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

Grizzly Bears endangered again

Environmental News Network reports that Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone National Park are back on the endangered species list.

According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) a Montana federal district court returned the bears to the protections under the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday September 22.

In the case, brought by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Judge Donald Molloy ruled that inadequate regulatory mechanisms were put in place to manage the bears after federal protections were dropped in early 2007, and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to address the loss of an essential food source for the bears, whitebark pine seeds. The NRDC and six other groups, represented by Earthjustice, have a similar case pending in Idaho.

Read the full story: Yellowstone Grizzlies back on endangered species list

Photo from National Park Travel, Inc.

100-year-old Galapagos tortoise could be father

Reuters video reports that Lonesome George, the only surviving Galapagos giant tortoise, could finally be a father at the age of almost 100.

Eggs were found in George's habitat in July, transferred to an incubation center, but have a four-month wait before scientists will know if they are fertile or not.

Giant tortoises dwindled to extinction on the northern Galapagos island of Pinta in the 1960s and their habitat was destroyed by goats. George was found in 1972 and brought to the Charles Darwin research station where scientists have tried to mate him with females of a subspecies.

Eggs were discovered last year but were infertile.

Watch the report below:


For more on Galapagos read our previous post on the islands' overpopulation problems

Airline emissions to be halved by 2050

The Financial Times reports on the airline industry plans to halve carbon emissions by 2050.

The plan initiative set forth by British Airways chief Willie Walsh will be unveiled at the United Nations climate change forum today in New York.

"International aviation emissions were not included in the Kyoto Protocol 12 years ago," [Walsh] said. "Now we have a chance to rectify that omission -- and we must seize it."

The plan is unlikely to satisfy environmental campaigners, however. By choosing 2005 as the year from which to cut emissions, the aviation industry will be able to make its proposed reductions from a much higher base than if it had chosen 1990, the year used for comparisons by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Read the full story: Airline industry plans to halve carbon emissions

Photo by AFP/Getty images

Ecotour Cuba

MSNBC reports on Cuba's efforts to lure ecotourists.

Cuba is betting environmentally conscious vacationers, who are often willing to pay premium prices and stay longer than those hankering for cheap beach getaways, can boost profits. Eco-tourists focus not only on nature — biking, hiking, bird-watching, scuba-diving — but also on the country's social and cultural charms, while trying to make as little negative impact as possible on nature.

A key attraction will be the national park near the Bay of Pigs — the Cienaga de Zapata [picture above], or Zapata Swamp. Cuba's equivalent of the Florida Everglades, it's the Caribbean's largest bioreserve, 1.5 million acres of mangrove-choked canals teeming with the wildest Cuban wildlife.

Read the full story: Cuba works to become ecotourism destination

Photo from flickr by Manolo Marrero

Cruise lines' pollution report cards

USA Today reports on an environmental group's cruise lines pollution report cards.

Friends of the Earth gave its highest mark — a "B"_ to Holland America Line (picture right).

Cruise lines were graded in three categories: sewage treatment, air pollution reduction and water quality compliance.

Disney Cruise Line was among the lowest "F-rated."

Read the full story: Some cruise lines found failing in pollution 'report' card

Photo by Andy Newman, Holland America Line, via Getty Images

Electric Trabant unveiled

Reuters video reports on the Frankfurt car show where three new electric car models were shown as well as an electric Trabant.

Trabants, nicknamed Trabis, were the most common and often only available car in communist East Germany. Residents waited 15 years to even receive one of these cars after they had put in an order. They are now seen as a symbol of the former communist country and regarded with a "derisive affection," according to Wikipedia.

Watch the report below:

Iowa fall foliage spots

USA Today reports on Iowa fall foliage.

The foliage is pretty anywhere along the Mississippi River but particularly in Pikes Peak State Park in McGregor, about three hours from Des Moines on the state's eastern border. (And yes, it is named for Zebulon Pike, who explored the area in the early 1800s and for whom Pikes Peak is named in Colorado.)

Read the full story: Autumn colors are easy to find in Iowa

Picture from KCRG-TV

Forbes Traveler via MSNBC reports on worldwide "amazing" rainforests.

From reserves in Australia to Belize to British Columbia and beyond, opportunities for adventurous travelers abound. Depending on the destination, you can either incorporate a rainforest visit into a broader itinerary, such as in Australia or Hawaii, or make it the centerpiece of a trip—for instance, a week-long river cruise though the heart of the vast Amazon rainforest

Read the full story: World's most amazing rainforests

From old flip-flops to art in Kenya

Global Post reports on recycled flip-flops turned into art in Kenya.

Old flip-flops wash up onto Kenya's beaches from all over the world. A company was formed to make this rubbish into saleable art like: "crazily striped rhinos, elephants and lions looking like mini psychedelic safaris."

Read the full story: Turning flip-flops into art

Idaho moose encounters

The Idaho Statesman's Pete Zimowsky shares his readers' moose sighting tales.

Kathy and Bob Durbin along with their dog Scruffy were kayaking around northern Idaho's Spirit Lake (pic right) when they came across this female moose who was quietly munching away on water plants.

Read the full story: Close encounters with moose

Cars to run on used clothing?

Reuters video reports on bio-fuel made from old clothing.

Swedish engineers have created a chemical process that breaks down cotton and synthetic fabrics into bio-fuel (ethanol and methane) which could fuel vehicles.

The scientists claim that this process uses less energy than extracting from plant sources and "50 percent more ethanol is produced."

Watch the report below:

Visit Washington State nuclear power plant

The New York Times reports on a visit to the Hanford nuclear site in central Washington State.

The site, closed to production in 1980, is surrounded ironically by unspoiled nature, but is"one of the world’s largest environmental clean-up projects"

Nature lovers can now tour the site and the B Reactor; which was "the world's first production-scale nuclear reactor."

Plutonium from this reactor powered the test bomb at Los Alamos, N.M., and the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. (The Hiroshima bomb, three days earlier, was fueled by uranium 235 made in Oak Ridge, Tenn.)

Read the full story: Unspoiled nature in shadow of nuclear site

Photo by Annie Marie Musselman

Fall in North Carolina

USA Today reports on autumnal nature viewing in North Carolina.

Some of the prettiest places to see fall foliage in Western North Carolina also offer scenic views of waterfalls.

The Blue Ridge Parkway will take you to U.S. 276, where you'll find Looking Glass Falls and Sliding Rock. The water in the natural 60-foot waterslide at Sliding Rock is still warm enough to try in early fall.

For hikers, a three-mile trail in DuPont State Forest will take in three waterfalls: Hooker, Triple and the 150-foot High Falls.

Read the full story: Waterfalls and fall foliage mix in North Carolina

Photo of Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest by David Blevins

More OR coast birds killed by drivers

The Seattle Times reports that more Oregon Coast seabirds are being killed by beach drivers.

Sharnelle Fee, director of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, said she found the bodies of eight protected seabirds on Saturday, scattered on the sand just north of the entrance to Gearhart Beach on the Oregon coast

Fee has found the bodies of dead birds just about every week this summer. In June, a young motorist hit and killed nearly 50 seabirds near Long Beach on the Washington coast. "In many instances, the tides just wash the bodies away," Fee said. "I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg."

Read the full story: Beach drivers killing birds on Oregon coast

Photo from Wikimedia

Did global warming help Incas?

Reuters video reports on the new theory that South America's Inca population was helped by a warming planet.

Scientists now believe that the Incas were able to expand their food crops to higher altitudes when the temperature went up and thus able to sustain their growing population.

Watch the full report below: