Nude cyclists protest London bike safety

The Guardian UK reports on London's annual naked bike day event.

Last weekend 1,100 riders rode in the buff to bring awareness to bicycle safety along London's vehicle-filled roads.

"It's a bit of reclaiming the streets," said Sarah Reader, a 23-year-old from London. "I cycle ten miles a day and London's built up such a car culture.

"When I first heard of it I didn't think it was a political thing, but when you think about it, it will make cyclists visible.

"I think it will be incredibly liberating and it's a bit cheeky. We might start off with underwear then ditch it later on," she said.

Read the full story: Cyclists strip off in central London

Photo by Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images

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

British Airways crews five-day strike

USA Today reports on the five-day strike of British Airways cabin crews.

Thousands of British Airways cabin crew began a five-day strike Monday, though the airline claimed it will still be able to carry 70% of passengers who have booked flights.

The walkout in the increasingly bitter feud follows the failure of weekend talks between the Unite union and the airline. A key issue is the union's demand that the airline restore employee travel benefits which the airline suspended following an earlier strike.

Read the full story: British Airways cabin crew begin 5-day strike

Photo by Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty Images

London Zoo exhibits S American rainforest life

The Guardian reports on London Zoo's South American rainforest exhibit.

David Field, zoological director of London zoo, said: "Rainforest Life will transport people to other corners of the world by coming through the gates of London zoo. It is a dynamic, living ecosystem and you won't see the same exhibit twice. It will give people a real taste of these priceless forests that are disappearing fast."

The zoo hopes [the exhibit] will become a breeding centre for the endangered species it houses. Visitors to the exhibit will have the chance to experience the heat and humidity of the jungle from elevated walkways where they can view the canopy teeming with wildlife.

Read the full story: London zoo exhibit recreates living South American rainforest

Photo from London Zoo

UK cold temps bring bird-watching opportunity

The Guardian UK reports on the wildlife viewing during the country's big freeze.

Feeding birds have to hunt harder for food now that the ground is covered in six-feet of snow. But this promotes more opportunity for spotting them.

[All] sorts of unusual visitors are turning up in gardens, including redwings and fieldfares from Scandinavia, and reed buntings and yellowhammers from local farmland. There has even been a sighting of an escaped ­Senegal parrot feeding on apples in a Bristol suburb. Away from our homes, usually shy species such as snipe, woodcock, bittern and water rail are coming right out into the open to feed – ­making them vulnerable to attack by predators.

Read the full story: How the big freeze has brought some unusual visitors

Photo by David Boag / PIN

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

English pumpkin mural draws Halloween visitors

Reuters video reports on the West Essex, England "pumpkin house" mural created every year around Halloween by Tony Smith.

Watch the video below:

Ride a bike, power a bus, get paid

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the new conception bike-sharing program that the designer hopes will create energy to power a hybrid-bus system.

Chiyu Chen, a design student at the Royal College of Art, has conceived of an urban bike sharing program that not only provides riders utility, but also powers the local bus system – and pays them to do so.

Users check out specially designed bikes from a locking station using an ID card. Inside the bikes is a system that stores kinetic energy generated from braking. Riders go where they need to, and when they’re finished, bring the bike back to the locking station. Locking up the bike transfers the energy generated by the trip into the city grid – or, as Chen envisions, into a hybrid bus system.

Ride enough – and generate enough energy – and bike sharers can earn a bus pass. Completing the trifecta: the locking stations would be placed near bus stations, both to make renting a bike convenient and to facilitate easy bike-to-bus recharging.

Read the full story: Bike sharing that creates energy - and pays you to ride?

British hydrogen fuel-cell car

New Scientist reports on the new hydrogen fuel-cell car unveiled in London this week.

The Riversimple Urban Car is so far only a concept car that runs on the energy created by combining hydrogen and oxygen.

Plans for leasing of this vehicle should be underway by 2011 in the UK claim the company.

Read the full story: New hydrogen-powered city car takes to the road

Eat a squirrel, help save species

The International Herald Tribune reports on the new British culinary trend of squirrel meat.

Squirrels are abundant, so eating them helps to keep their population in check.

Also the native red squirrel is being pushed out by the non-native and more aggressive North American gray.

Enter the "Save Our Squirrels" campaign begun in 2006 to rescue Britain's red squirrels by piquing the nation's appetite for their marauding North American cousins. With a rallying motto of "Save a red, eat a gray!" the campaign created a market for culled squirrel meat.

British bon vivants suddenly couldn't get enough squirrel. Television chefs were preparing it, cookbooks were extolling it, farmers' markets were selling out of it and restaurants in many places were offering it on the menu.

Read the full story: Saving a squirrel by eating one

Scottish golf resort Trump-ed

This past February, Ecotravel News posted a video about environmental protestations over the proposed Trump golf course/resort near Aberdeen, Scotland.

Environmentalists claimed that part of the golf course would encompass and disturb delicate sand dunes that house numerous wildlife species.

Now in a follow-up, The Economist examines the implications of the golf resort.

Trump prevailed in a public inquiry with the backing of Scotland's first minister (and avid golfer) Alex Salmond. But the question now is just how profitable can this resort be especially now that global economies have plunged?

"Recovering the investment depends on selling the [resort's] houses [950 holiday apartments, 36 golf villas, 500 houses]. This autumn, after five years of steadily rising, Aberdeen house prices suddenly dropped by 7% and sales volumes halved.

Golf is no longer a sure-fire winner either. The American owner of the ultra-posh Loch Lomond club, which counts Prince Andrew as a member and hosts the Scottish Open, is having to sell it to repay loans."

Read the full story: Trump's Scottish venture, birdie or bogey?

S. African eco-village

Reuters video reports on the South African eco-village Lynedoch that is "designed so that people from mixed social backgrounds can come together to live and work in a sustainable community."

The eco-village is supported through government grants, small businesses such as a local winery, and also overseas by a London, U.K. movie theater. Watch below:

UK Starbucks waste precious water

Environmental News Network has a report from the Organic Consumers Association on how many gallons of water coffee franchiser Starbucks wastes per day.

According to the British Sun newspaper, Starbucks wastes 23.4 million liters (that's 6.18 million gallons) of water every day in 10,000 outlets. This is due to the policy of leaving the tap on nonstop.

"A single Starbucks tap left running for just over three minutes wastes the amount of water one African needs to survive for a day in drought conditions.

Under the company's health and safety rules, staff are banned from turning the water off because management claim that a constant flow of water prevents germs breeding in taps."

Read the full story: Starbucks wastes millions of litres of water a day

UK artificial reef to bring waves and marine life

Reuters video reports on the first artificial reef to be created in Europe.

The British coast near the city of Bournemouth is the recipient of the reef that will bring perfect waves for surfing and a haven for marine life.

Watch the report below:

Alternative fuels on the road and in Indonesia

Reuters has two interesting video reports on biofuels this week.

The first is on the "Grease to Greece" race from the UK to Athens, where participants drive cars using converted engines that run on used cooking oil:



The second report is on an Indonesian tofu factory that creates biofuel out of the tofu waste water. Twenty households and two tofu factories use the biofuel created:

Green towns to be built in UK, locals unhappy

The Economist reports on the controversy surrounding the British government's seemingly earthy-friendly decision to build 13 eco-towns (see above map).



The government claims the eco-towns will bring new residents to small communities in order to stem a housing shortage. Local residents feel they are being "frozen out of the planning process, which is being led by the central government."



Critics of the plan point out that all houses built after 2016 will be required to be carbon-neutral, regardless of having an "eco" label or not.



Read the full story: Eco-towns: green, with hint of Brown

Used oil = carbon-neutral Scottish bus

A Scottish bus company encouraged enough riders to donate their used cooking oil for biofuel production, that they can now go carbon-neutral, reports Environmental News Network:

"For the past six months, Stagecoach has been running eight buses on biofuels made from used cooking oil. That project has the makings of a true bartering scheme; in exchange for used cooking oil, passengers get a reduction on travel fares. The scheme is organized at Ayrshire Council recycling plant and has been met with tremendous enthusiasm of the population. Over 21 tonnes of used cooking oil was handed, marking an 100 percent increase over a period of six months."

Read the full story: Hand over your cooking oils

Plastic beach trash reaches highest level ever

Reuters via Environmental News Network reports on the record high levels of plastic beach trash on British beaches that pose great threats to marine life such as whales, dolphins and seabirds:

"[Environmental group] the Marine Conservation Society, which campaigns for cleaner beaches and seas, said plastic litter has increased by 126 percent since its first survey in 1994.

Scores of marine wildlife species, including seals and turtles, have died after eating plastic or drowning after getting tangled in debris or old fishing nets, it said.

In the last decade, the amount of plastic drinks bottles has risen by 67 percent, plastic bags by 54 percent and cigarette butts by 44 percent, the society said."

Read the full story: Record beach litter threatens marine life

Virgin flies first flight with biofuels

Ecotravel news is pleased to see that The Wall Street Journal online edition is now free to the public. So although a few weeks late, The Middle Seat column reported last month on Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airlines' first flight using biofuels. Although they only used a mixture of 20 percent biofuels to 80 percent regular jet fuel, it's still better than 100 percent jet fuel:

"Airlines are under mounting pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, even though aviation's pollutants amount to less than 3% of all emissions. Jets are visible signs of environmental damage, and scientists have concerns that pollutants dropped directly into high altitudes may be more dangerous than those released on the ground."

Sir Branson also made a show of actually tasting the biofuel concoction of coconut and Brazilian nut oils.

Read the full story: Virgin puts biofuels on maiden voyage

Environmental degradation of charity events in the UK

Large-scale charity events that involve hundreds of participants are common all over the world. Getting lots of people together in the name of a cause sounds like a good thing, but it leaves behind waste and environmental problems. The New York Times reports on an English community's outrage against the landscape degradation caused by a charity event:

"'The mountain is wearing out' under the pressure of charitable boots scrambling in all kinds of weather for the summit [says Richard Palmer the ranking regional official of the National Trust].

Typically, in the midsummer months of long days and short nights, people seeking to complete the Three Peaks Challenge start to the north at Ben Nevis or south at Snowdon in the late afternoon. Then they drive hundreds of miles to their next destination — Wasdale Head where the trail to Scafell Pike begins, arriving here usually at around 2 a.m. to begin the ascent.

This tiny hamlet is reachable only by a one-lane road, and parking spaces here are few. There is one public toilet, and one public faucet for drinking water. Yet, according to Mr. Palmer, there are sometimes as many as 75 minibuses disgorging more than 500 hikers at a time. The hikers park their vans, conquer the peak and then depart — leaving behind rudely awoken residents and bags of garbage."

Read the full story: Charitable hikers erode mountain and town's patience