Saturday, December 29, 2007

Texas' Enchanted Rock

The Houston Chronicle reports on an intriguing rock that is the highlight of its self-named natural area. The Enchanted Rock of the Enchanted Rock Natural Area, once a part of the earth's interior, was pushed to the surface in an explosive display of natural change:

" 'This huge mass of granite, molten material cooled at depth about 1.1 billion to 1.2 billion years ago. It has been exposed and eroded and exposed again. What we are seeing is a small nub of a much larger structure that runs indepth under much of central Texas,' says petroleum geologist Carter Keairns, former head of geology at Texas State University. 'When you are standing on Enchanted Rock, you are basically standing on top of a one-time magma chamber that probably fed volcanoes up above it,' "

The 425 foot-high Enchanted Rock is climbable with a trail that leads to the top. Views from the summit reportably make one feel connected to nature.

Read the full story: Enchanted Rock

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Responsible travel advice from Conde Nast Traveler

Conde Nast Traveler's latest issue is filled with green travel advice. One of the feature articles is a so-called handbook on how to travel the eco way. G. Jeffrey MacDonald does give some insightful tips on how to counter the ethical dilemmas many travelers face, like when deciding whether travel is good/bad for the environment verses being good/bad for the local developing economy:
"But experts are quick to point out that the most obvious solutions to problems such as these—reducing our flights and using less water—aren't necessarily the best way forward. If travelers quit flying, for instance, wildlife and nature preserves in developing countries would likely fail, [Martha Honey, executive director of the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development, in Washington, D.C.] says. "It would be devastating to the local economies and to the national parks in those places that depend on tourism."

Read the full article: Green is not Black and White

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Is ecotourism solution for Madagascar

The island nation of Madagascar is slowly becoming an eco-travel destination. Tourists come to see animals such as the lemur that can only been seen there. But because the country is poor and developing, environmental damage consisting of major forest clear-cutting for rice farming and survival is a major problem that is threatening the few remaining areas of natural forests. Current TV's Adam Yamaguchi traveled to this island and reports on the hope of eco-tourism among a few other measures to help save what's left of the island's environment:

Monday, December 24, 2007

From poop to paper, conservation in Thailand

An interesting idea for eco-travel is to visit local businesses that help conserve the environment in unique ways. I recently traveled to Thailand and visited two paper factories who reuse elephant and panda dung to make the paper with. Watch my report below:

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Oxymoronic ecotourism

One would think that the eco-tourism industry cares about the environment and would therefore not be harmful to the animal and plant life its livelihood depends on. But no matter how careful tour companies are when they take tourists to view wildlife and natural phenomena, disturbance will and does happen. Eric Jaffe from Science News magazine wrote a well-researched and varied piece on this ironic subject. Although written over a year ago, it is still very much current and disturbing:

"Visitors travel 3 to 5 hours by boat to reach the beaches of Costa Rica's Tortuguero National Park—home to hawksbill, green, and leatherback turtles. Since the early 1990s, park officials and conservationists have gone to great lengths to protect these rare animals. The money that tourists pay to watch the turtles nest goes to safeguard the species... And while tourists don't directly harm the turtles, they leave trash such as water bottles and snack wrappers in Tortuguero, which lacks an adequate waste-processing center."
Read the full story: Good Gone Wild

Monday, December 17, 2007

Enjoy a special moon phenomenon in Kentucky

The Nashville Tennessean via The Cincinnati Inquirer published a how-to guide to see a unique celestial viewing of moonbows in Kentucky's Cumberland Falls State Park. This moonbow occurs when the light from the moon illuminates the watery mist from the tumbling falls of the Cumberland River. To take full advantage of seeing the moonbows visitors to the park can also go on overnight hiking or kayaking trips.

Read the full story: Moonbows add color

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Tooting our own horn, thanks Go Green!

Ecotravel news has been away but were happy to discover just today that we are featured in the Go Green wiki resource guide. Moderator Annemcd wrote an interesting review of our blog containing some insights:
"Standout Features: Schroeder scours the environmental news in both specialty and mainstream publications, provides scathing and/or laudatory commentary, and provides links to the original articles so you can decide for yourself. In a ballsy if self-destructive move for a freelancer, she doesn't pull punches when a story in a prominent publication lauds a leisure travel activity that many environmentalists believe is destructive. She's an equal opportunity decrier."
Annemcd also pointed out some horrifying spelling mistakes in our disclaimer, which have since been fixed. Thanks Annemcd!

Read our full review on Go Green