Whole Travel Blog

With the economy in the dumps and California facing a massive $24.3 billion budget shortfall, lawmakers have turned to halting all general fund contributions to California’s 279 state parks within 2 years. What does this mean for residents and visitors to California? In all likelihood, this could close 223 parks - 80% of the state-owned parks in California. While it’s imperative that the state find ways to close the budget gap, these parks are already operating on shoestring budgets and have deferred maintenance for many years just to make ends meet so residents and visitors can enjoy this state’s natural beauty. Can you imagine if this park was suddenly closed?

Armstrong Redwoods, near Guerneville, CA

Now we agree that it is absolutely necessary that California create and execute a balanced budget this and every year, but with the entire budget of state parks only constituting 0.26% of the budget shortfall, is it really worth losing these outdoor escapes at a time when many people need to hit the reset button and get outdoors? Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks’ Foundation, said, “Not only is it this bad for people who are relying on state parks more than they ever have for recreation and vacation, but it is also bad for the communities surrounding these parks.” She further pointed out that for every dollar spent on state parks, $2.35 in tax revenue is generated through economic activities in the park’s surrounding areas.

To read more, check out the San Francisco Chronicle article. And to get involved, write to your representative (to find out who that is, look here).

Finding alternatives to plastic has been difficult at best over the past few decades. The problem is that oil is traditionally derived from oil, which both consumes fossil fuels and produces greenhouse gases. Recently, however, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced a simple process that turns cellulose (plant fibers) into plastic.

Making Plastic From Plants 101

While this process is still quite a ways off from commercial application, it shows promise as a way of creating alternative plastics. With so many of today’s products packaged in some form of plastic, finding a sustainable way to replace our fossil fuel-derived types would have a large impact on the environment, both consumption of fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases.

Each year, from May through October, you’re bound to find a few brave souls heading out to India for some spectacular trekking. Darjeeling is a region in the far east of India with amazing natural beauty. At an altitude of 8,500 m (28,000 ft), the Darjeelings are the highest mountains in India. Buddhist monasteries and tea plantations dot the landscape as you hike through dense alpine trees, beautiful orchids, natural lakes, and remote trails. A day’s hike up Tiger Hill provides a panoramic view of Mt Everest.

Sunrise at Tiger Hill, Darjeeling

If you’re looking for a softer adventure, you can visit the Kalmatia Sangam Himalaya Resort, a year-round tourism destination that offers low-altitude trekking in the winter and higher-level excursions during the spring, summer and autumn months.

General Electric is reporting a 21% annual increase in sales from its Ecomagination products, up to $17 billion. This trend is expected to continue, as GE increased its investment in clean tech research and development by 27%, and expects to add $100 million annually by 2010. All this is good news for the public and private sectors, as it will hopefully spur new technologies that can help us live greener. GE has even looked within to become more sustainable - reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 41% since 2004, surpassing a goal of 30% reduction it set for itself back in 2005.

Telefonica, the largest company in Spain, is constructing a 12-building complex to bring 40,000 employees to one main campus in Madrid. The buildings are using a special type of glass to reflect the hot Spanish sun, and panels stick out from the building to act as sun visors. Each of the buildings is to be connected by a covered walkway that will be the world’s largest rooftop photovoltaic installation with 15,000 solar panels capable of producing 4 million kWh annually. Landscaping will be native vegetation which requires minimal water, and that amount of water will be provided by rooftop rainwater collectors.

Distrito C - Telefonica's New Madrid Headquarters

Taiwan recently finished construction of an amazing solar-powered stadium that can generate 100% of its electricity from the sun. The dragon-shaped arena can hold 50,000 spectators and is made with over 8,000 solar panels.

Taiwan's solar-powered stadium can seat 50,000

The stadium will officially open in July for the 2009 World Games. In addition to the solar panels, the stadium integrates many other sustainable features such as permeable paving and maximum use of domestic materials and local labor. In addition, a plot of land adjacent to the stadium was set aside for development of public lands, including bike paths, sport parks, a pond system and green open spaces.

On days that the stadium is not being used, the government plans to feed surplus energy into the local grid, where it will meet approximately 80% of the neighboring area’s demand. This equates to approximately 660 tons of carbon dioxide per year!

The City of San Francisco launched a revolutionary online mapping project last week, Urban EcoMap. The site tracks the amount of carbon emissions by zip code, and even breaks down the information to the source of the greenhouse gases: transportation, energy use or waste. It was announced by Mayor Gavin Newsom on Earth Day, and it’s finally up and running. We’re excited by the many tools this site has to empower you to evaluate and reduce your carbon footprint.

Which San Francisco neighborhood is greenest?

The overall goal of this project is to reveal San Francisco residents’ bad habits and lower the City’s emissions back to 20% below their 1990 levels (as per the Kyoto Protocol). If this takes off, it could provide a great case study for local action providing a global impact. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

On Monday, Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago, spoke to an audience in New York and said he aims to make Chigago the “most environmentally friendly city in the world.” Much of his plan involves “green roofs”, which usually entails putting plants and even a few trees on top of buildings. Aside from giving nearby skyscrapers a nice view, these roofs help keep the building cool and filter stormwater.

Green Roof

The biggest hurdle for green roofs to overcome is their cost. New York City’s sustainability office found that street trees are more effective than green roofs. Over time, many groups hope to be able to offset the cost by adding bee hives and other sustainable aspects to green roofs, making them more economically viable and broadening their positive impact on urban life. You can read more about Chicago’s campaign for sustainability here.

Looking to travel with man’s best friend this year? While it’s become much easier to have your bet with you while you travel, it’s still difficult to find hotels that allow dogs, and activities that are pet-friendly, there are ahead of the curve. If you’re traveling to Los Angeles, you can stay at Hotel Palomar. There are no weight or size restrictions for your best friend and there’s a grassy walking area just 50 feet from the hotel entrance. There are even nearby restaurants, clubs and spas that are pet-friendly so you don’t have to miss a beat.

In Seattle, you should check out Hotel Monaco, where have dog-sitting services with a personalized doggie itinerary and VIP services for all creatures great and small. While you’re there, you can check out Magnuson Dog Park, 9 acres of open fun land for your 4-legged companion. In this economy, we wouldn’t be surprised if many non-pet hotels are being open to allowing dogs in order to bolster business.

As is being reported this morning by the New York Times, President Obama will announce new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and gas mileage standards today. These standards follow the outline the California has pushed for years, much to the objection of the auto industry. The rules will take effect in 2012, making the nation’s fleet 40% cleaner by 2016 and bringing average gas mileage to 35.5 mpg. California has been fighting for more stringent standards than the old federal ones since 2002, which only have the average fleet mileage at 25 mpg.

What does this mean for the environment? And for the nation’s auto industry? Well, for the environment it will reduce normalized greenhouse gas emissions by 40% over 4 years, which is definitely a positive. And despite the past 7 years of stalling by the auto industry, the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers is now on board with the plan, stating that it “ends that old debate by starting a federal rulemaking to set a national program.” Watch for a lot of chatter about this subject over the next few days, but it’s a good first step to bring clean technology to the US auto industry in a large way.