Biking in Europe and Taiwan

Today's post is about bike trips because we've noticed that biking has become more popular and more people are writing about it.

Associated Press writer William Foreman writes about his experience with his bike in one of Taiwan's love hotels. (picture right)

We were guys staying at the same hotel with our mistresses.

He looked like a Taiwanese gangster, with permed hair, black suit and pointy knockoff Italian loafers. It was 5:30 a.m. and he was renting a room for a few hours with a woman in a leather mini skirt, fishnet stockings and the longest false eyelashes I've ever seen. They had no luggage.

My mistress was my $4,000 carbon-fiber bicycle

Leah Larkin writes about her and husband Bob's bike trip through France's wine country for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Bicycle Bob, my cycling husband, is not like most of us on a bicycle. He loves hills, the steeper the better.

On a trip last autumn in the Vaucluse region of Provence in southern France, he found a winner — a "mini Mont Ventoux" (the famous Tour de France mountain). That’s what a local called it.

And Sue Halpern writes for Conde Nast Traveler about biking in the flat country of Denmark.

Please note: Ecotravel News will be away and but resume posting in early August

New Mexico eco-lodge set in rugged wilderness

The Daily Green reports on New Mexico's Bear Mountain Lodge; an eco-resort set amongst rugged natural beauty.

Eco-features include line-drying linens (picture left) and furniture made from forest-thinning projects.

See the slide show here: New Mexico eco tourism

Cape Cod wind farm controversy

Reuters video reports on the controversy over a proposed wind farm off the heavily touristed coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Cape Wind corporation claims their installation will "produce 75 percent of the cape and islands electricity."

Opponents claim the 440 foot turbines will ruin the natural landscape that tourists come for and hurt the economy when those visitors vacation elsewhere.

Watch the report below:

Greenland: icebergs and sled dogs

Featured in this week's Washington Post's "Your vacation in lights" is Fabia and John Mahoney's trip to Greenland.

HIGHLIGHTS: Icebergs, icebergs and more icebergs. On a morning boat trip from Ilulissat, we sailed among hundreds of towering hunks of ice, each one a different size, shape and color. Another boat tour (this one 12 hours) took us to a calving glacier that, our guide said, had given birth to the berg that sank the Titanic.

Read the full story: Tip of the icebergs

Bangladesh rare leopard captured and released

There have been many news reports about a rare clouded leopard cub captured in Bangladesh last month.

The species was thought to be extinct in the wild with the last known sighting in 1992 and 2005 according to Agence France-Press.

The cub, along with its mother and another cub, was sighted eating a monkey by villagers in the Chittagong hill tracks region of Bangladesh near the Myanmar border. They captured the cub after the others ran away.

This news gives conservationists hopes for the survival of the clouded leopard of which only 100,000 remain.

The cub was released back into the wild after it was deemed that it could survive on its own.

Read more:
Bangladesh leopard renews hopes for species survival
Bangladesh rare leopard cub freed

Electric bikes growing eco-vehicle market in Japan

Reuters reports on the growing popularity of electric bikes in Japan.

Japan's motor-assisted bicycles use a small electric motor and battery pack mounted inconspicuously on the bicycle to propel the rider, constantly adjusting the motor's force to the speed and resistance of the pedaling.

That makes cycling up a hill or while carrying a heavy load a cinch, winning over a growing number of elderly and housewives in Japan. Sales of electric bicycles more than doubled from 2000 to 315,000 last year, as they became more affordable and practical.

Read the full story: Electric bicycles ride "green" demand in Japan

NYC High Line park; reusing old train tracks

The New York Times reports on one of the newest New York City parks, the High Line.

The park - made from old elevated train tracks - is the epitomization of reusing old to make new.

It's located in Manhattan's West Side near the Hudson River and winds up from the West Village through Chelsea.

Read the full story: For High Line visitors, park is a railway out of Manhattan

Beautiful white dunes of New Mexico

Here's a beautiful shot of New Mexico's white sand dunes from Discovery News. The dunes are part of the Chihuanhuan Desert and the aptly named White Sands National Monument.

Some 250 million years ago, this area was home to a shallow sea. As the sea level began to drop, thick layers of gypsum settled on the sea floor, eventually forming a field. Then about 70 million years ago, plate tectonic activity increased. During this time, the Rocky Mountains shot up, taking the giant gypsum field with it.

Read the full story: White sand dunes for miles

NYC cops taking a bite out of eco-crime

Reuters video reports on the eco-police of New York.

The job of officers Matthew Clemens and Eric Dowling is to patrol their beat of the Bronx in New York City and find people who are overstepping environmental laws.

Watch the full video below:

Exploring New Zealand by camper van

The Los Angeles Times reports on writer Mary Engel's and her husband Nolan Hester's 19-day a camper van trip through New Zealand's South Island.

Since they'd explored much of the world by trusty VW pop-up wagons, they wound up with an orange rental for their trip.

My husband, Nolan, and I had pulled in next to a train station to make coffee in our rented Volkswagen Vanagon camper when a wiry, red-haired man ambled over and knocked on our sliding door. It was our first morning in New Zealand, and we assumed he was going to tell us we couldn't park there.

Hands in the pockets of his fleece jacket, he smiled apologetically at interrupting our breakfast, and leaned in.

"What year is it?" he asked, meaning our bright orange van (a 1982). We'd hired it the day before in Christchurch from Classic Campers, which we'd found on the Web as renting "stylish retro campervans."

It was then that we noticed an almost identical orange Vanagon across the parking lot.

Read the full story: Rolling and roaming in New Zealand

Alaska mystery blob is algae

McClatchy Newspapers reports on the scientific findings of a mystery blob appearing in Alaska's Chukchi Sea.

The black substance, some thought to be oozing oil from a sunken tanker, turned out to be... algae.

Miles of the thick, dark gunk had been spotted floating between Barrow and Wainwright, prompting North Slope Borough officials and the Coast Guard to investigate last week. A sample was sent to a Department of Environmental Conservation lab in Palmer, where workers looked at it under a microscope and declared it some kind of simple plant — an algae, said Ed Meggert, of the Department of Environmental Conservation in Fairbanks.

Read the full story: Mystery solved: Alaska's mystery blob is identified as algae

Ride a bike, power a bus, get paid

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the new conception bike-sharing program that the designer hopes will create energy to power a hybrid-bus system.

Chiyu Chen, a design student at the Royal College of Art, has conceived of an urban bike sharing program that not only provides riders utility, but also powers the local bus system – and pays them to do so.

Users check out specially designed bikes from a locking station using an ID card. Inside the bikes is a system that stores kinetic energy generated from braking. Riders go where they need to, and when they’re finished, bring the bike back to the locking station. Locking up the bike transfers the energy generated by the trip into the city grid – or, as Chen envisions, into a hybrid bus system.

Ride enough – and generate enough energy – and bike sharers can earn a bus pass. Completing the trifecta: the locking stations would be placed near bus stations, both to make renting a bike convenient and to facilitate easy bike-to-bus recharging.

Read the full story: Bike sharing that creates energy - and pays you to ride?

How to catch horse-cart dung?

National Parks Traveler reports on the controversy in an Irish park about horse cart "dung-catchers."

For some reason that isn't made clear, the cart drivers or jarveys, are opposed to driving carts with the dung-catchers. The Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service installed a rule proclaiming that all carts driven in Killarney NP must have the catchers.

Here in New York City's Central Park, all the horse carts have these dung-catchers attached to the front of the carts and positioned strategically under the horses behind. The catchers aren't perfect though and some horse "apples" manage to escape and carpet the southeastern road with the smelly excrement.

Read the full story: International park news: "nappies" for horses

Bike through WA State's San Juans, spot whales

The Seattle Times reports on biking through Washington State's San Juan Islands.

Associated Press reporter Carey J. Williams along with biking pal Ross Jonak (pic left) took a week to bike 269-miles around the islands. The relatively traffic-free and scenic area is perfect for cyclists.

One of the many highlights: Carey had the opportunity to spot a pod of whales.

Read the full story: Biking in the San Juan Islands

Explore Maine's woods

USA Today reports on the new Maine woods campaign to get travelers to explore the states green interior.

A new website at mainewoodsdiscovery.com offers seven moderately priced vacation packages to make outdoor, recreational and cultural experiences around the state more accessible.

Read the full story: Vacation packages make the Maine woods more accessible

Rhinos driven to extinction by poaching: report

Reuters reports that rhino horn poachers are leading the species to extinction.

Several nature protection groups claim in a report that rampant poaching of once thriving rhino populations in Africa and Asia could lead the species to extinction.

While between 2000 and 2005 a relatively low total of three rhinos were estimated to have been illegally killed each month in Africa out of a total population of some 18,000, 12 were now being slaughtered monthly in [South Africa and Zimbabwe] alone.

Rhinoceros spotting is a highlight of many who go on a safari in Africa.

The horn is thought to have medicinal qualities and is used in folk cures in many Asian countries.

Read the full story: Poachers pushing rhinos to extinction: nature groups

LA farmers market to celebrate 75th year

The Los Angeles Farmers Market celebrates its 75th year this month.

The iconic market at Third and Fairfax in L.A. will mark its birthday with a weeklong celebration in the middle of the month.

Events include a July 14 "Taste of Farmers Market," 5-9 p.m. (tickets are $20 or with drinks, $25); a July 15 karaoke contest on the West Patio stage; and a "Big Birthday Bash" party for the public July 16 beginning at 8 a.m., including free cupcakes and a huge cake shaped like the market's clock tower. Live music will be offered July 16-19, and programs for kids will be available July 18-19. Details: www.farmersmarketla.com.

Read the full story: Farmers Market in Los Angeles celebrates 75th year

Tell me about what's rolling by my window

MSNBC reports on the free Rails & Trails programs offered to Amtrak riders this summer.

National Park Service volunteers will be on board the trains giving historical context to what's rolling by the windows.

“Riding the train without the guides is like watching the Travel Channel with the sound off,” says NPS Programs Coordinator Jim Miculka. “If you turn on the volume, you can learn what that mountain or river or historic site is.”

Read the full story: Free interpretive programs for Amtrak riders

Swimming deer related to whales

Yesterday's post was about a white whale; today's post is about the discovery of a swimming deer that could be related to whales.

The BBC Earth News reports on the swimming mouse deer that escapes predators by submerging itself in water for minutes at a time.

Two Asian mouse deer species and one African species have been found to swim.

[This] new discovery suggests all ruminants (cattle, goats, sheep, deer and antelope) may once have had an affinity with water.

It also lends support to the idea that whales evolved from water-loving creatures that looked like small deer.

Read the full story: Aquatic deer and ancient whales

White humpback spotted with mate?

Migaloo, the world's only known white humpback whale has been recently spotted off the coast of Australia, to the delight of whale watchers.

The white whale was spotted with an unknown grey whale who scientists hope is a female mate.

The male whale, now in his twenties, was first spotted in 1991 off Byron Bay, the eastern most part of Australia according to Reuters. He has returned every year since "on his annual migration north to warmer waters for mating season."

Watch the rough cut video below: