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

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

A visit to eco-city Freiburg, Germany

The Los Angeles Times visits the green city of Freiburg, Germany.

Renewable energy and public transportation are actively encouraged in this city of 220,000 nestled in the Southwest corner of the country.

The Best Western Premier Hotel Victoria, built in 1875, was even part of the green movement, billing itself as a "zero emissions" hotel. It uses no more power than it generates, thanks to its solar roof, an investment in a windmill and an eco-power supplier.

Read the full story: Freiburg: A very eco-friendly German city

Photo from Wikimedia

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

The greening of national museums

The Christian Science Monitor reports on a growing trend of museums turning "green."

Correspondent Yvonne Zipp writes that Michigan's Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) is the very first to get the Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and En­­viron­­mental Design) certification.

Others such as Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art will also join GRAM with a Gold status.

Pittsburgh's Phipps Conservatory is so environmentally friendly that it has even banned bottled water.

"The director of the Phipps, Richard Piacentini, can describe every step the conservatory has taken to become more environmentally sustainable.

This fall, the conservatory will break ground on a greenhouse that Piacentini and his team hope will become the first Living Building in the United States – one that is completely self-sustaining and relies exclusively on renewable energy.

Organic waste will power the fuel cell that supplies the building with electricity, and a combination of constructed wetlands and a 'living machine' (with anaerobic bacteria) will treat the sewage for the entire complex."

Read the full story: Museums sprout 'green' architecture

Eco-friendly Texas resort in the middle of the desert

The Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram had a feature about an eco-lodging in the Chihuahuan Desert, a self-proclaimed "organic bed-and-breakfast and ecology resource center." Writer June Naylor observes:

"Within a half-hour of your arrival, you realize that Eve's Garden represents a model of how healthy our world would be if it were to function in a purely green manner."

That's because owners Clyde Curry and Kate Thayer created their green haven using recycled and environmentally-friendly materials. Their green ethics also extend to their guests by feeding them on-site greenhouse grown veggies, a library full of ecological books, and also impromptu discussions about how to help the environment.

Read the full story : Earth-friendly West Texas resort

Scottish town's environmental Trump problem

Short film makers posted a thought-provoking video on Current Television's website about the problem of large developers and environmental damage. Billionaire real estate and resort developer Donald Trump won a highly protested bid to build a golf course that will partially destroy nationally protected sand dunes in Scotland. Golf courses use pesticides and irrigation techniques that are potentially damaging to water sources. Golf courses also bring tourists which can help enrich communities that lack other tourist infrastructure.

Zero impact eco-resort on Zanzibar

Some of the travel review websites like tripadvisor are good sources to find out about regular travelers' experiences. In terms of eco-tourist trips and resorts Chumbe Island Coral Park of Zanzibar is one of the first places that comes up during a search. The small, homey and exclusive eco-resort is no frills but also zero impact.

West Africa's new eco-lodges

The New York Times Travel magazine published an interesting account of writer Elinor Burkett's experience with the new luxury eco-lodges in the not-so-eco West African countries of Gabon and Gambia. She scoffs at the "audacity" of a $400 per-night lodge in the middle of such poverty stricken countrysides. But once she enters the compounds where the lodges lie, such skepticism vanishes. For the governments to realize that creating protected areas to lure foreign tourists and their money, is a plus for both the tourist looking for a new exotic destination as well as the county's wildlife and natural areas. And hopefully with time the countries can use their new eco-tourist money to help create larger conservation areas and alleviate some of their poverty as well.

Read the full story: Hope floats in Africa

Texas Bamboo Festival worth an eco-visit

The Houston Chronicle headlined Texas' own 15th annual Bamboo Festival in their Texas Weekender section.

As most environmentalists know, bamboo is becoming the darling of the sustainable building. It is easy and fast to grow and also extremely strong, traits that can now replace hard woods as building materials and therefore replace the cutting down of old-growth forests for lumber.

It's good to see that in an oil industry state an environmentally friendly plant can be celebrated.

Learn more about the Bamboo Festival at their official website.