Trump to build Scottish golf resort despite protests

The Financial Times reports that real estate developer Donald Trump will press on developing his Scottish golf resort near Aberdeen despite environmentalists' protests.

Ecotravel News has been following this story for years. Back in February 2008 we posted a video of protesters, and later followed it up with a post questioning the profitability of the resort.

Trump said that he used $60 million of his own money to help finance the building of the resort.

Work began on planting the coastal dunes at Menie Estate with marram grass in the autumn and Mr Trump said today he was going to name them “The Great Dunes of Scotland”. Environmentalists objected to the scheme because the dunes offer a home for rare birds and plants.

Tripping Up Trump, a protest group, announced it had taken title to part of the land owned by Michael Forbes, a smallholder who has previously rejected offers by the Trump Organisation to buy his and several adjoining properties that lie close to the proposed courses.

Read the full story: Trump vows to press on with Scottish resort

Photo by Murdo Macleod

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

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