Save Eco Destinations

Love your beaches

On Monday, June 10, we celebrated World Ocean Day 2010.

On June 26, you can head to your local beach and join hands to oppose offshore drilling and endorse renewable energy. Look up Hands Across the Sand events near you or email everyone in your area and start one up in your community! And don’t worry if you’re not in the U.S. — the event is taking place across the globe!

Read more about the event here.

Be sure to travel green

Remember to do your part and be eco-friendly, whether at the beach or anywhere you travel.

Going on a road trip? Read this.

And if you’re planning to get married, remember that coastal weddings are a no-no!

Further, if you’re looking for lodging, make sure you choose an eco hotel. Learn about eco hotel certifications here.

And finally –

The top 10 U.S. beaches

For the past 20 years, a coastal scholar known as Dr. Beach has compiled a list of the best beaches in the country. Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman is the director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University.

He uses 50 criteria to evaluate the nation’s beaches, including water and sand quality, beach width and environmental management, according to CNN.

Cape Florida Lighthouse at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida.

Here’s the list:

1. Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York

2. Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida

3. Coronado Beach in San Diego, California

4. Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks of North Carolina

5. Main Beach in East Hampton, New York

6. Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

7. Coast Guard Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts

8. Beachwalker Park in Kiawah Island, South Carolina

9. Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii

10. Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Florida

By the way, I have been to Siesta Beach (#2) and I can attest that it is amazing! It’s got sand like flour and warm, luscious waters. Hopefully it will remain unscathed by the oil spill currently taking over the Gulf of Mexico…

If spring is coming up for you (and you’re not near the Gulf) enjoy the beach!

The United Nations (UN) is celebrating World Ocean Day on Tuesday, June 8^th with the theme ‘Our oceans: opportunities and challenges.’

The celebration was instituted just last year and since then has been commemorated annually by conservation groups, schools, businesses and governments everywhere.

Check out this year’s events here and find more info on World Ocean Day at The Ocean Project.

Reasons to celebrate World Ocean Day

Given the recent and very-much-ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s an especially wonderful time to raise awareness about the oceans’ plights and learn how we can “make a difference” (or a phrase that doesn’t make you gag).

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moo said the ocean’s main three challenges right now are overfishing, climate change and pollution.

World Ocean Day allows us to:

• Change perspective: encourage others to consider what the ocean represents to them and our planet, which hopefully will get more people interested in respecting and working to preserve it for generations to come.
• Learn: read about and watch documentaries on marine life and the richness of life in our oceans, visit the beach, etc., – whatever you feel will allow you to bond with our planet’s natural bodies of water.
• Make adjustments: educate yourself about endangered marine species (e.g., bluefin and other types of tuna, swordfish, skates and rays, marlin, Atlantic cod and orange roughy) so you can cross that seafood off your shopping list – and remember to tell others why you’re switching! (Check out Greenpeace’s Seafood Red List here.) You can also read up on which supermarkets shun unsustainable seafood (so you can shop there), biodegradable pesticides and fertilizers for your backyard, wear biodegradable sunscreen, etc.
• Celebrate: take part in the day’s festivities! For instance, write a letter to BP about the catastrophe it’s caused in the Gulf of Mexico and take part in demonstrations and sign petitions against oil drilling.

Atlantic cod is an endangered species

The UN resolution

The UN resolution calls on user States and States bordering straits utilized for international navigation to keep working together to resolve issues regarding navigation safety, e.g., aids to navigation safety and the prevention, reduction and control of pollution generated by ships and other vessels.

Countries are being urged to consider becoming members of the International Hydrographic Organization, and to cooperate with that organization to boost the coverage of hydrographic information across the planet.

These orders are meant to strengthen technical assistance and promote navigation safety, particularly in areas of international navigation, ports and vulnerable or protected marine zones.

“The oceans play a fundamental role in our daily lives. They are an integral part of sustainable development and an important frontier for research. As scientists explore the oceans to increasing depths, they continue to discover new forms of marine life,” said Ki-moo.

“These investigations have great potential with regards to the improvement of human welfare. But if we are to benefit fully from what the oceans have to offer, we must address the harmful effects of human activities. The diversity of life in the oceans is under increasing pressure,” he added.

Ki-moo said marine ecosystems are being threatened by three major phenomena:

• The overexploitation of living marine resources;
• Climate change;
• Pollution from activities involving materials and hazards.

“The same applies to the increase in criminal activities, including piracy, which have serious implications for safety of navigation and the protection of seafarers,” he noted.

I went to college in Florida and my mother still lives there. I hated it. Every summer we were on high alert, and I was always paranoid about those damn hurricanes. And the more I learned about global warming, the more I realized Florida’s on its way out, especially if you live right on the coast as she does (that’s where my college is located too, which is depressing as well).

But when my mother wanted to buy new property and I suggested she consider moving somewhere like Chicago, she took me seriously-for about a minute. Her bad. I’m already out.

In college, I met a girl whose house got demolished in Miami by the category 5 Hurricane Andrew back in ’92. And what did her family do afterward? They rebuilt the house. I was baffled. It was so obvious to me that their move was simply stupid. The fact that you’ve always lived someplace doesn’t mean you have to spend the rest of your life there, especially when it’s so risky.

There will be more hurricanes, you can be sure. And they are supposed to keep getting worse. What’s to think about? If you’re interested, here is a documentary about a family rebuilding its life in New Orleans post-Katrina.

As travel destinations, enjoy them while you can (Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Mexico, Cuba, and so on). If you live there, I’d start making plans to move on inland. But hey, maybe that’s just me-I like to live calmly year-round, no yearly, imminent death threats lurking in the shadows ready to attack. Power going out for weeks with 95F weather, general fear, no available flights out or gas to head the hell out of the danger zone. I don’t care how fun hurricane parties can be.

We had a category 2 or 3 in Miami some years back. Afterward, downtown looked like a war zone, shattered glass everywhere. Some buildings still haven’t replaced those windows.

And, oh, the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico are some of the most beautiful and placid I have ever seen. They are breathtaking. Sand like flour and water like a warm bubble bath (okay, without the bubbles).

And don’t even get me started about earthquakes (I’ve lived in California, too). I just don’t get why people make themselves suffer through natural disasters when they could avoid them altogether. Isn’t it worth the hassle? I think it is. (New Orleans is a port city, okay, but why do people in other lines of work choose to rebuild? It won’t be much of a tourist spot as natural disasters keep ravaging it.)

Links:

Anyway, read this article in the New Scientist–finally somebody is backing me up! Go Jeff Hecht, go!

Read a contentious debate here and a post-Katrina article in the Washington Post arguing against rebuilding here.

Holbox Island, on the Gulf part of the Yucatan Peninsula, has developed fast to accommodate the demands of tourism, which negatively affects both social and eco systems. Urban plans for organized future development have not been made, however the Yalahau Lagoon, that separates the island from the coast and houses thirty species of Peracarida crustaceans, was established as a biosphere reserve several years ago. Holbox Island is also home to horseshoe crabs, an arthropod related to spiders and ticks, whose skeletons can be seen washed up on shore.

Holbox is also home to whale shark sightings offshore, and is a popular place to take tours to swim with the sharks, which are considered a threatened species.

This little island just offshore the Yucatan seems to be doing an okay job of preserving its smallness. Let’s hope the government actually makes an effort at promoting healthy growth. The good thing is that real estate hasn’t gone crazy on the island, and most land is available only as tiny lots for boutique hotels.  So far, no concrete AIs.