Green spaces in Sao Paulo

Mother Nature Network (MNN) reports on the green spaces worth visiting in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Its public transit system, though crowded, is an easy way to get around and there has been a city-level movement to increase the number of green spaces and to build an extensive network of bicycle paths. Add a vibrant organic eating scene that supports small farms to the list and the Sao Paulo (often referred to as Sampa in local slang) becomes an impressive destination for environmentally conscious travelers.

Read the full story: Destination of the week Sao Paulo

Photo by Fernando Podolski / iStockphoto

Idaho crosscountry ski spots

The Idaho Statesman reports on Nordic ski spots around the state.

Included are Bogus Basin (picture left) , Idaho City park n' ski, and Lake Cascade state park loop (description follows):

What: A 1.2-mile groomed trail.

Coolest things: The one-way loop trail with a variety of terrain is available for the first time this winter. It's a quick ski through the Van Wyck and Ridgeview recreation areas, which have sweeping views of West Mountain and Lake Cascade. Restrooms and trail maps are available at the trailhead.

Trail fee: Parking fee required - either the Idaho State Parks annual pass or the daily motorized vehicle entrance fee of $4 ($5 starting Jan. 1). No other trails fees required.

Distances are from Boise.

Read the full story: Nordic nirvana

Photo from Idaho Statesman

Camp at gorgeous global sites

Treehugger reports on 10 beautiful camping sites around the world.

Among the sites listed are New Zealand's Abel Tasman National Park (picture right), Colombia's Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, and Croatia's Glavotok Camp.

Read the full story: 10 breathtaking waterfront campgrounds

Photo by Jennifer Hattam

Bike to power Copenhagen xmas tree

The Wall Street Journal reports on the biking power that is lighting Copenhagen's Christmas tree.

At the Danish capital’s City Hall Square, 15 to 20 volunteers can sit on stationary bikes located around a massive, decorated tree and pedal away to keep it light, at least during the day. The bikes are connected to electrical tie-ups that ultimately power hundreds of lights on the tree.

Read the full story: Pedal power

Photo by AFP / Getty Images

Buy electric and get high tax credit

Environmental News Network reports on the momentum electric cars are gaining.

Federal tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles have a $2500 base and can go as high as $7500 depending on battery kilowatt capacity.

Read the full story: Electric cars generate sweet tax credits

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

$45k electric car coming soon to CA

GreenBiz.com reports on the new electric Coda car that will be available soon in California.

The Coda (picture right) is reported to go 100 miles before needing a recharge, and can drive at up to 80 mph. The price is $45,000 but buyers can apply a federal rebate of $7,500 dropping the price to $37,500.

That’s not exactly a car priced for the masses but Kevin Czinger, Coda CEO says: “Things will only get better. We will drive down price and drive up performance.” The company will ship its first cars next fall, he says, and hopes to sell a few thousand vehicles in 2010. Sales will initially be limited to California.

Read the full story: An (almost) affordable electric car

Maldives photos show environmental vulnerability

British newspaper the Guardian has an online photo exhibition of the popular tropical island getaway of the Maldives.

But these photos highlight the vulnerability the islands have to climate change and global warming. Erosion (picture left of a house on Maduvvari island, Raa Atoll), coral bleaching, tsunamis, and rising ocean height all affect these low-lying islands located southwest of India.

See the full slide show: Vulnerable: An exhibition on the fragile state of the Maldives

Photo by Saffah Faroog / Bluepeace

2009: fifth warmest year

Reuters reports that 2009 will have been the fifth warmest ever recorded and the hottest this decade according to the World Meteorological Organization.

The WMO reported its findings at this week's United Nations Climate conference in Copenhagen.

WMO head Michel Jarraud pointed to extreme hotspots this year -- Australia had its third warmest year since record dating began in 1850, "with three exceptional heatwaves."

"I could go on. There was the worst drought in five decades which affected millions of people in China, a poor monsoon season in India causing severe droughts, massive food shortages associated with a big drought in Kenya," he told reporters.

Read the full story: 2009 set to be fifth warmest year on record

Photo from Reuters

Recycle old products into travel essentials

MSNBC reports on 10 recyclables that you can reuse during your travels.

For example an egg carton (picture right) can be used to store jewelry. Old nylons can hold together a suitcase or used as a shower exfoliator.

Read the full story: 10 travel essentials you can find in the trash

Picture from Kindergarten Kidz website. This Arizona kindergarten makes crafts out of old containers and bags.

Should fat fliers pay more?

MSNBC ponders that question after a picture of a large man on a flight spilling out of his seat was reportedly taken by a flight attendant.

Policies differ by airline — some carriers try to accommodate their passengers at no cost, some require their large customers to purchase a second seat and reimburse the money if the plane is not full and a second seat becomes available.

Read the full story with comments: Readers respond: should obese fliers pay more?

Icy Italian PM shows irony

Reuters reports on the ironic ice statue of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi unveiled today in the Roman Forum.

The statue is timed to melt by the start of the U.N. climate change summit on December 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Berlusconi don't be stupid -- save the climate," read the slogan on the ice sculpture, which stood next to an ancient stone statue of Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

Greenpeace said in a report accompanying its pre-summit stunt that 93 percent of Italy's energy still comes from fossil fuels. The government hopes to revive nuclear energy, which it quit two decades ago, to help cut emissions and energy bills.

Read the full story: Ice statue chides Berlusconi for being cool on CO2

Scenic byway in New Jersey

The Washington Post reports on New Jersey's historic Millstone Valley Scenic Byway. It's a hiking and driving path that meanders through untouched nature; not something that one would think exists in the Turnpike and strip mall state.

Isolated from the rumble of six-lane traffic and the sprawl of strip malls, the byway seemingly travels backward, to the 19th century, when the Delaware & Raritan Canal was a watery highway of commerce; to the Revolutionary War, when George Washington and his men tromped through the lowlands after two victorious battles; to the 1700s, when Dutch settlers farmed the fertile valley; to the pre-Colonial Native American settlements of the Lenni Lenape.

Read the full story: Thrown for a loop in New Jersey

Photo by Lardner/klein Landscape Architects From National Scenic Byways Online

Migratory birdwatching in Florida Nat. Park

The Miami Herald reports on the winter migratory birdwatching paradise in Florida's Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville.

The rattling karr-roo-oo sounds came from every direction. From the sky. From clumps of grasses and bushes. The calls of sandhill cranes filled the air above the expansive wetlands of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.

Some 8,000 red-crowned, pewter-gray sandhills had commandeered the marshes. Mixed with the sandhills were a dozen similarly red-crowned whooping cranes, but taller and marked with black and white feathers. Whoopers, an endangered species, are one of the rarest birds in the United States.

Read the full story: Birdwatchers are in store for a rare treat

Photo from Florida State Park Service website

St Louis airport to ban all smoking, controversy

The St. Louis Dispatch via USA Today reports on the controversy versus the city and the county over how the 2011 smoking ban will affect Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Mayor Francis Slay's smoking ban for the entire city of St. Louis will take effect on January 2011; and this will extend to the airport's smoking lounges (picture right).

Slay noted [on his blog] that the airport is a "political hybrid," in that it is in St. Louis County but owned by the city. But the decision on smoking, Slay said on his blog, belongs to the city, "as owner of the facility."

St. Louis County counselor Patricia Redington said the smoking lounge exemption is clear in the county ordinance.

But, she added, "If the city hands out citations to smokers in the lounge, the city's authority to do so will be an issue between the city and the people who are charged and will not be the county's concern."

Read the full story: A smoke-free St. Louis airport may pit city against county

Photo of Lambert Intl smoking lounge from Bridge and Tunnel club website

KLM tests first passenger flight fueled with renewables

Reuters video reports on the first passenger airplane flight using renewable fuels.

KLM Dutch Airlines flight which circled the skies over The Netherlands used a 50/50 mix of biofuel and traditional fuel. Although it carried passengers it was still a test flight.

Watch the report below:

South African baboons raid and eat tourists' car food

The Associated Press reports on the South African baboon "gang" who are opening tourists' cars and eating the food inside.

On Tuesday, a troupe of 29 baboons raided four cars outside Simon's Town, a small coastal neighborhood [in Cape Town]. A baboon dubbed "Fred," (background in pic left) the leader of the group, opened unlocked doors and jumped through windows to search for food.

He ransacked a bag in the back seat of a red car as a couple panicked about their passports. A girl screamed nearby as a baboon hopped into her car through a back window. Others climbed on car roofs and hoods, looking for ways inside.

Many of those who stopped to watch the raid had their own cars broken into by other baboons.

Read the full story: Furry felons rob S African tourists, steal food

Photo by AP

Global warming's dire effects

Reuters video reports on the trickle-down effects of global warming from melting glaciers to drought.

Lima, Peru is the driest city on earth because of the rapid decline of the glaciers that supplied rivers and other water sources, according to the report.

Australia is also experiencing a seven-year drought, the longest on record and no end in sight.

Watch below:

Small cars = high MPG and less emissions

The Daily Green has a slide show and review on eight small cars that have high MPG or are electric.

Look at pictures and reviews of cars from MINI (picture right), Fiat, and Smart among others.

Read the full story: Eight microcars transforming the American road

Photo from MINI

Sculpture around NYC

Frommer's website has info about free outdoor sculpture viewing in and around New York City.

Besides obvious scupltures such as the Statue of Liberty:

There are whimsical, lifelike ones such as Taxi! by J. Seward Johnson (Park Ave. at 47th St.) and Commuters by George Segal (Port Authority Bus Terminal, 42nd St. & 8th Ave.). Kids get a kick out of Alice in Wonderland by Jose de Creeft (Central Park, Conservatory Water, near E. 72nd St.), Cat by Fernando Brotero (Park Ave. at 79th St.), and, of course, the Lions by Edward Clark Potter (New York Public Library, Fifth Ave. at 42nd St.)

And for art outside Manhattan they suggest the Noguchi Museum & Garden (picture above).

Read the full story: Expose Yourself to Art: Outdoor Sculpture In & Around New York City

Photo by George Hirose

Antarctic cruise ship stuck in ice

The Associated Press reports on the tourist ship stuck in ice near Antarctica.

A Russian icebreaker, taking more than 100 tourists, scientists, and journalists on a cruise around Antarctica is trying to free itself from ice in the Weddell Sea.

The Weddell Sea is the place that early antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance became infamously stuck and crushed in during his quest to reach the South Pole in the 1910s.

The Captain Khlebnikov icebreaker was near Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea, German Kuzin of the Fareastern Shipping Company told Russia's Vesti 24 television. He said neither the ship nor the passengers faced any risks.

The ship was trying to move slowly through the ice, but the winds were too light to break up the ice pack, he said. An Argentine official said the ice would delay the ship's return by three to six days.

Read the full story: Ship with 100 tourists stuck in Antarctic ice

Photo by Associated Press

Kayaking down restored California river

Fresno Bee reporter Mark Grossi reports on his kayak trip down the newly restored waters of Central California's San Joaquin River.

The Friant Dam, that had caused the river to be mostly dry for "the last several decades," has been releasing more water since October 1 due to a federal restoration project, thus making a boat trip possible.

The river's green section from Friant Dam to Gravelly Ford is familiar to many boaters. Officials continuously release water from the dam for riverside property owners, and the river never died here.

But 38 miles downstream at Gravelly Ford, the flow dwindles to nothing in most years. Now, with extra water flowing, that stretch is waking from a half-century of slumber. West of Kerman, the San Joaquin is a gorgeous desert river meandering around cobble islands -- piles of large stones -- as screeching swallows fly in every direction.

Read the full story: Trip tests waters of revived San Joaquin

Photo by Mark Crosse / The Fresno Bee

Visit new Natural Wonders

Forbes via MSNBC reports on new Natural Wonders to see.

Chosen by a committee of the United Nations' Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, World Heritage sites, recommended by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), are natural and cultural areas recognized for their universal value to humanity. The selection process involves extensive field work by conservation experts who have, in most cases, dedicated their lives to studying the natural world.

Included are Italy's Dolomite mountain region, China's Mount Wutai, and Spain's Tower of Hercules among others.

There is also a nice slide show featuring other sites including The Bay of Fundy (pictured above) that is located between Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Read the full story: The world's New Natural Wonders

Photo by Cheryl Forbes / Lonely Planet

Michigan ends state park fees

The Detroit Free Press reports on the new Michigan bill that ends state park fees to be replaced by a $10 car registration surcharge.

Motorists would pay the extra fee instead of paying $24 for an annual state park sticker or $6 for a daily permit. Also, boaters no longer would pay fees at 838 access sites.

Park officials could check license plates to see whether motorists paid the fee; violators could be fined up to $100.

Out-of-state residents would continue to pay $29 for an annual permit and $8 for a daily pass.

Read the full story: Senate passes bill to end park fees, add surcharge

Photo montage by Michigan Department of Natural Resources website

Rate transit and walking options

Ecolocalizer reports on the web site that let's you rate the "walkability" of places in your neighborhood.

Walkscore rates a neighborhood’s walkability on a 1 to 100 scale based on a number of criteria such as proximity to restaurants and grocery stores. Now, they’ve added a transit rating which takes into account a neighborhood’s public transportation options!

Read the full story: Walk Score's new transit rating

Photo from Ecolocalizer

Endangered fish comic

It's the latest Arctic Circle comic strip by Alex Hallatt on The Daily Green blog

For more Arctic Circle's click here

Board the train to a National Park

National Parks Traveler reports on visiting East Coast parks via train.

Look for tips on what trains and parks to visit near Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C. among others.

Washington, D.C. Among the easiest NPS areas in the country to reach by train are those in the nation's capital. Once you arrive at Union Station you don't even need to leave the building to make a connection to the city's Metro system—or you can just walk from the station to some key sites. Even if you aren't traveling by train, the food court in the lower level of Union Station, together with several restaurants elsewhere in the building, offers a variety of choices for reasonably priced meals.

This is a series and NPS will also have trips for Central and Western regions soon.

Read the full story: Visiting National Parks by train - Eastern U.S.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Kansas bison preserve to lure tourists

USA Today reports on the Kansas bison preserve that hopes to lure tourists.

Leaders from the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Strong City hope the 20 [bison] will be the beginning of a herd of about 100 that will roam the public parkland in the Flint Hills for all to see. They hope it is the beginning of much — a new tourist attraction, a new start for a species that once dominated the Flint Hills, and a new window for people to see the unique beauty of one of the continent's rarer ecosystems.

"Some of the beauty of our grasslands is a little more subtle," said Kristen Hase, chief of natural resources for the Flint Hills preserve. "This is going to be a big bang, basically."

Read the full story: Kansas preserve hopes bison will be a "big bang" for tourism

Photo by Travis Morisse / The Hutchinson

Nuclear waste found in Rio Grande

The Los Angeles Times reports on the nuclear waste runoff found in New Mexico's river Rio Grande.

More than 60 years after scientists assembled the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lethal waste is seeping from mountain burial sites and moving toward aquifers, springs and streams that provide water to 250,000 residents of northern New Mexico.

Isolated on a high plateau, the Los Alamos National Laboratory seemed an ideal place to store a bomb factory's deadly debris. But the heavily fractured mountains haven't contained the waste, some of which has trickled down hundreds of feet to the edge of the Rio Grande, one of the most important water sources in the Southwest.

Read the full story: Toxic waste trickles toward New Mexico's water sources

Photo by Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Deforestation caused Peruvian natives decline; study

Reuters reports that deforestation caused the decline of Peruvian natives called the Nasca according to a new study.

The Nasca people, famed for the lines that depict animals or geometric shapes most clearly visible from the air, became unable to grow enough food in nearby valleys because the lack of trees made the climate too dry, scientists said.

The report, led by Cambridge University in England, said that the findings showed a need for more action now to protect the world's arid lands.

Read the full story: Deforestation sped demise of Nasca in Peru: study

Photo from Thomson Reuters