisius A large globe sits in Copenhagen’s lit-up central square. The United Nations Climate Change Conference is ongoing in the Danish capital.
Canada Makes the Next Move in Northwest Passage Dispute
by Eva Holland | 12.09.09 | 2:13 PM ET
Time for another round of diplomatic maneuvering as the ice recedes around the long-sought northern shipping route. The latest move? Canada has announced plans to create a formal marine conservation area in Lancaster Sound, in waters which the American and Russian governments claim are international. The change would allow shipping but make waste dumping, mining and oil and gas development in the area illegal under Canadian law.
Fallows: ‘How I Survived China’
by Michael Yessis | 10.19.09 | 9:58 AM ET
The Atlantic’s former China correspondent reflects on the health issues he faced as an expat amid the “ochre skies and suspect sanitation of China.” The air quality there can be so bad, one doctor told Fallows, “I encourage people with children not to consider extended tours in China. Those little lungs.”
What will future air quality be like in China? In Beijing, at least, it’s already improving.
Interview With Richard Hammond and Jeremy Smith: ‘Clean Breaks’
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.23.09 | 12:15 PM ET
Joanna Kakissis talks green travel, greenwashing and experiential journeys with the authors of a new book
The Triumphant Return of the Trabant
by Eva Holland | 09.18.09 | 11:41 AM ET
Yep, it’s true. The much-mocked East German vehicle of choice, which has gained a nostalgic following (or should I say ostalgic?) since the fall of the Berlin Wall, is coming back on the market—as an electric car. Wired’s Autopia bloggers, apparently immune to nostalgia, are horrified.
Photo We Love: Purple (and Green) World Heritage Windmills
by World Hum | 09.17.09 | 5:04 PM ET
REUTERS/Jerry Lampen Energy-efficient LED lighting illuminates the World Heritage-listed windmills of Kinderdijk, Netherlands.
Are Cruises Green?
by Eva Holland | 09.02.09 | 11:55 AM ET
That’s the question being tackled in Slate’s latest Green Lantern column. The short answer: No.
South Africa: A Wildlife Conservation Grand Tour
by Eva Holland | 08.20.09 | 12:05 PM ET
Slate’s Green Room leads the way.
Hybrid Double-Decker Buses Debut in London
by Michael Yessis | 07.09.09 | 2:30 PM ET
Six of them are now in use on Route 141. The city will assess just how much fuel and money it can save with the buses before expanding the fleet. (Via @joannakakissis, @ecogeek)
Give Some Time, Get Some Free Travel
by Alicia Imbody | 07.09.09 | 11:46 AM ET
A new promotion from Sage Hospitality encourages travelers to “give a day” of service and “get a night” back, via a free hotel stay or 50 percent off the rate at 52 hotels across the U.S.
Programs like these show potential to encourage public service in exchange for travel perks, especially among folks with more spare time right now than spare change. There’s no obligation to stay additional nights. Just complete eight documented hours with a registered 501(c)3 non profit organization. Extra (karma) points if you work for a green cause to help offset the environmental impact of your trip.
‘How Much are Venice, the Everglades, and New Orleans Worth?’
by Eva Holland | 07.02.09 | 9:31 AM ET
Andrew Sullivan points the way to a Matt Steinglass post about the limits of measuring climate change damage in economic terms:
There will be no Everglades in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is marginal. There will be no Venice in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is tiny. There will be no New Orleans in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is extremely small. ... But the worth of many precious things cannot be measured in money.
Indeed.
My Deep-Sea Orbit Into a Love of Place
by Joanna Kakissis | 07.01.09 | 1:41 PM ET
Photo by Joanna Kakissis The deep, clean dive into the sea off Southwestern Greece probably sealed my lifelong attachment to the pristine in places. I was 9 years old and, until then, had only swam in chlorinated swimming pools and muddy river water in landlocked North Dakota. My father had grown up swimming in a secluded beach near the village of Kyparissia as a young orphan and had associated its salty breath and blue-green water with a wanderlust that would turn him dreamy-eyed even as a middle-aged man. To him, travel at its most elemental was about the unadorned land, enlivened by tides and breeze and hulking mountains. He described his childhood beach so lovingly that it almost sounded human.
Can We Interest You in a Whale Meat Spring Roll?
by Eva Holland | 06.24.09 | 10:22 AM ET
Uh oh. A group of restaurateurs in Yokohama, Japan, is looking to embrace the port city’s whaling heritage with a slew of new recipes—including whale dumplings, whale spring rolls and whale bacon. “Whale meat is a very important part of Japanese tradition,” one of the leading businessmen behind the push told the AFP. “If whaling is not done to excess, I think this is a great thing. ... Whale meat is delicious, high in protein, low in fat.”
Delicious or not, I can already hear the howls of protest from animal-rights activists worldwide.
When (So-Called) Eco-Travelers Sin
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.11.09 | 4:24 PM ET
Photo by stevendepolo via Flickr (Creative Commons)
When I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Last American Man a few years ago, I was struck by an exchange between the nature-embracing mountain man Eustace Conway and an acolyte whose idea of life-changing sustainability was to turn off the water when she was brushing her teeth.
I wonder if some so-called “eco-travelers” operate the same way. Maybe they book a “life-changing” holiday at an eco-resort in Costa Rica and declare themselves sustainable travelers. But what if they take their unsustainable bad habits with them?
Should Air Travelers Help Pay for the Poor’s Climate Change Woes?
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.10.09 | 3:16 PM ET
It’s been a vexing question since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed that air travel is the world’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Some 16,000 commercial jet aircraft produce more than 700 million tons of CO2 every year, the IPCC says. Though air travel accounts for between two and four percent of global warming attributed to human activities, that amount is expected to grow to 15 percent in 50 years.
Meanwhile, 45 million people are starving or malnourished because of climate change-spurred droughts, floods and other natural disasters. The Global Humanitarian Forum, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says 300,000 people a year die because of climate change and that number will reach 500,000 annually by 2030. As negotiators prepare for a major climate summit in Copenhagen this December, they are also trying to figure out how developed countries (who produce the bulk of carbon emissions) can help save developing countries (who are suffering the most because of global warming). Taxing air travel is a favorite idea.
Eco-Travelers and ‘Seafood for Thought’: An Interview with Lindblad Expeditions
by Joanna Kakissis | 05.29.09 | 12:10 PM ET
Photo courtesy of Mathew Lachesnez-Heude The image of sun-kissed travelers eating fresh fish at a seaside tavern has probably graced scores of brochures, postcards and promotional films. But is a craving for this iconic fish dinner contributing to the collapse of 75 percent of the world’s fisheries?
The business of seafood is big: The international trade in fish and fish products rakes in some $50 billion annually. But trawlers are fishing sea life faster than it can replenish itself. As a result, once-bountiful fish such as the Mediterranean bluefin tuna—the so-called king fish of the global sushi industry—will collapse by 2012, according to the World Wildlife Federation.
I spoke with Mathew Lachesnez-Heude, the environmental manager for eco-progressive small-ship tour operator Lindblad Expeditions, about sustainable seafood and the choices travelers can make to help restore the world’s sea life.
More Ahi, Please*
by Pam Mandel | 05.27.09 | 10:25 AM ET
You can not pile too much ahi—the Hawaiian name for tuna—on my plate. I love the stuff: raw, grilled, wrapped in rice and nori and served as sushi, marinated in soy and spice and served as poke, crusted with macadamia nuts and coconut and topped with a little mango sauce ... I swear I am turning into a big drooling mess just thinking about it.
But overfishing is depleting tuna stocks, just like it’s depleting so many of our dinner-bound, ocean-dwelling populations, driving up the price and making for scarce supply.
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