US cities with bad air quality

by Iva Skoch on

The good news is the air quality in the US has been consistently improving since 1995, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The bad news is there are still a lot of cities where you literally shouldn’t even breathe. I find it surprising that California has the most polluted as well as the least polluted US cities.

Number of days metropolitan statistical areas failed to meet acceptable air-quality standards in 2005 (last year for which numbers are available):

  • Bakersfield, CA: 87
  • Baltimore, MD: 27
  • Boston, MA: 1
  • Chicago, IL: 23
  • Cleveland, OH: 25
  • Denver, CO: 1
  • Fresno, CA:64
  • Las Vegas, NV: 2
  • Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA: 45
  • New York, NY: 15
  • Philadelphia, PA:26
  • Riverside-San Bernardino, CA: 103
  • Sacramento, CA: 39
  • San Francisco, CA: 0
  • Seattle, WA: 1

Hey, Kenya, what the hell’s going on over there?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Kenya has long been one of the safest and most politically stable nations in Africa, a distinction that, given the media’s typical coverage of Africa, is not unlike being declared the smartest individual to be arrested on Cops. Kenya usually places just behind South Africa in the amount of tourists that visit each year, thanks to its relative stability, its Indian Ocean beaches, and its wildlife safaris. All that peace and stability was disturbed, however, by the disputed presidential election that took place on December 27, 2007.

In a nutshell, the incumbent Mwai Kidaki was declared the winner of the election and he was sworn in on December 30. But the supporters of his opponent Raila Odinga, in addition to a number of outside observers, said the election was marked by corruption and possibly rigged. Immediately after the results were announced, rioting broke out among various ethnic groups, with Kibaki’s influential Kikuyus clashing with Odinga’s Luos. Hundreds were killed in the ensuing violence.

A spokesman for the Kenyan government recently declared, “We are not in a civil war,” which is the second-to-last thing you ever want to hear from your government spokesmen.

What does all this mean for Kenya’s positive reputation among tourists? The news is not pretty. “The Kenya Tourist Board had projected a total of 314,995 tourists would visit the coast in the first quarter. It has now revised that figure down, by more than half, to 134,450.”

The chairwoman for a group of Kenyan tour operators had this to say about one coastal town: “Mombasa is down on its knees and we are now digging our grave, if something does not change immediately.”

At this time, the US and British governments are strongly advising tourists to forego all but essential travel to Kenya.

The New York Times has more coverage of how tourists are affected by the recent violence, and check out Jerry Guo’s recent post on Kenya here.

Thanks to Snakes on a Plane, Fluffy, the world’s largest snake in a zoo, is staying put

by Jamie Rhein on

Crating up and sending home Fluffy, the largest snake in captivity, as far as anyone knows, proved to be too much effort –and that’s a good thing for the Columbus Zoo. Besides that, the movie Snakes on a Plane has created a we don’t like to put snakes on a plane mentality by shipping companies. The snake was on loan from the guy who raised it. Can you imagine feeding a python from birth to be one whopping snake that people don’t want to take anywhere?

Bob Clark, the former owner, sold the snake to the zoo for $35,000 after a plan to get Fluffy back to his abode in Oklahoma City didn’t work out. Clark originally didn’t want to part with the snake forever. The company who got the snake to the Columbus Zoo early last year and was to get it back home in November has gone out of business and there weren’t any takers when it came to finding a replacement company.

Besides that, the zoo keepers looked at the size of the snake and sighed every time they thought about crating Fluffy up. Not only is he monstrous–imagine 300 pounds, 24-feet long and “girth the size of a watermelon”, he’s been a real boost the the zoo. Fluffy’s presence draws people to the zoo and folks have been pestering the zoo to keep Fluffy anyway. One of my trips to the zoo this past year was to see Fluffy and I’ve mentioned the world’s largest snake as part of the draw. Who needs the world’s tallest building when you have the world’s largest snake in captivity?

Now that the zoo is keeping Fluffy, that will save some redecorating costs. The exhibit can stay as is and not be refigured for some other critter. When I first saw the exhibit, I thought it was permanent. When I heard Fluffy was just on loan, it felt sad to think of the python’s departure.

I bet the folks at the Columbus International Airport are happy as well. On one of the concourse walls there is a life-size photograph of Fluffy, all stretched out advertising the zoo. It’s a great photograph and fits perfectly where it is. [via Columbus Dispatch]

It’s swim with the manatees time

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s only one place in the U.S. where it’s legal to swim with manatees and that’s Crystal River, Florida. The friend of mine who recently moved to Florida, told me this while pulling up a Web site to Crystal River.

Yep, sure enough. The manatees arrive in droves at Kings Bay along Florida’s west coast via the Gulf of Mexico starting the end of October. Picture 60 miles north of Tampa and 30 miles west of Ocala Oscala and you’re there. This pristine spot is the winter home for one of the world’s largest manatee herds that will frolic here until the end of March when they start heading north again.

A warning though, along with the manatees, people herd themselves here on the weekends. According to this one Web site with info on Crystal River, there are enough snorkelers in Tarpon Tampon Springs, (also called Kings Springs) that you could almost walk across the water on their backs. That sounds like an interesting sport. I wonder if you have to pay?

For this reason, the author suggests that you visit during the week, or head to one of the less visited springs. One, Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park is mentioned has an environmentally friendly twist. Here, besides just seeing the manatees, there are educational programs about them, as well as, the other wildlife in the area. Bird walks are monthly occurrences up until the end of May. If you head here June, July and August, no guided bird walk for you.

This month Lu’s Birthday Party is a featured event. Lu is the park hippo and a reason for a party each January. Here’s the link to the park’s events page that gives the details of all the happenings through the spring. The hippo pictured is Lu.

If you do plan to swim with manatees, check out the Web site Save the Manatees Club, first. Swimming with the manatees provides a thrill, but be careful how you go about it. The activity doesn’t always bode well for the manatees. Motor boats have motors, for example.

At Homossassa Springs there is an environmentally, manatee friendly excursion that sounds divine. For $40 bucks you head out in a kayak on a guided 3-hour tour. (The theme-song from Gilligan’s Island just popped into my head for a moment.) The photo to the left was taken at Three Sister Springs, another option.

For more manatee info from the Save the Manatee Club, click here. Also at the site, for $35 you can adopt a manatee and get a stuffed animal as a thank-you. Put a red bow around it’s neck, fasten a small box of chocolate in a heart-shaped box to it’s flipper and you have a Valentine’s Day present for a child. Hmmmm. Now, that’s an idea.

There are several swim with the manatee tours around Crystal River, but, like I mentioned, I’d keep the manatees in mind before heading out on a motorized boat. Although, since another major spot to view the manatees is at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge and it is only accessible by boat, make sure you head to an establishment with reputable folks running it.

There are rules for where motorized boats can be used and where they can’t be. My general feeling is that people who make their money off wildlife do a pretty good job of taking care of it. They’re not likely to ruin their money tree.

To help you be in the know about appropriate manatee interactions, here’s a link to guidelines from the refuge. Also, here’s a Gadling post from Dolores Parker who had a personal experience swimming with the manatees last June. Even though she and her family went off-season, they did have some luck.

Eco-Travel Toolkit

by Neil Woodburn on

Now that green is hip and cool, eco-friendly travel has appropriately transformed itself from hippy yurt farms to eco-luxury resorts that help save the planet while also coddling guests with comfort and style.

But that’s not all. Sustainable travel now encompasses the entire travel industry. This is hardly a surprise; those that express an interest in seeing the greater world, tend to also possess the desire to help protect it.

One of the better resources I’ve come across recently to help conscientious travelers seek out the greenest and healthiest travel alternatives is the Eco-Travel Toolkit published in Plenty Magazine (tagline: It’s easy being green).

The Eco-Travel Toolkit breaks green travel down into six categories; Where to Stay, Green Getaways, Up & Coming Destinations, Where NOT to Go, Getting There, and Seals of Approval. Each category is loaded with a bevy of links pointing green travelers in the right “Al Gore” direction–such as towards the very “first five-star green lodge” near Petra, Jordan (due to open in 2009).

While green travel isn’t for everyone, there will come the day that travelers may accidentally find themselves staying in a green lodge without actually knowing it. In the meantime, you may want to check out the Eco-Travel Toolkit and help edge things along.