Posts tagged as:

ecotourism

Greenwash Watch: Can a Monster Ocean Liner Be Green?

December 7, 2009

oasis of the seas monster cruise ship image rendering decks
Royal Caribbean

It is the Oasis of the Seas, by far the biggest cruise ship ever built. It is too big to stop at any port in Europe; it holds 6,300 passengers so they had to rebuild a terminal to handle them all, with ninety check-in stations. They were able to squeeze them all in with an architectural trick from John Portman’s Hyatt Hotels in the seventies: make an atrium. It is like two hotel towers stacked on a barge. It is the Las Vegas of the seas, with seven “neighborhoods” of ice shows, theaters, rock climbing walls and surfing simulators.

And they call it green….Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Beyond Cancun: Discovering a Deeper Green Get-Away at CESiaK

October 26, 2009

Photo credit: Jessica Root

When my boyfriend had surprised me with two round-trip tickets to Cancun for my birthday, let’s just say I was surprised. He’s in school for a Masters of Science in Environmental Management. I like to wax poetic about the benefits of ecotourism. Cancun, the infamous Spring break destination (thanks, MTV!) known for over-developed hotel strips, excessive water usage and lackadaisical waste management hardly makes it to any greenie’s get-away list.

Little did I know that Cancun, home to the Yucata…Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Crow Thought To Be Extinct Is Found, But People Are Hunting It

October 16, 2009

Credit: Philippe Verbelen via MSU.

The Banggai crow was thought to be extinct, and only found in a museum. A Michigan State University species sleuth recently confirmed the existence of the black bird on a remote, mountainous Indonesian Island.

The only problem now: The bird needs protection. It looks a lot like a more common slender-billed crow called the Corvus enca, and the endangered version is being hunted by local residents. …Read the full story on TreeHugger