Maldives in Peril: Richard Branson on impacting climate change

I’ve bumped into Richard Branson a couple times now, in vastly different settings. The first was in the high Arctic village of Clyde River, where he’d come to join his son Sam for a weeklong dogsled expedition. He introduced himself with what he admitted was a weakish pinky-tap, blaming his inability to lift his arm on having rolled an ATV at his African safari camp the week before.

When we met again a few days ago on a beach in the Maldives, again he extended just a pinky. This time he blamed it on a nasty cold, which he was politely attempting not to spread.

He had flown in for a few days to participate in the SLOWLIFE Symposium as I had; ironically he’d arrived by British Air from London, rather than aboard his own Virgin, which doesn’t fly to Male, the capital of the Maldives. Given his longstanding competition and high-level squabbles with BA, he joked that he’d brought along his own “food taster.” I assume he wasn’t referring to his lovely wife Joan, who accompanied him.

During the course of three days spent in sessions where 80 or so participated in conversation and debate about subjects ranging from the consequences of not taking climate change seriously to the energy future of small island states, Branson sat in on every one, taking notes in a small red notebook, participating in round table debates.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t have plenty on his plate that might have kept him otherwise occupied: The bankruptcy of the American solar company Solyndra had cost him a bundle; his house on his Caribbean island paradise, Necker Island, had burned to the ground just a month ago (thanks to a lightning strike during Hurricane Irene); and in a few days time he would be outed by Wikileaks for participating in covert plots to oust Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, announce plans to have Virgin Atlantic Airways running on recycled industrial gases by 2014 and by the following weekend be testing a new submersible amongst great white sharks off the coast of Mexico.

When it was his turn to present in the Maldives he chose the challenge of running a transportation business — an airline — while simultaneously trying to limit contributions to climate change and still make money. A relatively recent convert to environmental activism — which began with a literal house-call from Al Gore, “who did his whole ‘Inconvenient Truth’ routine in my living room” — Branson has since pushed many of his various companies towards greener ethics and is the prime motivator behind both The Elders and the recently announced Ocean Elders, as well as the Carbon War Room.

The latter, he suggested, was focusing on 25 sectors for which clean technology is available, like shipping, which he said emits 1 billion tons of CO2 annually and spends “some $70 billion dollars a year needlessly.” Similarly, fifty percent of all carbon emissions worldwide, he said, come from inefficient buildings, which led to his gathering 30 mayors of the largest cities in the world together to plot how to be less polluting.

“We do need to keep broadening the debate,” he said. “As arguments continue to rage around the weather patterns and reality of climate change, we are missing the bigger picture that there is no scientific debate about that every single one of our natural eco-systems is in decline. Part of this shift must be a new perspective on how we value our natural assets and how we change our consumption patterns. If we don’t move on this, Mother Nature will force us to.”

The week before been in China, to help launch a campaign there against shark fin soup, and had met a man he believed to be one of the richest in China whose company could put up a 20-story, full functioning, environmentally sound building in 10 days. He loved the spirit behind the effort.

“At Virgin we have always backed the power of the entrepreneur and inventor to find solutions to tricky problems,” he said. “With this in mind why should climate change and the battle against carbon be any different.”

To that end, in 2007 he had announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, an idea he credited to his wife, which offered a $25 million prize to whomever — inventor, scientist or entrepreneur — could come up with the best way to remove carbon from the atmosphere. The original deadline was 2010; to-date they’ve received 2,500 entries but have not yet chosen a “grand prize winner.” Instead, he said, the panel — which includes James Lovelock, Tim Flannery, Al Gore and James Hansen — had decided to choose a handful of promising entries and give them grants to help develop some experimental technologies.

Ever the optimist, he was the first to admit “we have a lot of work to do on many fronts and not much time to change the course we are on.

“We must look at the issues around protecting our natural resources as one of the biggest entrepreneurial opportunities of our lifetimes. We have the technology to realize this opportunity – we now need the right government policies to put the capital in place to build a new economy that puts people and the planet ahead of just business as usual and creates a more equitable way of life in harmony with the planet.”

In typical Branson form, of course, he refused to end on a dour note, choosing optimism instead and closing by referencing Martin Luther King. “He did not get his message across by saying ‘I have a nightmare!’ “

[images via Six Senses]

Richard Branson’s other island hideaway – in Queensland, Australia — opens to visitors

After snapping up Necker Island in the Virgin Islands for a snip in 1978, Sir Richard Branson developed it into a world-class resort which has hosted the likes of Princess Diana, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.

Everyone knows about Necker, but a much better-kept secret is Branson’s other tropical island hideaway, this one in the stunning Queensland coastal town of Noosa, which he calls his “favorite place in Australia“.

The heart-shaped 25-acre Makepeace Island in the Noosa River has been lovingly converted into an exclusive Balinese-style retreat with all the necessary amenities, including a pool, tennis court, theatre and two-storey open-aired Balinese wantilan for relaxing or gathering with friends and family.

Until now Makepeace Island has been reserved for the exclusive use of Branson and Brett Godfrey, the co-founders of Virgin Australia, but they have recently announced that they’ll be renting it out to guests. Of course, indulging in the ultimate in luxury, peace and exclusivity doesn’t come cheap: The tab is $8,000 per night for you and up to 21 of your closest friends.

I’ve boated past Makepeace Island on my way up the Noosa River and the good news is that, even if you don’t have the budget to actually stay on Makepeace Island, you can still experience the magical surroundings of Noosa for a fraction of the cost.

What makes Noosa special?As well as having a balmy climate with warm weather year round, Noosa offers a pristine environment which is an officially declared UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Situated on a forested headland with a stunning national park where koalas, wallabies and kookaburra cavort in their natural surroundings, Noosa has long been a popular vacation spot for wealthy Australians, many of whom own vacation homes here.

You can visit a different white sand beach every day, including vast stretches that front onto the open sea and sheltered bays like Tea Tree Bay and Little Cove. Noosa is a giant aquatic playground where swimmers, surfers, kayakers, kite-surfers and stand-up paddle-boarders convene in the warm blue ocean.

Marine life abounds. Turtles are also common and dolphins can be spotted year-round swimming just offshore or leaping in awe-inspiring displays of grace. Between July and November, whale sightings are common as the annual humpback whale migration passes through. Whale-watching tours offer the chance to get up close and personal with these acrobatic mammals.

Just a short ferry ride across the river, Great Sandy National Park in Noosa North Shore is a popular spot for 4WD adventures, fishing and scuba-diving. A few miles inland, the Sunshine Coast hinterland offers a change of scene and pace, with volcanic peaks and lush rainforest.

For dining, Hastings Street in the town of Noosa features a range of spots, from a fast food mall that’s tucked away behind the shops to beach-front restaurants serving world-class cuisine. The Noosa Surf Life Saving Club’s balcony is always crowded with people seeking refuge from the sun and enjoying a cool drink.

The lazy Noosa River spills out just past Makepeace Island into the ocean between Noosa Main Beach and the North Shore. It’s a favorite spot for boating, fishing or walking. Every evening huge flocks of tiny, brightly coloured parrots return to roost in the trees on the riverbank, a riot of color and noise which lapses into silence as night falls. Then, as the parrots tuck their heads under their wings and go to sleep, colonies of fruit bats take to the skies.

As night deepens, peace prevails. It’s a special serenity that Noosa and the Noosa River offers — even if you can’t stay on Makepeace Island.

Where to Stay

For those who can’t afford Makepeace Island’s $8,000 per night fee, Noosa has a wide range of holiday accommodation, from private houses, villas and apartments for rental to resorts, hostels and campsites.

Outrigger Resort and Spa
– This brand new spa resort perched high above Noosa Main Beach offers five-star accommodation within easy reach of Hasting Street.

Halse Lodge – A fully restored 1880’s building, listed by the National Trust, Halse Lodge hostel is now a YHA associate, with dorm beds, twins and doubles. Set in two acres of rainforest, it’s a short walk to Noosa main beach, the national park and restaurants.

Houseboat – As an accommodation alternative, you can rent your own six- to ten-berth houseboat and cruise up and down the Noosa River, from peaceful Lake Cooroibah to bustling Hastings.

Where to Eat

Bistro C – Popular with locals and holiday-makers for its stunning views over Laguna Bay, Bistro C is the ideal setting for cocktails and nibbles at sunset, a long lazy lunch or a splurge dinner of modern Australian cuisine with fresh seafood and local produce.

Wasabi – Listed by Gourmet Traveller as one of the world’s top 100 restaurants, this modern Japanese restaurant serves sublime food in the stunning surroundings of Quamby Place on the Noosa River.

Fish and Chips – No trip to Noosa would be complete without joining the locals to eat fish and chips by the Noosa River. Stretching along the riverfront, Gympie Terrace has an extensive selection of cafes and restaurants as well as traditional Aussie fish and chip shops where you can get fresh snapper or barramundi breaded, grilled or battered the old-fashioned way.

For more information, check out visitnoosa.com.au

Annabel Candy was born in England and has lived in France, the USA, Laos, Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Costa Rica. She now calls Australia home. She shares travel stories at Get In the Hot Spot.

Russian firm reveals plans for a “space hotel”




The newest hotel plans in development are far out … literally. Russian firm Orbital Technologies revealed plans for a space hotel at a conference in Moscow this week. The hotel has a predicted 2016 opening, the Daily Mail reports.

Initial data suggests that a five day stay will cost around £100,000, not counting transportation costs of £250,000+.

The “hotel” will be “far more comfortable” than the International Space Station, says Orbital CEO Sergei Kostenko, and will feature seven guests in four cabins. The hotel “pod” will occupy 706 cubic feet and feature massive windows 217 miles above earth and be accessible via Russian Soyuz rockets.

Beds will have a horizontal or vertical option as well as sealed showers.

“Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS,” Kostenko said. “The hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space.”

Kostenko aims to have his project finished before that of Virgin exec Richard Branson.

What do you think? Would you visit the space hotel?

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Exploring Richard Branson’s Virgin Oceanic

The first time I met Richard Branson we were in the kitchen of a small bed and breakfast in the high-Arctic Inuit village of Clyde River. Taller and blonder than I expected, he was dressed in full cold-weather gear and had just flown in by private plane to join a dogsled expedition. Slightly bemused, he was struggling to figure out how to microwave a cup of tea.

I think of that scene whenever he announces he’s setting off on a new adventure – whether by hot air balloon, cigarette boat or, as of this month, one-man submarine. While exceedingly bold, maybe even brave, I’m not convinced technology is his strong suit … which makes me a bit worried when he announces he intends to go deeper below the surface of the ocean than any man or woman before, to explore the bottoms of the five oceans.

His $10 million “Virgin Oceanic” is the continuation of a project begun by Branson’s friend and former ballooning partner Steve Fossett (whose small plane mysteriously disappeared over the Nevada desert in 2007). The goal is to take the ultra-lightweight sub to the deepest, least-explored parts of the planet … perhaps simultaneous to the date sometime later this year when his “Virgin Galactic” rockets its first paying passengers ($200,000 per seat) into space.Nothing Branson sets out to do is small. He’s become the Steve Jobs of high-end adventure in that it seems anything he proposes is quickly bought up by wealthy folks who would follow him anywhere. His attitude is equal parts measured and cavalier. “I have a great difficulty saying no,” he admits. “Life’s so much more fun saying yes.”

The Deepflight Challenger was built by the leader in sophisticated submersibles, Hawkes Ocean Technologies of Point Richmond, CA, and is the brainchild of renowned ocean engineer and inventor Graham Hawkes. Branson intends to use the 18-foot-long, 8000-pound craft in what he’s calling the Virgin Oceanic Five Dives project, hoping to take it to the deepest point in each of the five oceans. The Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Moss Landing Marine Labs have signed on to support the scientific efforts of the team, which will study marine life, the tectonic plates and help Google Ocean map the ocean floor in 3D.

Hawkes has also constructed submarines for upcoming explorations of the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan, and a multi-year ocean expedition led by venture capitalist Tom Perkins.

“I love a challenge,” says Branson. “When I learned that only one person had gone below 18,000 feet under water and the sea goes down to 36,000-feet, it seemed to unbelievable. And talking to scientists and finding out that 80 percent of species on earth haven’t been discovered yet – that’s unbelievable. Knowing there are thousands of shipwrecks on the bottom of the sea that never have been discovered is pretty good fun as well.”

Searching for gold-laden Spanish galleons could be another part of the adventure, as is setting records. In the spirit of Fossett – who loved setting records and owned 115 when he died– the dives will include setting 30 Guinness World records. It is hardly a risk-free adventure. A leak or engine malfunction at depths where pressure is 1,000 times normal would be catastrophic, for both man and machine.

They hope the first of the Five Dives explorations will take place as early as this summer when explorer Chris Walsh captains the sub to the bottom of the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, more than 30,000 feet below sea level. Branson intends to captain the next trip, to the bottom of the Atlantic’s Puerto Rico Trench, a mere 25,000 feet below.

The other three areas to be explored are the Diamantina Trench in the Indian Ocean (26,041 feet), the South Sandwich Trench in the southern Atlantic (23, 737) and the Molloy Deep in the Arctic Ocean (18,399).

The carbon fiber and titanium submarine should be able to go 7 miles below the surface of the sea and be on its own for up to 24 hours, though the hope is that each trip to the bottom, and return, will take no more than five hours. Its ‘wings’ will essentially allow it to ‘fly’ over the ocean floor collecting data.

Before each dive remote-controlled vehicles (ROVs) will be sent down, armed with bait, to stir up marine life, which will be filmed by the submarine that follows.

Branson already owns a three-person version of the sub, also built by Hawkes – the “Necker Nymph” – which he rents for $2,500 a day at his private Caribbean island resort.

“This experimental trip to the bottom of the ocean could lead to bigger crafts,” says Branson. “We’ve coined the phrase aquanaut – anyone who goes below 20,000 feet – there’s only one person at the moment and it would be fun to make as many aquanauts as there are astronauts.”

Branson is familiar with adventuring risks. In 1972, marlin fishing off Cozumel, he swam two miles to shore when his boat was swamped by 10-foot waves. In 1977 he was the first to try flying a kind of tricycle with wings and managed to land it after soaring hundreds of feet off the ground; its inventor was killed a week later doing the same thing. He’s been nearly killed skydiving and rappelling down a Las Vegas hotel and plucked from the ocean on numerous occasions when his balloons went down.

When we traveled together in the Arctic, Sir Richard (only his mother still calls him Ricky) told me about getting lost in the north woods of Canada when one of his ballooning adventures went awry. “We called on the radio and told the guy who responded that we were on a frozen lake surrounded by fir trees. He paused a minute before saying, ‘Well, this is Canada … you could be in any of ten thousand places.’ ” A rescue chopper picked them up eight hours later.

Such luck won’t be an option at 25,000 feet below; if something goes wrong down there he better have packed an extra set of wings.

Virgin Galactic releases first “feathered flight” video

Historical implications aside, one of the most impressive and important aspects of Richard Branson’s upcoming private space line is its distinct mode of atmospheric re-entry.

Thanks to a breakthrough design by legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is one of the first craft to utilize a technique known as “feathered flight” to acheive a safer, more stable method of passing through the various layers of Earth’s atmosphere. After rocketing to the lower reaches of the thermosphere, SpaceShipTwo is designed to rotate its wings by 65

°, so that the body of the craft creates a very large amount of drag while the wings remain upright to guide the ship and provide a type of fail-proof stability. The high drag combined with the low weight of the craft ensures that surface temperatures remain low, preventing any risk of burning up upon re-entry.

On May 4th, the Virgin Galactic & Scaled Composites team performed the first test flight in which the VSS Enterprise deployed the feathered configuration; proving that the design is stable and ready for testing at higher velocity. Today, Virgin Galactic released the official video of the test flight, which provides a stunning look at the feathering in action.

The VSS Enterprise has flown solo seven times since it’s public debut in December of 2009, and will likely begin powered test flights in the second half of 2011. Finally convinced it’ll be safe? Then head on over to the Virgin Galactic website and reserve your spot for only $20,000.