Save Eco Destinations

Could it be? A truly eco-friendly jungle haven for those who can afford it you can live in without ruining the local ecosystem? Holy cow.

Selva de Aluxes is 300 acres between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Currently in the works, lots are going at pre-sale prices. These lots are meant to have houses built on them.

And (do you hear the music?) they claim that officials are respecting “eco-friendly restrictions as a way of preserving the environment and natural habitat.” For fresh water, they are drilling into the earth to install a well, which is a lot better than trucking fresh water in every day like other establishments (even “eco” ones) do. Right on the homepage, it reads:

“We are dedicated to preserving the ecosystem with infrastructure standards that include the use of windmill turbines, solar panels, air generators and a host of other environmentally friendly techniques.”

There will be a community center with art shows and live music—ahem, noise and light pollution! (Remember their effects on the endangered sea turtles, anyone?) Well, its impact on the ecosystem would depend on location, noise level, and other factors. I’m still skeptical. And you know why you should be too? Because there will be a landing strip for small aircrafts. Really, it’s right on the homepage.

Sounds like these people have good intentions but they’re not very smart. Or they really don’t care about preserving the tranquility of nature for the benefit of the local ecosystem—and they’re bad at hiding it.

Apart from that, there aren’t many details yet. The wind and solar energy factor is comforting, however. And the drilling of the well instead of bringing in water.

Well, then, I’m hopeful. It is, in any case, some kind of step forward.

But, you know: it’s like all these eco retreats and activities and developments right in the midst of nature—if you were really eco, you’d leave it alone, right? That’s how I feel.

I mean, sure, it’s great to be in nature. I go to my local ecological reserve to paint, read, hang out by the water and hear the river’s soothing sounds calm me. But I’m not going to build a home there, even if my excrement was to exit my super excellent eco sewage treatment system smelling of wheatgrass. I just go, enjoy myself, pick up any trash I see, and go back home without causing any destruction.

But, hey, what are you gonna do? It’s not like we can shoot down everyone who walks all over nature. For now.

Bicyclists and a bike counter in Malmo - photo by 2headedturtle

What a surprise – we’re again looking at Scandinavia! This post focuses on Malmö, the home of almost 300,000 Swedes in the southern province of Skane, Sweden.

Oh, Malmö, let me count the ways that you are green:

• Between 2008 and 2012, you are cutting your CO2 emissions by 25% (!), essentially giving the Kyoto Protocol the finger as you obscenely surpass the Protocol’s meager 5% goal
• You lead the way in green electricity practices
• You consist of eco-friendly neighborhoods that contain hundreds of smart energy homes!
• Western Harbour runs on 100% renewable energy (solar, wind, hydropower, and biofuels from organic waste)
• Your buildings are energy-efficient and were built with sustainable, recyclable materials
• Your streets encourage walking and cycling instead of driving – and it works: about 35% of the population travels by bike
• The restoration of Sege Park will power the neighborhood with solar (photovoltaics*), wind, and biofuels power
• Malmö, you renovate shipyards and industrial areas, transforming them into green residential communities
• Your district known as Augustenborg uses green roofing that reduces runoff and insulates buildings
• Augustenborg has the first-ever emissions-free electric steel trains (swank!)
• Another one for Augustenborg: more than a dozen recycling houses process 70% of collected waste

Brilliant.

The largest photovoltaic project in Scandinavia in Malmö's Sege Park

Malmö, oh, Malmö – your vibrant dedication, your grass-stained fingers, your cool, clean breath, your practical ingenuity – you are so wonderful I would give up certain sweets for you.

Oh, Malmö, with your canals, beaches, parks, and your harbor you remind me of the aesthetics of the Middle Ages and the distant future in spirit.

My love, oh, Malmö, is yours.

And I’m not the only one raving about this city: check out this BBC article on Sweden’s eco-awesomeness.

* What the hell are photovoltaics? I’m glad you asked. Why, they’re a solar energy technology. Photovoltaics cells transform solar light directly into electricity. Learn more here.

(image courtesy of sapdesignguild.org)

Oh, Portland. Home to over half a million people, many vegan restaurants, amazing bands (RIP Sleater-Kinney), bikers, tree huggers, DIYers, and the like. (BTW, check out Havi Brooks, a Portland-based wonderful coach/yoga teacher/inspiration source galore/lots of etc.etc.)

Check it out: by 2010 (2010!!!) Portland will be so green it will supply 100% renewable energy. Had you heard of solar-powered parking meters? I hadn’t. Holy shit that’s amazing.

Of course, this green hub has always been innovative in its eco ways. Back in 1903 it was already trying to get other US cities to heart green spaces in urban areas, for instance. Three decades ago it replaced a 6-lane highway with a waterfront park. (Wow.) Today the city boasts 92,000 acres of green space plus 74 mi. of biking, hiking, and running trails. Portland protects 25 million acres of forest and farms.

More: Portland employs fuel cells that run on waste methane (maybe farms should get on this, since cattle produce so much methane it’s screwing up our planet-ahem, thought about going vegetarian lately?), a micro hydro facility in its drinking water system, and microturbines that run on, again, waste methane. Next time you’re feeling gassy, think about that! (If you’re the gassy type, maybe consider powering your house that way. If only, huh?)

Portland’s the first US city to implement a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The city helped found the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign and has been touted as a green city for a long time.

50 of the city´s buildings meet or exceed the US Green Building Council’s sustainability standards. The city is pedestrian and bike-friendly (hear that, Florida, Los Angeles, etc. etc.??) About 25% of commuters ride their bikes to work. There is lots of green amidst the drab cement or urban life (hear that New York? Mexico DF? Detroit? Santiago? Sao Paulo? Etc. etc.?)

‘Nuff freaking said.

Let’s review.

Essentially, the “green cities movement” comprises loose groups of cities focused on becoming and remaining sustainable. Green cities, I joyfully report, are sprouting worldwide, albeit only in urban areas thus far.

Their point is, as I’m sure you’ve guessed already, to lessen their environmentally destructive impact. Green cities do this by reducing their waste, recycling it, and reusing materials. Their goals are lowering emissions and increasing housing density, green spaces, and sustainable local businesses.

Remember Gothenburg’s ecotopia?  Same concepts, although Gothenburg’s are more evolved.

Examples

Curitiba

I was surprised to learn that a typical green city is located in Brazil: Curitiba. This city went green back in the 1970s!

Curitiba has a high-tech bus system and has worked to increase population density around transit hubs, enabling other areas to become green, open land instead of stimulating urban sprawl.  I’m not sure why this city counts as green when it has such a long way to go, but if it’s the best Brazil’s got right now, I’ll take it. It’s got a lot more than many cities can boast, after all.

And remember Iceland? Reykjavik relies on geothermal and hydropower for heating and generating most of its electricity. This city has the largest geothermal heating system in the world. In fact, it was ranked 1^st in Grist Magazine’s “15 Greenest Cities” list. On the other hand, it’s got large scale urban sprawl and one of the highest worldwide per-capita ownerships. Public transport consists of an unpopular hydrogen-powered bus system.

Rekyjavik

We should note that Reykjavik plans to go fossil fuel-free by 2050, though. Cheers to that.

Other green cities include Sydney, Copenhagen, Portland, and Seattle. More on that coming up.

The gorgeous prefabricated WeberHaus Passive House

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever known about – if you live in Germany or Scandinavia, you could be living in a house that keeps you comfortable without heat or AC, no matter the temperature. You’d be saving more energy (and money) than you’d know what to do with!

Passive houses, as they are called, adjust to temperature. These homes use one-twentieth the heating energy of typical German homes. While architects outside of Germany and Scandinavia are working to achieve something similarly spectacular, barely any passive houses have been built in other countries. So far, these houses cost just 5-7% more to build than typical ones. This system is also being implemented in Frankfurt schools. I am swooning.

The key to the amazingness of passive houses is ultra-thick insulation and doors and windows with complex airtight mechanisms that keep cold and heat from entering and exiting the structure. The house heats up via sunlight, the use of appliances, and bodies! The central ventilation system keeps mold and stagnant air out.

Passive house in Ireland

“The European Commission is promoting passive-house building, and the European Parliament has proposed that new buildings meet passive-house standards by 2011,” the New York Times reports.

Sweet. And the U.S. Army might build passive house barracks. Who would’ve thought the army would be this progressive? Not me, that’s for sure.

Hey, Obama! Turn the White House into a passive house!

More:

Passive Houses FAQ

Check out passive houses resources and builders around the world

The Passive House Institute US

Promotion of European Passive Houses

Passive House (Passivhaus) Standard for Energy Efficient Design

How to design a passive house in a specific climate

Photos of beautiful passive houses!

More photos (Weberhaus)!!

And more still!

Renewable energy sources are harvested within the city and markets are omnipresent

The Swedish are taking another amazing step toward green living and sustainability.

Kjellgren Kaminsky Architects have come up with the Super Sustainable City. The plan is to turn the Swedish city of Gothenburg into an ecotopia.

It would be dense and interconnected, an urban land where less space is necessary and more is done with it: people have to travel less, fewer materials are needed for building homes, and more people can be placed in smaller spaces. Rooftops hold lush gardens for internal climate control and to serve as a local food source, wind turbines and solar panels (even as art!) abound, and roadways harvest energy! All this while preserving the city’s architectural heritage-it will feature yellow bricks, granite pavements, and myriad canals and markets.

Once they realized that by 2020 Gothenburg will be growing at a rate of 8000 new residents per year, they decided that the city’s lateral sprawl can’t go on, and it is time for a new architectural paradigm, so to speak.

The Super Sustainable City’s new design will house about a third of the city’s population until 2020 while simultaneously strengthening the link between the banks of the site’s river.

The aforementioned farmed rooftops will be energy-efficient, reducing the need to lower and up living quarters’ temperature. Many roofs will even contain small-scale wind turbines! Gosh, I wish my building had some of those! At least my apartment!

Further, sustainable transportation will consist of an emission-free personal rapid transit system and bike-friendlier roads and highways. Said paths will also serve to collect rainwater and solar energy. Hooooly JeZeus.

Now all that’s left for me to do is take Swedish lessons and save money to move over there within the next few years. Who’s with me?

Copenhagen - photo by nat_k

…sings Danny Kaye about Denmark’s capital. And, hey, this Kaye guy might truly be up to something: by 2015, Copenhagen will have stopped contributing to global warming, becoming the planet’s apotheosis of the eco-metropolis. Just like that.

Taking the typically green motto “think globally, act locally” to heart (as we all should!), the goal is everything from cleaner air and water to healthier food, lower noise pollution, and more green spaces. Amazing.

Amazing.

Did I mention how I think this is amazing??

More than 90% of the municipalities in Denmark have devised a sustainable development strategy at the local level. And citizens are actively taking part in this revolution, which comprises an imperative factor.

Sønderborg - photo by arne.list

Throughout Denmark, then, cities are taking bold steps just like Copenhagen’s take their eco-friendliness to the next level. In northern Jutland, Frederikshavn wants to be one of the first cities ever to make its energy (electricity, heat, and power) supply 100% renewable. Wow.

The city of Sønderborg in southern Jutland launched Project Zero, which will make the region CO2-neutral, the first in Europe. The short-term plan is that Project Zero will showcase Sønderborg for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

2015, here we come!

Visit www.denmark.dk for more information on Denmark’s genius steps toward sustainability.

What is up with the Nordic countries? I have recently posted about similar amazing happenings in Sweden, Iceland, and now Denmark. Seriously. Probably, had I grown up there, I would have a greater resistance to cold climates. I would feel so proud being a part of this. I’d organize a green parade and beat the gay parade’s gaudy party vibe with my bright green allure and biodegradable piñatas filled with organic seeds of all sorts. Wait, that sounds (a) impossible (unless I could get scantily clad, buff people drenched in vaseline to dance throughout) and (b) like a bad idea, I mean, what if a cacao plant sprung next to a pine tree? I have no idea what would happen then.

But you know, like a friend said to me, maybe I’m needed here. Maybe all of us who can make a difference are needed most where things still need to get on their way, where the preliminary stages are or are yet to be taking place. Don’t you think?

Rape has been used as a weapon of war in both the First Congo War and Second Congo War. (Picture by USAID/Leah Werchick, 2001)

In the ecotourism microcosm and the green world in general, we speak a lot of green transportation, greener choices, polluting less, and so on. Switch to a hybrid, offset the carbon footprint of your flights when going on vacation, and so on and so forth.

We’re lazy.

Honestly, some of the best things you can do are:

(a)    Stay home!

(b)   Walk

(c)    Ride a bike, rollerblade, skateboard, and so on

(d)   Swim-and always leave the motorboats and jet skis in the store (think of the coral reefs, sea turtles, etc., whose populations are diminished yearly by these machines)

(e)    Did I mention stay home?

Think of what would happen if we actually stuck to these principles. Because, you know, it’s we who are polluting and ruining the planet. We-privileged, middle-to-upper class people with access to the internet and enough education and spare time to inform and educate ourselves about ecological issues. We are the ones with enough money to travel and the resources that allow us to choose how and when we will do it.

Not indigenous tribes in Venezuela, in the Amazon Forest, the sort of people who coexist harmoniously with their green surroundings. And we can’t ask the poor women in South Jordan to switch to energy-saving light bulbs, the raped women refugees in eastern Congo to implement low-flush toilets, or those left homeless in Tartagal to incorporate solar panels into their homes when if they get to rebuild them.

But we can ask our friends to be more conscientious in their choices-because they have choices-when they shop, travel, use electricity, eat, discard, and even when they vote if we spread the word about key bills and laws and work together to support or protest against them.

Pick up trash if you see it in the street and take it home to recycle or at least toss it in a trash can. Reuse containers instead of throwing them away and buying new ones. Cut down and eventually abolish meat and animal products from your diet. Get your lighting fixtures taken care of if they don’t take energy-saving bulbs. Stop buying Cif and bleach and switch to vinegar, baking soda, and alcohol for all your home cleaning needs. Turn off and unplug all appliances when not in use.

And on and on.

If you, who gets to choose and make changes, don’t, then you can’t complain when, several years from now, you find yourself having to move out of Florida and into a home farther from the coast and higher and higher than sea level. And don’t even start about how first class has gotten more expensive-focus on what’s important. Green travel is no travel unless it’s on foot, bike, or by other ecological means.

Let’s help people walk the talk.

Your life will be cleaner, greener, simpler, cheaper, healthier, and better.

Read a compelling article about this at Worldchanging.

What tips do you have?

What do YOU think?

LIVING MACHINES: Clean, Green Waste-Water Recycling

Here’s a topic I haven’t read much about at all: how to gauge your own eco comfort level.

It’s true: you may be okay walking around naked, consuming a vegan diet, and living electricity-free, while I might be cool with that as long as I can also have wi-fi access and an outlet for my laptop. Or maybe you feel strongly about showering with hot water when vacationing in Alaska. Hey-to each her or his own.

Here’s an article I came across in which the author brings one’s own personal comfort level into play. Turns out he needs iPhone access everywhere he goes, which he didn’t realize until the first day of two-week-long trip! Oops.

Say you’re going on a trip.

The most overwhelming part of taking an eco vacation may just be the planning! It can be tough just gauging your personal eco comfort level. Sure, it’s easy to say certain things, like that you’d only stay at a 100% sustainable hotel, or that you want your vacation to be completely relaxing and you promise to leave your laptop behind.

But will these statements hold up as truths once it’s time to take action?

Or will you refuse purchasing biodegradable sunscreen to take on your snorkeling trip on the grounds that, well, you know, you’re too busy? If you plan ahead, you can take care of all those little things. Buying biodegradable sunblock is a piece of cake compared to staying somewhere with no electricity!

Ecotourism is a burgeoning field, and most people are still only learning about it, they’re still new at the whole “ecotourism thing.”

In a few months, I will be taking a vacation with a couple of people who have never gone on an eco vacation. Now, while one of them, my mother, is enthusiastic about renewable energy sources, turning off the lights when leaving a room, and not littering, she is fanatical about drying her hair post-shower and taking her Blackberry everywhere.

Let the negotiations begin!

She will probably be surprised, if not shocked, when I suggest a lodge with a sustainable wastewater management system and no air conditioning. A lot of people just don’t know how deep green living can take you!

I wonder how far I’ll be able to take her. I’ll keep you updated.

image by yoshiffles

Maybe you’re running short on cash. Maybe you want to get to know the state, or the country, see the gradual transformation of the lush green mountains of Kentucky into the flat, swampy Everglades in Florida, or drive from one side of the Andes to the other (on the Chile side, you can see both the Andes and the beach from any spot!).

Whatever the reason, sometimes the idea of taking a road trip is very appealing. With this decision, though, come others: how to deal with your car’s carbon emissions, how to pay for gas, how to minimize how much gas you need, how to stabilize the temperature in the car, how to minimize waste, and plenty more.

Here are some things you can do to green up your trip:

• Trade your car (or plane!) trip for a train or bus trip. Public transportation always beats driving your own car. You will be producing smaller amounts of greenhouse gasses per passenger mile/kilometer and spending less money overall. Traveling by bus means reducing the pollution of cars, motorcycles, and trucks by two-thirds! A giant difference. Also keep in mind that rails pollute more than buses, and planes, well, they double the pollution of buses (intercity travel).

• If you’re set on traveling by car, try to travel in a fuel-efficient car. See some here and read up on fuel economy here.

• If your car is not fuel-efficient, just prepare it properly: tune your engine and check the tires to get better gas mileage (which will benefit your car’s “health” and save you money!).

• Renting a car? Choose fuel-efficient! Obviously. Many rental companies will offer you this eco friendly option. Hybrids are preferable; otherwise, choose a subcompact, compact, or economy car. Larger vehicles always use up more gas.

• Carpool! Another no-brainer. Seriously. I don’t care that your cousin listens to death metal. Wear ear plugs.

• Plan ahead! Bring reusable containers, not Ziplocs (unless you plan on washing and reusing them). Tupperware to take leftovers from restaurants, travel mugs for your coffee, and so on. Also, get your directions straight to avoid wasting excess gas. And don’t forget your biodegradable sunscreen!

• When you stop for gas or to rest, turn off the engine. Just like when you leave a room and you switch off the light. Same thing. It’s a good habit.

• Drive under the speed limit to save on gas, and at a mellow pace if possible. Consider taking back roads and other less-traveled paths instead of the highway.

• See if you can find any green hotels to stay at, go camping, or maybe try Couch Surfing and teach your gracious host(ess) how to green up her/his living quarters! Choose what you want to do and research how to make it green. It’s your responsibility.

Any experiences taking a green road trip?

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