Hiking among Indonesia's volcanoes

The New York Times' Edward Wong reports on his hiking trip among Java's volcanoes.

Flirting with the fury of a volcano may not sound like the usual tourist fare, but in recent years, these imperious volcanoes have become an increasingly popular draw that is away from the crowded resorts of Bali, which lies just east of Java. Last year, more than 93,000 people visited Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, Indonesia’s most famous volcano preserve, up 78 percent from the previous year, according to the park’s main ranger station.

We were also pleased to see Mr. Wong refer to his faithful hiking partner Tini, finally, as his wife, previously she was always just referred to as his "friend."

Read the full story: In Java, risking the wrath of a volcano

Photo by Edward Wong / The New York Times

Gardens and parks in Mumbai

The New York Times In Transit blog reports on escaping the crowds of Mumbai, India to visit some of the green spaces.

Luckily, the ever-popular Marine Drive promenade and the Hanging Gardens are not the only green spots in town. For a short morning stroll, check out the leafy neighborhood of Five Gardens, just a five-minute drive from the teeming Dadar train station.

At sunset, head to Bandra’s seaside promenade, which runs from the 17th-century Bandra Fort up to the fishing village of Khar.

For a real escape, head to the northern suburb of Borivali to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a 40-square-mile expanse of rugged green hills where leopards still roam.

Read more here: Going green in Mumbai

Photo by Ally Reeves

Flying thin is better for the environment

The New York Times reports on the problem of obese airline passengers.

This is always a delicate issue, but something that is a reality in the flights of today. Being thin, a healthy eater, and exerciser should be rewarded on a flight rather than having to be wedged next to someone who is fat and spilling over into your seat. Maybe airlines should also discount tickets for thin passengers as well as charge more for obese ones.

Although the article itself doesn't mention this, one of the comments says that overweight people use more fuel thereby being more responsible for greenhouse gas warming emissions. Thin people who fly are better for the environment.

Read the full story: Excuse me, is this seat taken?

Illustration by Leif Parsons

Eco Inn in Berkshires

The New York Times reports on eco-hotel Topia Inn located in Massachusetts' Berkshires.

The guest policy is:

No Smoking.

No chemical fragrances/bug repellant.

Leave your shoes at the front door or cover them with the inn’s neoprene booties, so as not to track in pesticide residue and other pollutants.

Leave all grooming products at home, so as not to interfere with the chemical-free organic mattresses and bedding. Complimentary organic bath and body products provided.

Read the full story: An inn is an oasis to environmental fronts

Photo by Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Slowly kayaking down the Mississippi

The New York Times reports on the father and son boat trip down the Mississippi.

Paul Schneider and his 15-year-old son took to the river near St. Louis and kayaked down its slow waters.

The truth is, my 15-year-old son and I didn’t have specific destinations in mind on this kayaking trip in June. We hadn’t come to the Mississippi to prove or conquer anything. We just came to see what the most storied river in America had to offer a couple of supplicants with plastic boats and a week and a half with which to play.

Read the full story: Peacefully adrift as the Mississippi rolls by

Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times

Norwegian electric car, made in Indiana

The New York Times reports on Norwegian electric car maker named Think, who will manufacture in an Indiana plant.

The Think City, a battery-powered, two-seat hatchback, is set to begin rolling off the Indiana assembly line in early 2011, ramping up to a potential annual production of 20,000 cars by 2013. Think said it will spend more than $43 million to upgrade the Elkhart factory, which is expected to eventually employ more than 400 workers.

Read the full story: Indiana chosen for electric-car plant

Photo by PR Newswire

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

Cabs taking backseat to mass transit

The New York Times reports that more travelers are foregoing expensive (and CO2 emitting) taxis for shared or public transportation options to and from airports.

Although the premise of the article is for budget reasons; positive environmental effects also occur by taking mass transit.

Another positive is that many travelers found that taking the train to/from the airport was much more reliable and sometimes even faster than a cab, especially during rush hour.

Read the full story: More fliers skipping the cab

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

See Portland, OR by bike

Although we at Ecotravel News feel that The New York Times is mostly geared towards rich elistists - as evidenced in their travel articles that seem to recomend higher-than-average priced vacations - their article on biking Portland, Oregon is for the average normal-salaried person.

"'Portland is a really easy and comfortable city to use a bicycle as transportation,' said Roger Geller, Portland’s bicycle coordinator since 1994. 'There is a lot of energy around cycling right now and it’s not just 20-year-old men racing. I see average people out biking.'"

Read the full story: Portland, Portland style

Mercury levels high in NY Catskills bald eagles

The New York Times reports on the elevated levels of mercury found in New York Catskills' bald eagle chicks.

A report put out by Maine environmental group BioDiversity Research Institute showed the high levels of mercury build up in the chicks' feathers and blood.

High mercury levels have been shown to cause reproductive harm, yet the institute's director David C. Evers and study co-author Chris DeSorbo say "that not enough research had yet been done to say with certainty what effect the elevated mercury levels might have on eagles."

Mercury (which is blown east from coal-fired power plants in the Midwest), contaminates water sources, affecting fish and other animal and plant life, and the eagles eat the fish thus ingesting the metal.

"For much of the year, bald eagles live on brown trout, smallmouth bass and other fresh water fish that can be contaminated with methylmercury. Adult eagles feed the fish to their nestlings. Studies of common loons have shown how mercury can affect behavior. The loons become lethargic, which can affect their ability to gather food or sit on a nest long enough for eggs to hatch. Reproductive rates in loons contaminated with mercury can drop by as much as 40 percent, according to Mr. Evers.

Read the full story: Bald eagles in Catskills show increasing mercury

Turn that RV eco

The New York Times reports on the greening of recreational vehicles or RVs.

Many do-it-yourselfers are embracing the low-impact green lifestyle and retrofitting their RVs into eco-on-the-go homes and vacation vehicles.

"'If you can make an RV sustainable, you can make any industry sustainable,' said Ty Adams, a Portland, Ore., resident who spent 2007 visiting 25 states and promoting renewable energy in the BioTrekker, an RV powered by biodiesel, a fuel made from refined vegetable oil. Mr. Adams spent $108,000 for the RV and $12,000 more for the biodiesel upgrade and campaign, which he financed by selling his house."

Read the full story: The green RV

Taking a bike vacation, save on gas

Bicycling through the countryside is the ultimate in slow travel, much cheaper than buying gas, and better for the environment too.

The New York Times reports on the upswing of vacationing on two wheels instead of four:

"'We just queried our e-newsletter list — over 30,000 people — and got a landslide of stories' from cyclists taking gas-free trips this summer, said Winona Sorensen, media director for the Adventure Cycling Association, in Missoula, Mont. Inquiries about bike trips were up 7 percent from last October to July, she added, while the group added 6,496 members, a nearly 15 percent gain over the previous year."

Read the full story: Vacation plans that avoid the pump

Renting eco-friendly houses for a green vacation

The New York Times' Green Traveler Jennifer Conlin wrote about the latest trend in eco-friendly vacation house rentals.

One traveler who booked an eco-house had a serendipitous week with his family "living off the grid." They enjoyed it so much that now back at home, they recreate their experience with a once-a-month off the grid week.

House owners feel responsible for their guests' education of green living, so some even stock their rentals with books on environmental living.

Read the full story: Taking it easy can be easy on the planet

Low-cost Euro airlines + more flyers = carbon upsurge

The New York Times reports on how the popularity of low-cost European airlines has upped air travel across the continent and thus also the rise in carbon emissions.

Warm countries such as Spain are seeing the increase in weekend tourists from colder climes such as the U.K. and Germany, which although good for the tourist industry, just adds to the global warming conundrum.

The competitiveness of the budget airlines keeps the prices low as well as being much cheaper and faster than car or train travel:

"[For] many, the economics of flying cheap are proving more compelling than the environmental consequences. With prices for gas and hotels at all-time highs in Britain and Germany, it is, somewhat bizarrely, more economical to fly to Spain, even for a weekend, than to take a traditional driving vacation near home."

Read the full story: Air travel and carbon on increase in Europe

W Hotels to offer free bikes on Earth Day

The New York Times reports that the luxury W hotel chain will begin offering green transportation alternatives starting this Earth Day.

Guests will be provided with free bikes and helmets. There is a "Spring Fling" package that will donate 100 trees to a charity org. And W will offer a green limo service using hybrids or alternative-fuel vehicles.

Because it's a luxury chain, the green limo service will probably be the greenest thing the guests will be able to sacrifice their lifestyles for. Somehow I don't see these guests using bikes to get to and fro. And who knows how long these so-called green services will last...

Read the full story: W celebrates Earth Day

Biofuel discharge is bad for environment

The New York Times reports on oily and polluting discharges in an Alabama river that were ultimately traced back to biofuel production. Although considered "natural" and "non-toxic," the glycerin and vegetable oil byproducts that leaked into the Alabama water sources choked off oxygen supplies to native species:

"Bruce P. Hollebone, a researcher with Environment Canada in Ottawa and one of the world’s leading experts on the environmental impact of vegetable oil and glycerin spills said 'but as with most organic materials, oil and glycerin deplete the oxygen content of water very quickly, and that will suffocate fish and other organisms. And for birds, a vegetable oil spill is just as deadly as a crude oil spill.'"

Read the full story: Pollution is called a byproduct of a 'clean' fuel

Disaster vacations: Mt. Kilimanjaro

On the rise is the popularity of going on vacation to ecologically sensitive spots such as melting glaciers or endangered animal viewing before it/they disappear(s). Not to be behind in the trend, The New York Times recent Explorer section was about climbing up Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro before the icecap melts for good. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately the author/climber saw and had to get through lots of snow, therefore unable to emote about the barren ice-free landscape, which in fact his plane ride there is helping to melt. It's great to read about all these "disaster tourists" going to Greenland or Madagascar before all the ice melts/animals are eaten but I never see anything about how they are helping to actually save these things before they are gone...

Read the full story: On Africa's roof

Yemeni goats eating tree to extinction

The New York Times reports on a disappearing tree on a Yemeni island. The Dracaena cinnabari, or dragon's blood tree, is especially vulnerable to goats on which Socotra island's economy depends. Goats are infamous for eating anything in their path and they find the young tree shoots especially tasty. So much so that they are eating the tree to its extinction. The tree's only stable area is in the high mountains where the goats can't reach.

Read the full story: Off Yemen, a storied stand is vulnerable

Endangered bird making comeback

The New York Times reports on a somewhat successful comeback of the endangered Piping Plover. The closures of certain Massachussetts beach areas where the birds nest has led to some sightings of the disappearing bird. The beach closures also led to bans on other nest-disturbing activities such as fireworks and ATV bans:

“The closures are still fairly controversial,” said Mr. Prokop, whose team did an assessment last winter to find alternative trails should some be closed for the plovers. “We try to be reasonable in our closures to provide access, but the protection of a threatened bird species that’s protected under the Endangered Species Act is paramount.”

Read the full story: In aid of a bird, some inconveniences for people