Around the world in 65 days on green sea-monster

by Abha Malpani on

“Holy crap!” was my first reaction when I saw this sensational picture of Earthrace, the world’s first 100% bio-diesel power boat that will circumnavigate the world early next year.

Built at a cost of $3 million by New-Zealand skipper Pete Bethune, if it manages this undertaking in under 75 days (the previous record held by a British boat called Cable and Wireless in 1998), it will be the first time this has been done using 100% renewable fuel. Their target is to complete the route in 65 days.

Earthrace’s environmental objective is to spread the vision of a world that uses sustainable resources (e.g. bio-fuels) by demonstrating the power, reliability and safety of bio-diesel so as to prove it as a viable alternative to petroleum diesel.

With it’s special design and engineering, the boat is one of the fastest and greenest boats on the planet that will be covering a distance of 24,000 nautical miles, making the feat the world’s longest race.

The boat is low emission, non-toxic, antifoul and as an efficient hull design. The graphics on the boat are done by a Maori tattoo artist and the symbols represent the environment and the positive/negative influence of human interaction with the environment.

Earthrace is currently on a promotional tour in Europe where you can get up-close-and-personal with the boat and attend environmental education lectures in schools. The boat will begin it’s adventure from Valencia on March 1, 2008.

[Via Telegraph: Earthrace — the green machine]

Dubai looking to go greener

by Abha Malpani on

It’s hard to remember that Dubai is actually a desert. Even though it has a coastline, the interior has always been an arid desert.

Of the sick amount of money that Dubai spends on having the tallest, biggest, best stuff, it also spends quite a bit on making the city green. (NB: I am going to try to write this without delving into the general environmental disaster that Dubai is nurturing).

There are numerous palm trees — that are fully grown in a greenhouse and replanted into the ground; lush green grass beautifying the main roads, and about 5 full fledge parks. All these are maintained by 24-hour underground water supply (desalinated water), and continuous automated sprinklers.

The trees are so identical (they probably have the same number of leaves), and the grass is so green and well-manicured that you cannot imagine that Dubai once used to be entirely a desert.

Dubai Municipality has just announced a plan to build 30 new parks in Dubai in order to raise the percentage of open green space from 1.4% to 8%.

How they do that will probably do more environmental damage than good, but it’s the best investment of resources I have heard of in Dubai for a long time.

[Via AMEinfo.com]

Top 10 Green hotels, according to Travel + Leisure

by Martha Edwards on

Everyone seems to be making the effort to go green lately, and if you’re not, you should be. The tourism industry is no exception — hotels are trying to clean up their impact on the environment, and many are doing more than just leaving a sign in the bathroom asking you to keep your used towels.

And with this focus on everything green, a number of hotels are popping up that are environmentally friendly without compromising luxury. Travel + Leisure recently put together a list of the top 10 green hotels in the world. Here’s what made the list:

  1. Spice Island Beach Resort, Grenada
  2. Sonveva Fushi Resort & Six Senses Spa, Maldives
  3. Tiamo, Bahamas
  4. Whitepod, Switzerland
  5. Devil’s Thumb Ranch, Colorado
  6. Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar, Tanzania
  7. Adrere Amellal, Egypt
  8. Campi Ya Kanzi, Kenya
  9. Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, Jamaica
  10. Tenuta Di Spannocchia, Siena, Italy

So I say, next time you’re taking a trip, do something good for the environment and stay at one of these luxury hotels. It’s money well spent, don’t you think? To find out why each made the list, check out this article.

Travel trends for ’08 from TripAdvisor

by Martha Edwards on

2007 was a good year for travel. Well, at least it was for me — I managed to take 9 weeks off to travel, went to two countries I’ve never been before, crossed the equator twice and spent a large chunk of time beach-hopping. But it’s not all about me, is it? How was 2007 in terms of travel for you? Or in general?

Oh, forget that. 2007 is nearly over and it’s time to move on to 2008. In honour of the coming of the new year, Trip Advisor has put together a list of travel trends we can expect to see in 2008. In particular, we can expect to see a push towards ‘green’ travel. And the environment won’t be the only concern for travellers — germs rank high on the list, so there will also be a push towards clean travel.

Want to find out more about what to expect to see in ’08? Click here.

Libya: From “Rogue State” to “Must Visit”

by Brett Atkinson on

Despite being branded by George W as a “rogue state” in his 2002 addendum to the ridiculous “Axis Of Evil”, the North African country of Libya is on fast forward to become one of the Middle East’s prime destinations for curious and wordly travellers. And leading the way is a son of hardline Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The 33-year old Saif al-Islam Gaddafi recently outlined a massive proposal to put Libya firmly on the tourist trail and in direct competition with burgeoning super cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The focus of the development is the ancient city of Cyrene, reckoned by archeological whizzes to be one of the best preserved of ancient Greek and Roman sites. Attractions already include the Temple of Apollo and the partially excavated Temple of Zeus, and there are now plans for more than 20 luxury hotels and thousands of houses to surround the ruins on Libya’s northeast Mediterranean coast.

Apparently developers are striving for a clean, green image, but with so much development occuring it will be a fine balancing act.

Via Telegraph Group Ltd and thanks to h_savill on Flickr for the pic of the Temple of Zeus.