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