Mapping out green ski developments

New Scientist reports on new geo-software that will help ski resort developers be eco-conscious.

Developers Jordan Silberman, a geographer at the University of Delaware in Newark and colleague Peter Rees created the geographical information system (GIS). Prospective developers need only to type in their business model plans:

The software then homes in on the preferred general region and seeks out those locations with the combinations of available land and humidity levels most likely to produce powder snow. Among many other factors, it also analyses accessibility by road, slope steepness - to work out the risk of avalanches - and the likely erosion from tree felling. A key factor is the ready availability of electricity to power the ski lifts.

Read the full story: Geo software aims to avoid ski eco-disasters

Photo by Ulli Seer / Getty

Brazil's Pantanal animal kingdom

The Daily Green has a nice slideshow of the diverse wildlife of Brazil's Pantanal region. Animals shown include the giant anteater (picture right).

This region is a tropical wetland in the Mato Grosso do Sul state in the southwest of the country and extends into neighboring Bolivia and Paraguay according to Wikipedia.

There are also links to ecotourism options.

See the full slideshow: Discover Brazil's most spectacular wildlife

Photo by Brian Clark Howard

Fly solar for zero environmental impact?

Ecotravel News was away celebrating the holiday season but is now back and ready with new travel news for the (almost) new year.

USA Today reports on the solar-powered plane that engineers hope will be a prototype to be used for future commercial trips.

While the world's attention was tuned to the recent global climate conference in Copenhagen, in an old airplane hangar on a small Swiss airfield, a group of visionaries, dreamers and engineers was busily assembling a vehicle that is their solution to global climate change and the future of commercial aviation. This airplane uses no fossil or bio-fuels. It is a solar-powered airplane, collecting the sun's rays on 12,000 solar cells spread across its wings to charge the special lithium-polymer batteries that will continue to power the airplane from sunset till the next sunrise.

Read the full story: Can a solar-powered airplane be the future of aviation?

Photo by David Grossman

Green spaces in Sao Paulo

Mother Nature Network (MNN) reports on the green spaces worth visiting in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Its public transit system, though crowded, is an easy way to get around and there has been a city-level movement to increase the number of green spaces and to build an extensive network of bicycle paths. Add a vibrant organic eating scene that supports small farms to the list and the Sao Paulo (often referred to as Sampa in local slang) becomes an impressive destination for environmentally conscious travelers.

Read the full story: Destination of the week Sao Paulo

Photo by Fernando Podolski / iStockphoto

Idaho crosscountry ski spots

The Idaho Statesman reports on Nordic ski spots around the state.

Included are Bogus Basin (picture left) , Idaho City park n' ski, and Lake Cascade state park loop (description follows):

What: A 1.2-mile groomed trail.

Coolest things: The one-way loop trail with a variety of terrain is available for the first time this winter. It's a quick ski through the Van Wyck and Ridgeview recreation areas, which have sweeping views of West Mountain and Lake Cascade. Restrooms and trail maps are available at the trailhead.

Trail fee: Parking fee required - either the Idaho State Parks annual pass or the daily motorized vehicle entrance fee of $4 ($5 starting Jan. 1). No other trails fees required.

Distances are from Boise.

Read the full story: Nordic nirvana

Photo from Idaho Statesman

Camp at gorgeous global sites

Treehugger reports on 10 beautiful camping sites around the world.

Among the sites listed are New Zealand's Abel Tasman National Park (picture right), Colombia's Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, and Croatia's Glavotok Camp.

Read the full story: 10 breathtaking waterfront campgrounds

Photo by Jennifer Hattam

Bike to power Copenhagen xmas tree

The Wall Street Journal reports on the biking power that is lighting Copenhagen's Christmas tree.

At the Danish capital’s City Hall Square, 15 to 20 volunteers can sit on stationary bikes located around a massive, decorated tree and pedal away to keep it light, at least during the day. The bikes are connected to electrical tie-ups that ultimately power hundreds of lights on the tree.

Read the full story: Pedal power

Photo by AFP / Getty Images

Buy electric and get high tax credit

Environmental News Network reports on the momentum electric cars are gaining.

Federal tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles have a $2500 base and can go as high as $7500 depending on battery kilowatt capacity.

Read the full story: Electric cars generate sweet tax credits

Three years across Siberia to London

The Guardian newspaper reports on the bicyclist who rode across Siberia back to London.

Rob Lilwall's journey took him over 30,000 miles from the far eastern edge of Siberia, through Japan, South Korea, Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Europe and finally back to the UK.

Read the full story: Cycling home from Siberia

Photo by Rob Lilwall

$45k electric car coming soon to CA

GreenBiz.com reports on the new electric Coda car that will be available soon in California.

The Coda (picture right) is reported to go 100 miles before needing a recharge, and can drive at up to 80 mph. The price is $45,000 but buyers can apply a federal rebate of $7,500 dropping the price to $37,500.

That’s not exactly a car priced for the masses but Kevin Czinger, Coda CEO says: “Things will only get better. We will drive down price and drive up performance.” The company will ship its first cars next fall, he says, and hopes to sell a few thousand vehicles in 2010. Sales will initially be limited to California.

Read the full story: An (almost) affordable electric car

Maldives photos show environmental vulnerability

British newspaper the Guardian has an online photo exhibition of the popular tropical island getaway of the Maldives.

But these photos highlight the vulnerability the islands have to climate change and global warming. Erosion (picture left of a house on Maduvvari island, Raa Atoll), coral bleaching, tsunamis, and rising ocean height all affect these low-lying islands located southwest of India.

See the full slide show: Vulnerable: An exhibition on the fragile state of the Maldives

Photo by Saffah Faroog / Bluepeace

2009: fifth warmest year

Reuters reports that 2009 will have been the fifth warmest ever recorded and the hottest this decade according to the World Meteorological Organization.

The WMO reported its findings at this week's United Nations Climate conference in Copenhagen.

WMO head Michel Jarraud pointed to extreme hotspots this year -- Australia had its third warmest year since record dating began in 1850, "with three exceptional heatwaves."

"I could go on. There was the worst drought in five decades which affected millions of people in China, a poor monsoon season in India causing severe droughts, massive food shortages associated with a big drought in Kenya," he told reporters.

Read the full story: 2009 set to be fifth warmest year on record

Photo from Reuters

Recycle old products into travel essentials

MSNBC reports on 10 recyclables that you can reuse during your travels.

For example an egg carton (picture right) can be used to store jewelry. Old nylons can hold together a suitcase or used as a shower exfoliator.

Read the full story: 10 travel essentials you can find in the trash

Picture from Kindergarten Kidz website. This Arizona kindergarten makes crafts out of old containers and bags.

Should fat fliers pay more?

MSNBC ponders that question after a picture of a large man on a flight spilling out of his seat was reportedly taken by a flight attendant.

Policies differ by airline — some carriers try to accommodate their passengers at no cost, some require their large customers to purchase a second seat and reimburse the money if the plane is not full and a second seat becomes available.

Read the full story with comments: Readers respond: should obese fliers pay more?

Icy Italian PM shows irony

Reuters reports on the ironic ice statue of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi unveiled today in the Roman Forum.

The statue is timed to melt by the start of the U.N. climate change summit on December 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Berlusconi don't be stupid -- save the climate," read the slogan on the ice sculpture, which stood next to an ancient stone statue of Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

Greenpeace said in a report accompanying its pre-summit stunt that 93 percent of Italy's energy still comes from fossil fuels. The government hopes to revive nuclear energy, which it quit two decades ago, to help cut emissions and energy bills.

Read the full story: Ice statue chides Berlusconi for being cool on CO2

Scenic byway in New Jersey

The Washington Post reports on New Jersey's historic Millstone Valley Scenic Byway. It's a hiking and driving path that meanders through untouched nature; not something that one would think exists in the Turnpike and strip mall state.

Isolated from the rumble of six-lane traffic and the sprawl of strip malls, the byway seemingly travels backward, to the 19th century, when the Delaware & Raritan Canal was a watery highway of commerce; to the Revolutionary War, when George Washington and his men tromped through the lowlands after two victorious battles; to the 1700s, when Dutch settlers farmed the fertile valley; to the pre-Colonial Native American settlements of the Lenni Lenape.

Read the full story: Thrown for a loop in New Jersey

Photo by Lardner/klein Landscape Architects From National Scenic Byways Online

Migratory birdwatching in Florida Nat. Park

The Miami Herald reports on the winter migratory birdwatching paradise in Florida's Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville.

The rattling karr-roo-oo sounds came from every direction. From the sky. From clumps of grasses and bushes. The calls of sandhill cranes filled the air above the expansive wetlands of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.

Some 8,000 red-crowned, pewter-gray sandhills had commandeered the marshes. Mixed with the sandhills were a dozen similarly red-crowned whooping cranes, but taller and marked with black and white feathers. Whoopers, an endangered species, are one of the rarest birds in the United States.

Read the full story: Birdwatchers are in store for a rare treat

Photo from Florida State Park Service website

St Louis airport to ban all smoking, controversy

The St. Louis Dispatch via USA Today reports on the controversy versus the city and the county over how the 2011 smoking ban will affect Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Mayor Francis Slay's smoking ban for the entire city of St. Louis will take effect on January 2011; and this will extend to the airport's smoking lounges (picture right).

Slay noted [on his blog] that the airport is a "political hybrid," in that it is in St. Louis County but owned by the city. But the decision on smoking, Slay said on his blog, belongs to the city, "as owner of the facility."

St. Louis County counselor Patricia Redington said the smoking lounge exemption is clear in the county ordinance.

But, she added, "If the city hands out citations to smokers in the lounge, the city's authority to do so will be an issue between the city and the people who are charged and will not be the county's concern."

Read the full story: A smoke-free St. Louis airport may pit city against county

Photo of Lambert Intl smoking lounge from Bridge and Tunnel club website

KLM tests first passenger flight fueled with renewables

Reuters video reports on the first passenger airplane flight using renewable fuels.

KLM Dutch Airlines flight which circled the skies over The Netherlands used a 50/50 mix of biofuel and traditional fuel. Although it carried passengers it was still a test flight.

Watch the report below:

South African baboons raid and eat tourists' car food

The Associated Press reports on the South African baboon "gang" who are opening tourists' cars and eating the food inside.

On Tuesday, a troupe of 29 baboons raided four cars outside Simon's Town, a small coastal neighborhood [in Cape Town]. A baboon dubbed "Fred," (background in pic left) the leader of the group, opened unlocked doors and jumped through windows to search for food.

He ransacked a bag in the back seat of a red car as a couple panicked about their passports. A girl screamed nearby as a baboon hopped into her car through a back window. Others climbed on car roofs and hoods, looking for ways inside.

Many of those who stopped to watch the raid had their own cars broken into by other baboons.

Read the full story: Furry felons rob S African tourists, steal food

Photo by AP

Global warming's dire effects

Reuters video reports on the trickle-down effects of global warming from melting glaciers to drought.

Lima, Peru is the driest city on earth because of the rapid decline of the glaciers that supplied rivers and other water sources, according to the report.

Australia is also experiencing a seven-year drought, the longest on record and no end in sight.

Watch below:

Small cars = high MPG and less emissions

The Daily Green has a slide show and review on eight small cars that have high MPG or are electric.

Look at pictures and reviews of cars from MINI (picture right), Fiat, and Smart among others.

Read the full story: Eight microcars transforming the American road

Photo from MINI

Sculpture around NYC

Frommer's website has info about free outdoor sculpture viewing in and around New York City.

Besides obvious scupltures such as the Statue of Liberty:

There are whimsical, lifelike ones such as Taxi! by J. Seward Johnson (Park Ave. at 47th St.) and Commuters by George Segal (Port Authority Bus Terminal, 42nd St. & 8th Ave.). Kids get a kick out of Alice in Wonderland by Jose de Creeft (Central Park, Conservatory Water, near E. 72nd St.), Cat by Fernando Brotero (Park Ave. at 79th St.), and, of course, the Lions by Edward Clark Potter (New York Public Library, Fifth Ave. at 42nd St.)

And for art outside Manhattan they suggest the Noguchi Museum & Garden (picture above).

Read the full story: Expose Yourself to Art: Outdoor Sculpture In & Around New York City

Photo by George Hirose

Antarctic cruise ship stuck in ice

The Associated Press reports on the tourist ship stuck in ice near Antarctica.

A Russian icebreaker, taking more than 100 tourists, scientists, and journalists on a cruise around Antarctica is trying to free itself from ice in the Weddell Sea.

The Weddell Sea is the place that early antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance became infamously stuck and crushed in during his quest to reach the South Pole in the 1910s.

The Captain Khlebnikov icebreaker was near Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea, German Kuzin of the Fareastern Shipping Company told Russia's Vesti 24 television. He said neither the ship nor the passengers faced any risks.

The ship was trying to move slowly through the ice, but the winds were too light to break up the ice pack, he said. An Argentine official said the ice would delay the ship's return by three to six days.

Read the full story: Ship with 100 tourists stuck in Antarctic ice

Photo by Associated Press

Kayaking down restored California river

Fresno Bee reporter Mark Grossi reports on his kayak trip down the newly restored waters of Central California's San Joaquin River.

The Friant Dam, that had caused the river to be mostly dry for "the last several decades," has been releasing more water since October 1 due to a federal restoration project, thus making a boat trip possible.

The river's green section from Friant Dam to Gravelly Ford is familiar to many boaters. Officials continuously release water from the dam for riverside property owners, and the river never died here.

But 38 miles downstream at Gravelly Ford, the flow dwindles to nothing in most years. Now, with extra water flowing, that stretch is waking from a half-century of slumber. West of Kerman, the San Joaquin is a gorgeous desert river meandering around cobble islands -- piles of large stones -- as screeching swallows fly in every direction.

Read the full story: Trip tests waters of revived San Joaquin

Photo by Mark Crosse / The Fresno Bee

Visit new Natural Wonders

Forbes via MSNBC reports on new Natural Wonders to see.

Chosen by a committee of the United Nations' Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, World Heritage sites, recommended by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), are natural and cultural areas recognized for their universal value to humanity. The selection process involves extensive field work by conservation experts who have, in most cases, dedicated their lives to studying the natural world.

Included are Italy's Dolomite mountain region, China's Mount Wutai, and Spain's Tower of Hercules among others.

There is also a nice slide show featuring other sites including The Bay of Fundy (pictured above) that is located between Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Read the full story: The world's New Natural Wonders

Photo by Cheryl Forbes / Lonely Planet

Michigan ends state park fees

The Detroit Free Press reports on the new Michigan bill that ends state park fees to be replaced by a $10 car registration surcharge.

Motorists would pay the extra fee instead of paying $24 for an annual state park sticker or $6 for a daily permit. Also, boaters no longer would pay fees at 838 access sites.

Park officials could check license plates to see whether motorists paid the fee; violators could be fined up to $100.

Out-of-state residents would continue to pay $29 for an annual permit and $8 for a daily pass.

Read the full story: Senate passes bill to end park fees, add surcharge

Photo montage by Michigan Department of Natural Resources website

Rate transit and walking options

Ecolocalizer reports on the web site that let's you rate the "walkability" of places in your neighborhood.

Walkscore rates a neighborhood’s walkability on a 1 to 100 scale based on a number of criteria such as proximity to restaurants and grocery stores. Now, they’ve added a transit rating which takes into account a neighborhood’s public transportation options!

Read the full story: Walk Score's new transit rating

Photo from Ecolocalizer

Endangered fish comic

It's the latest Arctic Circle comic strip by Alex Hallatt on The Daily Green blog

For more Arctic Circle's click here

Board the train to a National Park

National Parks Traveler reports on visiting East Coast parks via train.

Look for tips on what trains and parks to visit near Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C. among others.

Washington, D.C. Among the easiest NPS areas in the country to reach by train are those in the nation's capital. Once you arrive at Union Station you don't even need to leave the building to make a connection to the city's Metro system—or you can just walk from the station to some key sites. Even if you aren't traveling by train, the food court in the lower level of Union Station, together with several restaurants elsewhere in the building, offers a variety of choices for reasonably priced meals.

This is a series and NPS will also have trips for Central and Western regions soon.

Read the full story: Visiting National Parks by train - Eastern U.S.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Kansas bison preserve to lure tourists

USA Today reports on the Kansas bison preserve that hopes to lure tourists.

Leaders from the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Strong City hope the 20 [bison] will be the beginning of a herd of about 100 that will roam the public parkland in the Flint Hills for all to see. They hope it is the beginning of much — a new tourist attraction, a new start for a species that once dominated the Flint Hills, and a new window for people to see the unique beauty of one of the continent's rarer ecosystems.

"Some of the beauty of our grasslands is a little more subtle," said Kristen Hase, chief of natural resources for the Flint Hills preserve. "This is going to be a big bang, basically."

Read the full story: Kansas preserve hopes bison will be a "big bang" for tourism

Photo by Travis Morisse / The Hutchinson

Nuclear waste found in Rio Grande

The Los Angeles Times reports on the nuclear waste runoff found in New Mexico's river Rio Grande.

More than 60 years after scientists assembled the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lethal waste is seeping from mountain burial sites and moving toward aquifers, springs and streams that provide water to 250,000 residents of northern New Mexico.

Isolated on a high plateau, the Los Alamos National Laboratory seemed an ideal place to store a bomb factory's deadly debris. But the heavily fractured mountains haven't contained the waste, some of which has trickled down hundreds of feet to the edge of the Rio Grande, one of the most important water sources in the Southwest.

Read the full story: Toxic waste trickles toward New Mexico's water sources

Photo by Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Deforestation caused Peruvian natives decline; study

Reuters reports that deforestation caused the decline of Peruvian natives called the Nasca according to a new study.

The Nasca people, famed for the lines that depict animals or geometric shapes most clearly visible from the air, became unable to grow enough food in nearby valleys because the lack of trees made the climate too dry, scientists said.

The report, led by Cambridge University in England, said that the findings showed a need for more action now to protect the world's arid lands.

Read the full story: Deforestation sped demise of Nasca in Peru: study

Photo from Thomson Reuters

Stroll down "streets of fear"

USA Today reports on spooky street names across the nation.

FEARnet.com compiled a list called "streets of fear"; basically streets with names like Bloody Pond Road (pic. left) or Gore Orphanage Road. Most of them have some sort of historical or haunted story behind them.

Read the full story: Scary street names across the USA

Photo from FEARnet

1 man, 1 year, 1 car, around the world

Associated Press Art Director Nicolas Rapp is quitting his job next month to travel around the world solo with only his newly-equipped Land Cruiser.

It's not exactly an eco-trip since he will be driving, and where he can't drive he'll ship his car and fly... but he will be camping most of the way and basically living in his car.

He estimated his total expenses to be around $45,000, but we think he should add in some more for border bribes and/or other bribes to get out of sticky situations along the way.

We wish him luck and will be following his travels.

Follow his trip at transworldexpedition.com

Map by transworldexpedition.com / AP

Food recycling mandatory now in SF

NPR reports on the new law in San Francisco that makes recycling food scraps mandatory.

It's the first program of its kind in the nation [that requires all businesses and residences to recycle organic waste], and so far, it's a mandate San Franciscans seem to relish. In fact, many residents and landlords began implementing the law before it took effect, using their city-provided food recycling bins to separate waste.

"It doesn't smell so bad," says Linda Corso, the the Cathedral Hill Plaza apartments manager. "Our trash room doesn't stink like it used to."

That's because none of the wet garbage, the food waste, goes down there anymore, Ms. Corso says. Instead, food scraps go into sealed compost bins that get picked up by the city. Corso says the program has significantly trimmed the building's garbage costs.

"We used to have two bins picked up every day," she says. "Now we're down to one bin every day. So we've cut that in half."

Read the full story: Food recycling law a hit in San Francisco

Photo from Recology

Bears prefer minivans

Los Angeles Times travel blog reports on the study showing that bears at Yosemite National Park prefer to break into minivans more than other types of vehicles.

[The] Journal of Mammalogy study [was] drawn from seven years of park data on bear-related break-ins.

Analyzing reports on 908 Yosemite Valley vehicle break-ins, authors Stewart W. Breck, Nathan Lance and Victoria Seher classified automobiles in nine categories. They found that 26% of the victimized vehicles were minivans.

The authors offer four possible reasons, beginning with one that won’t surprise many parents of small children. Perhaps, the authors say, the black bears like minivans because “minivans are more likely to emit food odors, based on the fact that minivans are designed for families with children, who are more likely to spill food and drink in a vehicle."

Read the full story: Yosemite bears' car of choice

Photo by Gary Kazanjian / Associated Press

Saving Ecuador's condors

Reuters video reports on Ecuador's efforts to save their endangered condor.

Indigenous to the country, the scavenger birds are being bred in captivity because their native habitat is now occupied by people. Ecuadorian conservationists hope to revive the birds that have already been wiped out in neighboring Venezuela.

Watch the report below:

Coral smuggler to be sentenced

The Christian Science Monitor reports on German businessman who plead guilty in a federal court in Portland, Oregon this week for smuggling 40 tons of coral from the Philippines.

Gunther Wenzek, [a German businessman from Essen], runs a company called CoraPet, which sells sand, pebbles, sponges, and shells for aquariums, terrariums, and ponds.

According to documents filed in the case, Mr. Wenzek illegally smuggled two 20-foot shipping containers of coral into the US [from the Philippines to Miami and Portland in 2008]. The containers were falsely labeled as holding “rock” or “gravel.”

Read the full story: German businessman smuggled coral into US from Philippines

Photo by Scott Keeler / Newscom

Nature and budget conscious fall travel

Travel + Leisure magazine via CNN reports on nature-loving fall travel on a budget.

Trips include kayaking among whales in the Pacific Northwest (picture left), biking through the Northeast autumn colors, and hiking amongst the natural scenery of Utah.

Read the full story: Best affordable fall adventures

Picture from Pacific Northwest Adventures.

English pumpkin mural draws Halloween visitors

Reuters video reports on the West Essex, England "pumpkin house" mural created every year around Halloween by Tony Smith.

Watch the video below:

Electric cars not so clean; report

Reuters reports that electric cars aren't as clean as touted according to a new scientific report.

"For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," said Jared Cohon, the chair of a National Research Council report released on Monday called "Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use."

About half of U.S. power is generated by burning coal, which emits many times more of traditional pollutants, such as particulates and smog components, than natural gas, and about twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Read the full story: Electric cars don't deserve halo yet: study

Photo by Thomas Peter / REUTERS

Get fresh produce at vending machine

Mother Nature Network reports on German farmers selling fresh produce via vending machine.

[Farm] Peter-und-Paul-Hof spawned the idea as a solution to a problem which faces many local farmers worldwide. After efforts to deliver milk directly to customers became too time-consuming and costly, they first tried to encourage customers to collect the milk from fridges on their farm, but of course that only shifted the burden onto the customers. Vending machines simply offered them the smartest middle ground solution to the problem.

Perhaps even more unusual, the company has chosen to place several of these upstart Regiomats alongside popular hiking trails in Switzerland.

Read the full story: Farmers using vending machines to sell produce

Photo from Regiomat

Kenya wildlife starve through drought

Global Post reports on how Kenya's drought is affecting not only the people but also the wildlife.

Ten Rare white rhinos (picture right) were moved from drought-stricken Lake Nakuru National Park and released at Nairobi NP, but they are among the lucky survivors

“This is the third year without rain so all the grass is gone. What we’re left with is a barren land of carcasses,” Cynthia Moss (a renowned conservationist who studies the elephants of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park) told GlobalPost.

Moss said this year’s drought is about as bad as she has known in 37 years of researching Amboseli’s elephants. “We had very bad droughts in '76, '84 and 2000 but this is the worst I’ve seen. The old Maasai — the wazee — say it hasn’t been this bad since the 1960s.”

Read the full story: Drought hits Kenya's wildlife

Photo by Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

National Park trip planner website online now

National Parks Traveler reports on the new National Park Service website that will enable travelers to plan their next trip.

Dubbed Plan Your Visit to America's Best Idea (Your National Parks): Fall, Winter, Spring 2009-2010, the site provides a rundown of events and activities at the parks for the fall, winter and spring months. It also provides some tips, such as where to get the right pass for the parks, a suggestion that you stop at visitor centers and ask rangers questions, and, naturally, a suggestion that you visit www.nps.gov before you leave home to gather more information on the park of your choice.

Read the full story: National Park Service launches new website

Photo from National Park Service

Man-made noise is threat to animals; report

BBC Earth News reports on the study that shows how man-made noise torments animals.

Sounds produced by vehicles, oil and gas fields and urban sprawl interfere with the way animals communicate, mate and prey on one another.

The sounds are becoming so ubiquitous that they may threaten biodiversity, say the review's authors.

Even the animals living in protected National Parks in the US are being exposed to chronic levels of noise.

Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, three scientists based in Fort Collins, Colorado, US detail the extent to which noise pollution is now harming wild animals.

Read the full story: Noise pollution threatens animals

Photo by Dietmar Nill / NPL

Madagascar lemurs and forests decimated by gangs

New Scientist reports on the rampant bush meat and illegal logging trades currently happening in Madagascar.

This African island's legendary lemurs and other animals as well as its forests are under threat by loggers and poachers after a March coup that ousted the former president reports the magazine.

In August, Conservation International reported that 15 bushmeat traders, contracted by a restaurant, were arrested carrying hundreds of endangered lemurs, which had been killed and roasted. "This happened in one of the country's best managed parks," says Edward Louis, a conservation biologist at the Omaha Zoo, who has been working in Madagascar for a decade. "If it's happening there, I can't begin to imagine what is happening elsewhere."

Read the full story: Madagascar biodiversity under threat as gangs run wild

Photo from Madagasikara Voakajy a capacity building project

Alaska polar bear sightseeing rise

USA Today reports on Alaska's boom in polar bear tourism.

It's not hard to understand the allure of these giant white bears. Regal and majestic, but also somehow cuddly, there is a natural magnetism that draws us. Add the sense that their future is in doubt, and it translates into heightened public interest in seeing bears. Worldwide, there are 19 known polar bear populations, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Two are in Alaska— the other is in the Chukchi Sea on the western coast.

In May 2008, the polar bear was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act after research indicated the sea ice vital to the bears' existence is declining. The decline is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Read the full story: Polar bear tourism booms on Alaska's North Slope

Photo by Steve Amstrup / U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service

Idaho fall nature pics

The Idaho Statesman has a gorgeous photo gallery of flowers and animals (like this trout taken by Roger Phillips) abundant around this time of year.

Check out the gallery here: 2009 Natural Wonders

Biking "world's most dangerous road" Boliva

Bolivia is a mountainous country that boasts the "world's most dangerous road." Of course now there are many adventure bike tours over that road.

Watch an interesting video about this:

Drive through and create power

Reuters video reports on a New Jersey fast food drive-thru that is helping to test an energy capturing prototype.

New Energy Technologies Inc. is testing a new kinetic energy capturing device that looks like a speed bump at a Hillside, New Jersey Burger King. When cars slow down to go over the Motion Power bump, energy is captured and can be used to power the restaurant.

Watch the video below:

More deer hit by NC cars; study

The Charlotte Observer reports that more deer are being hit by cars now that man is encroaching on their habitat.

A new study shows deer-related crashes reported to police hit a high last year in Mecklenburg and across the state, as new residents and increasing development gobble up habitat.

Rapid growth across the state also means fewer places to hunt - still the most effective way to cull the deer population, said Jon Shaw, an N.C. Wildlife Commission biologist in charge of Mecklenburg and nine other western counties.

The above photo shows a deer just before it's hit by the Google Street View car.

Read the full story: It's wild: wrecks due to deer have surged in North Carolina

Photo from Computer Weekly

Hike in Swiss Alps, see climate change

BBC video reports on climate change hikes in the Swiss Alps.

A Swiss resort is offering climate change hiking trips to show the changes in the landscape scientists say are the result of global warming.

Mobile phones with GPS show the area as it once was, but melting and retreating glaciers have caused huge changes to the area - not least flooding and landslides.

Imogen Foulkes reports from the Swiss resort of Grindelwald.

Click to watch the video: Climate change hikes in Alps

Waterfall snaps

CNN's iReport's latest travel picture submissions were of some spectacular waterfalls.

Inspired by this we at Ecotravel News found the artist Olafur Eliasson's waterfall installation under New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

Click here for all the CNN waterfall pictures

Photo is Artist rendering: Olafur Eliasson - Courtesy Public Art Fund/Handout/Reuters

Australia koalas dying of stress

The Seattle Times reports that koalas are dying of stress-related disease.

The iconic Australian marsupials are being crowded out of their native forests by human populations; and with this comes stress.

The stress is bringing out a latent disease that infects 50 to 90 percent of the animals.

The problem came to national attention in August, when the well-known Sam the Koala (picture above) died during surgery to treat the disease, called chlamydia. Sam captured the world's attention during major wildfires in February, when she was photographed drinking from the water bottle of a firefighter in a smoldering forest.

Chlamydiosis is a virus that breaks out in koalas in times of stress - like cold sores in humans - and leads to infections in the eyes and urinary, reproductive and respiratory tracts. It can cause blindness, infertility and death.

Read the full story: Stress-related disease killing off Australia's koalas

Photo by Mark Pardew / AP

10 best American hikes

Conde Nast Traveler compiles their list of America's 10 best hikes.

Among their recommendations are:

New Hampshire's Presidential Traverse (picture right) that "strings together the seven summits named for U.S. presidents in New Hampshire's White Mountains."

Angels Landing in Utah's Zion National Park where hikers get gorgeous high views but must pass over extremely steep sandstone with the help of permanently bolted-in chains.

Read the full story: America's best hikes

Photo from concierge.com

Wash State trail is "classic"

USA Today reports on Washington State's Olympic National Park High Divide Trail, calling it a "classic."

The 18.2-mile wilderness loop on the Olympic Mountains' northwest side is a sampler of what the park has to offer: old-growth forest, river canyons and waterfalls, subalpine meadows, a high, rugged basin dotted by peaceful lakes, views of Mount Olympus and other peaks — nearly everything but the park's ocean beaches and rain forests. You won't be lonely — it's justifiably popular as one of the Pacific Northwest's classic backpacking trips — but there's more than enough room to be off by yourself.

Read the full story: Olympic National Park's High Divide Trail is a Pacific Northwest classic

Photo By George Tibbits, AP Photo

Ride the rails on the "10 greatest" train trips

ABC News.com reports on 10 of the "world's greatest train journeys."

Among the journeys is the number 7: Hejaz Jordan Railway (picture right) through Syria and Jordan where "you'll be off rattling along tracks built by the Ottomans, through dusty red countryside, little towns and under tunnels through towering gray mountains."

Also on the list is Switzerland's Glacier Express (that we at Ecotravel News have been on and highly recommend for beautiful mountain scenery), The Eastern & Oriental Express from Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand, and the Settle-Carlisle Railway through England's countryside.

Read the full story: World's 10 greatest train journeys

Photo from ABC News.com