Control Climate Change

Should a responsible traveller by flying at all? Read my thoughts here . I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments that you can post here..

Date: 6/5/2008
Location: Houston, TX

Registration

Draft Agenda

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., with an industry-sponsored reception immediately following.
The Summit follows the American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA's) annual WINDPOWER Conference and Exhibition, June 1-4, in Houston, Texas. Each year, AWEA's WINDPOWER conference brings together the industry's leading wind energy professionals from around the world for 3 days of conference sessions and an interactive tradeshow where exhibitors showcase their products and services.

On the day following WINDPOWER, the Wind Powering America (WPA) program convenes its Annual State Summit. The Summit provides Wind Powering America's network of state wind working groups, state energy officials, DOE and national lab WPA representatives and its professional and institutional partners an opportunity to review successes, opportunities and challenges for wind at the state level. Participants share strategies/lessons learned, review priority activities/topics, and celebrate and recognize accomplishments among peers. The Summit features plenary sessions, regional and state breakouts, and smaller group discussions on focused issues, as well as presentations and remarks from invited national guest speakers. Summit participants will include leaders of Wind Powering America's state wind working groups, institutional partners, wind industry experts, and DOE and National Laboratory staff.

A book that reveals the toxins at home and at the workplace.

Tibet has become an increasingly popular destination on responsibletravel.com. We've hand-picked 28 of the very best holidays there, and last year it was our 49th most popular destination globally.

Transforming useless, black rooftops into prosperous, green gardens — that is the goal of Dr. Paul Mankiewicz.

As director of the Gaia Institute, an environmental research group in New York City, he has designed a unique greenhouse which solves the complexities of gardening on rooftops and will provide fresh produce for thousands of residents below.

By using a lightweight soil, a simple steel-frame structure wrapped in plastic, and a unique planting and harvesting system, this new greenhouse could add a new facet to agriculture. And that has the biologist excited.

“If we have a system that can purify the air and lower the amount of traffic needed to ship produce — and have that system in cities where pollution problems are serious — that is certainly a big improvement for society,” he said. “And by having a new center of economic activity right in the cities, it makes for a much greater increase in wealth for those urban areas.”

After seven years of research and development, Mankiewicz has applied for a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to build a prototype greenhouse on a building owned by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City’s fifth most popular tourist attraction.

Tied to the grant is New York City’s Recycling Division, which will help supply the ton of solid waste the greenhouse will use every day. Food scraps and other waste material will be composted in large bins, Mankiewicz said, then slurried up to the roof where the material will be used in both the soil and the nutrient system.

The greenhouse’s soil is the unique feature that makes the system work. Most soils are too heavy to use on rooftops, he said, and building additional reinforcement is too expensive.

However, he has created a super lightweight soil by using both synthetic and organic materials, including recycled styrofoam. The styrofoam works as filler — the purpose sand and clay serve in most soils.

Feeding the crops involves a series of underground tubes linked to a controller, which delivers precise amounts of water, nutrients, microbes, carbon dioxide and oxygen to maximize plant growth.

Covering the plants will be a lightweight steel frame covered with a thin glazing of plastic. By his calculations, Mankiewicz said the amount of petroleum needed to produce all the plastic used in the greenhouse would get a truckload of produce only 300 miles down the road from California.

For planting and harvesting, a space-saving gantry system will span the garden and roll over the top of the growing space. Workers will be able to work from above, he said, eliminating the need for aisles and increasing crop yields by 30 to 90 percent.

On a larger scale, Mankiewicz envisions rooftop greenhouses eventually adorning the tops of shopping malls. With tens of thousands of square feet available, a shopping mall greenhouse could supply all the produce for an entire community. And by increasing the profits of both store and mall owners, he said the technology could leap ahead, becoming a new green layer of the urban environment.

(Tip/Stat ) Composting can reduce solid waste by more than 15 percent.

Technorati Tags: rooftop greenhouses, environmental protection, pollution, recycling, green houses, environmental issues, earth news, earth news media

Biofuels, particularly ethanol, have had plenty of recent hype as a possible homegrown replacement for gasoline. However, production of corn-based ethanol in the United States is driving up grain prices and possibly harming the environment.

Seattle's City Hall is stepping up its efforts to compete with other green cities and states in the US by switching to tap water.

In January we did a survey for The Daily Telegraph of the 40 of the biggest travel companies in UK and their policies for responsible tourism. One of the companies we scored quite poorly was Europcar (car hire). Last weekend the Telegraph ran the following story -

Europcar plans to include data on average carbon emissions in all its vehicle descriptions to enable travellers to make greener decisions when hiring a car. The company will also offer information through its subsidiary, National. Earlier this year Europcar performed poorly in Telegraph’s environmental ratings..

We very pleased to see this initiative from Europcar. I'll be booking a greener car with them next time...

I recently contributed to the following article on Slow Travel in Ode Magazine

Inspired by the slow food movement, growing ranks of people want to remember their vacations as something more than a blur of cramped plane rides, rushed sightseeing tours, gobbled fast food and long lines at the rental car counter. They're motivated by an indefatigable sense of adventure as well as a taste for authentic experience.

Slow travel doesn't mean reigning in your curiosity about seeing the world, notes Mark Ellingham, founder of the Rough Guides travel book series. I would say just the opposite. It gives you a better chance to experience the world. On many holidays today, you feel like you are just being dropped off somewhere, like a package.

And flying less often, Ellingham believes, doesn't have to involve sacrifice in either comfort or fun: If you live in London, youd have to be partly insane to want to fly to Paris today. Its not faster than the Eurostar train and its much more hassle.

Slow travel advocates like Ellingham recognize that trains, boats or bikes don't work for every journey we want to take. That's why he and Tony Wheeler, founder of the Lonely Planet travel guides, developed a travel campaign with the motto, fly less, stay longer. Treat yourself to an adventure, in other words, by spending a leisurely amount of time at just one faraway destination.

Slow travel, like the slow food movement, is based around the idea of savouring what a local area has to offer, points out Justin Francis, co-founder of the UK travel directory ResponsibleTravel.com. The slow traveller visits fewer places but really gets to know each of them. It leaves you with a greater understanding of local people and places.
Those places can even be close to home.

Part of the idea of slow travel is, at least part of the time, to visit places closer to home, says Ellingham. I think theres growing interest in this. At Rough Guides, we started with foreign places like Greece and Spain and were surprised, when we finally got around to publishing books about our own backyard in England, how well they sold.

Date: 9/9/2008 to 9/10/2008
Location: Wilmington , DE

Integrating offshore wind into the U.S. energy picture.

Date: 9/23/2008 to 9/24/2008
Location: Topeka , KS

Ninth annual event covering renewable energy and energy efficiency; featuring nationally prominent speakers and workshops on various topics.

Date: 10/27/2008 to 10/29/2008
Location: Milwaukee , WI

The purpose of the meeting is to provide a forum for stakeholders and the general public to hear about and discuss the most recent research conducted related to wind power development and wildlife. Examine what has been learned, discuss methods for minimizing or mitigating wind energy’s adverse/undesirable impacts on wildlife, identify questions about wind power development opportunities and impacts related to wildlife, and identify gaps in knowledge and research needs.

Date: 1/25/2009 to 1/27/2009
Location: Billings , MT

The Harvesting Clean Energy Conference is the Northwest’s premiere gathering to advance rural economic development through clean energy production. Clean energy offers practical, profitable opportunities for our farmers, ranchers, rural utilities and towns, tribes, and regional economy.

The conference charts the future of rural clean energy in the Northwest. Discussions focus on the steps to successful project development, including financing, to cut costs on the farm and produce power or feedstocks for market. Technologies covered include wind power, biofuels, biopower, geothermal, solar, and energy efficiency.

Harvesting Clean Energy is designed for Northwest farmers and agriculture leaders, tribes, rural utilities and economic development officials, lenders, elected officials and public agencies, as well as energy developers and consultants.

The world's first solar-powered electric bus has recently been launched in Adelaide, South Australia and is being used to transport commuters in the city. The bus has been named Tindo, the Kaurna Aboriginal word for 'sun' and is recharged using solar energy generated by a solar photovoltaic system installed on the roof of the new Adelaide Central Bus Station.

South Australia is certainly not short of sunlight so it's great to see it being put to good use.

If you are looking for a last minute getaway, we have an array of fantastic special offers and late deals available at www.responsibletravel.com in the next month or so. Below is a light taster...

Date: 6/11/2008

(PDF 7.7 MB) Download Adobe Reader
(PowerPoint 33 MB)
This presentation illustrates the evolution of commercial wind technology in the United States, how capacity in megawatts has increased while costs have decreased, and that people want renewable energy. The United States leads the world in annual wind capacity additions and is second in cumulative capacity. The U.S. lags behind other countries for wind as a percentage of electricity consumption. The presentation also shows a map of the United States' installed wind capacity in 2007 compared to 1999. It goes on to lists the drivers for wind power; illustrates wind cost of energy, natural gas and coal historic prices, renewable portfolio standards, and wind energy investors; lists economic development impacts of wind energy; lists environmental benefits; highlights water issues; highlights case studies and local ownership models; lists key issues for wind power; discusses the 20 percent wind-electricity vision, market challenges, job creation, water savings, and carbon savings.

I've been reading that The Solomon Islands have exported 28 wild dolphins to Dubai on a 30 hour flight. The Government wants to export 100 mammals each year. I suspect that many of these dolphins will be used in shows for tourists. We don't support the use of captive dolphins as tourist attractions as we feel that this is not a suitable environment for intelligent, social creatures. Many of these dolphins are separated from their family groups in the wild.

We do however offer carefully screened trips that enable tourists to swim with dolphins in the wild. there are two key difference - firstly the dolphins are in their natural habitat and secondly they can choose not to participate. Read more about out thoughts on the ethics of dolphin tourism here

Date: 5/22/2008
Location: Rochester, MI

With the proper resources, wind power and wood chip boiler projects can provide cost savings while simultaneously offering living laboratories for renewable energy systems within our schools, colleges, and cities. Come learn who is doing this now and how to bring this vision to your institution.

The workshop is for administrators and facilities managers for public institutions such as K-12 school districts, higher education institutions, and municipalities who are looking toward sustainable energy systems with the following goals:

• reduce your reliance on fossil fuels
• hedge against future utility rate increases
• integrate sustainable technologies into your learning environment
• install energy projects with a positive cash flow
• invest in Michigan or regional based energy resources
• reduce your institutions carbon footprint

Please see the Web site for full information.

Date: 6/1/2008 to 6/5/2008
Location: Boston, MA

Clean Technology 2008 is a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector conference on global sustainability addressing advancements in traditional technologies, emerging technologies, and clean business practices. The mission of Clean Technology 2008 is to bring together the entire Clean Technology ecosystem with the goal of accelerating the flow of technologies from the research phase to the viable market phase.

Please see the Web site for more information.

The power sharing deal signed between President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga brings hope for the Kenyan tourism sector; for the vast numbers of people whose jobs depend on tourism (tourism is the second biggest foreign exchange earner); and for conservation (see my blog post on the impact of reduced tourism numbers on conservation).

Although no tourists were targeted in the recent rioting we've seen booking enquiries via www.responsibletravel.com drop by 70%. Kenya was until recently one of our top 3 selling destinations. I very much hope that the Government will make healing the rifts so sadly exposed a top priority, and I for one am looking forward to my next visit to Kenya - one of my favourite destinations in the world. See our 100 hand-picked Kenya holidays here.

Last week the business section of The Telegraph asked for my thoughts on aviation and global warming, and whether Heathrow needs a new runway -

New to the site this week is our first Cave hotel! The hotel is located in a restored thousand-year-old Byzantine monastic retreat in Turkey which offers modern conveniences without distracting from the spiritual feeling of the area. Part of the hotel was used by Christian monks until recently. Some of the rooms were actually monk cells. The food is produced with the technical assistance of Rapunzel Bio-Farming company. As for fertilizer, we use the cow dung and pigeon droppings from cave pigeon houses