As we’ve mentioned, it’s defined as the art of squeezing maximum mileage per gallon of fuel driving in one’s car. Congrats to the man who coined it, Wayne Gerdes. Another travel-related word that made Oxford’s 2008 shortlist: the one that shall no longer be named. 

Utah’s Bureau of Land Management has stirred the ire of the National Park Service by announcing its plan to expand drilling in eastern Utah to on or near boundaries of Arches National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.  “We’re not anti-oil and gas,” said one Park Service official. “But we’re very much pro-park.”

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An unusually large number of very old people live in hamlets near the Vietnam border in China’s scenic Guangxi Autonomous Region, creating a so-called “longevity cluster.” So how do you market a place like Bama county, home to 250,000 and 74 centenarians, to the Western world? Bill it as a haven for health tourism, reports The Wall Street Journal. Visitors can have a low-cost spa vacation by simply breathing the air, drinking the local water and eating meals here.

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Ainslie MacGibbon reveals how empowering it can be to travel with your own green power source, albeit a limited one. “[T]hese days I don’t go anywhere the sun don’t shine,” writes MacGibbon. “I end up in some interesting places.”

Related on World Hum:
* Solar-Powered Rickshaws Unveiled in India
* ‘Airports are Embracing the Green Zeitgeist’

Currently being road-tested in one of Old Delhi’s busiest markets, “soleckshaws”—as the new solar-powered rickshaws have been dubbed—are considered a boon for rickshaw drivers as much as for the environment. “Earlier, when people hailed us it was like, ‘Hey you rickshaw puller!’ Police used to harass us,” said one rickshaw driver. “Now people look at me with respect.”

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We noted last year that UNESCO added the Galapagos to a list of endangered places, citing a sharp rise in tourists, as well as migrants seeking work in tourism. Now, the Los Angeles Times reports that the Ecuadorian government has begun sending migrants back to the mainland, and it’s considering a management plan that could limit the number of visitors to the islands “with strategies such as raising the entrance fee for foreigners to $300 or more from $100.”

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Renzo Piano’s design for the $488 million, 410,000-square-foot California Academy of Sciences is reaping accolades for its architecture ("an unusually rich, thoughtful and evocative building"), content (exhibits include a planetarium, rain forest and aquarium) and opening-weekend popularity (the entrance line was a mile long). 

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Science Daily looks at the issue, and points to a possible solution: “Market the visitor rights to the highest bidder.”

Related on World Hum:
* Susan Fox Rogers: Antarctica for ‘Dreamers and Readers’
* Environmentalist on Antarctica: ‘Do We Want This to Become Disneyland’?
* A Brief and Awkward Tour of the End of the Earth

Oregon’s moody, wet and funky riverfront city started planning its growth more than three decades ago, creating strict land-use policies and taking other tough measures to preserve the city’s natural beauty. So it’s no surprise that it’s now considered the most sustainable city in the United States, according to a study by the grassroots organization SustainLane. It seems the American West has got the green sheen: San Francisco ranked second, while Seattle was third.

Photo by stuseeger via Flickr (Creative Commons).

E Magazine travels to Bangaram, part of the Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea some 200 miles west of Kerala in southern India. It’s a small place—less than a square mile—and it was virtually uninhabited until CGH Earth Hotels opened an (apparently impressive) eco-resort there. Writer Jenny Fowler says the resort “has drawn a green line in the sand” and has taken pains to be sustainable: constructing cottages made of local, biodegradable materials; saving water during monsoons; and forbidding motor vehicles.

Photo binux by via Flickr (Creative Commons).

USA Today’s Roger Yu has a thorough look at eco-friendly practices and projects at airports around the country, complete with chart. He writes: “From low-flush toilets and hybrid taxis to solar panels and recycled coffee grounds, some of the largest airports are aggressively implementing green measures to save on energy costs and to generate favorable impressions among travelers.”

Related on World Hum:
* A Plea to Take Global Tourism Seriously: ‘It’s Nothing Short of a Planet-Threatening Plague’
* A German ‘Eco-Wander’

Photo of wind turbine by phault, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

We’ve read the big-league critiques and pondered potential stunts at the Hualapai Indians’ horseshoe-shaped glass perch that allows visitors to peer 4,000 feet down into the Grand Canyon. Now comes a personal view in Sierra Magazine from a young writer and environmentalist who visited the site with the hopes of understanding why the Hualapai have invested so much in it. 

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