Results tagged “conservation” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Easton, Maryland--located just inland from the Chesapeake Bay--is hosting its 39th annual Waterfowl Festival this weekend. From Friday, November 13th to Sunday, November 15th, visitors can attend the festival, which pays tribute to the annual migrating of Canada geese over the area. This small-town festival is surprisingly full of things to do, here are a few:

View wildlife paintings, sculptures, carvings, and photographs produced by local artisans in locations around the town and in the main festival area. Don't miss the demonstrations where the craftsmen show the techniques they use to create their art. On the Thursday before the festival starts, you can take a master's class in painting, carving, or photography from experienced professionals. Classes are either three or six hours and cost an additional fee.

Outdoorsmen and -women should check out the Sportsman's Pavilion at the Elk's Lodge. Visitors can peruse vendors hawking everything from hunting gear to boats and "exotic" hunting trips. Then head over to Easton High School where you can haggle for some new duck calls and other hunting or fishing memorabilia. Have a knack for goose calling? Well, it's time to unveil it at the "one and only" World Championship Goose Calling Contest. Amateurs and experts alike are welcome to enter one of the six contests and compete for prizes ranging from $250 - $10,000.  Preliminaries begin Friday, so you had better start practicing.

In an innovative approach to conservation, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airlines is suggesting that its passengers make a pit stop before boarding their planes in order to reduce fuel consumption. The AFP reports:

ANA estimates that if half its passengers went to the bathroom before boarding, it could reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 4.2 tons a month, said company spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka.

Apparently, the pre-flight flush is just part of their new environmentally friendly efforts. The airline also plans to recycle paper cups and plastic bottles, use napkins created from the byproducts of green tea production, and offer chopsticks produced from wood from forest thinning projects. These new tactics will be tested on 38 domestic flights-including the six-and-a-half-hour route from Tokyo to Singapore, all this month.

Though we realize the airline isn't suggesting you avoid the loo altogether, we wondered what crossing your legs for an extended flight would be worth in the way of CO2 reduction. Thankfully, The Toronto Star actually went so far as to calculate the overall conservation in passenger "weight" saved by a trip to the bathroom before you board:

The average human bladder holds up to a litre of fluid, which weighs roughly one kilogram. All Nippon's most popular aircraft, a Boeing 777, holds 247 people. So, in theory, if 247 passengers all go to the washroom before boarding, they could lighten the plane by up to 247 kilograms--the weight of three average men.

What's your take? Is going before you go the new eco-savvy way to travel?

[All Nippon Airlines E-Flights Campaign]

Photo: Grist.org

The decline of honeybees--which are not native to the United States--has been a hot topic of research for some time. The bees are dying from colony collapse disorder, a condition in which worker bees suddenly disappear, and that has killed an estimated one in three colonies a year since 2006. Fortunately, many companies, from farmers to hotels, are working to save the bees.

Environmentally conscious group Fairmont Hotels has a swarm of new guests staying at the hotel chain's D.C. property. The hotel has installed three beehives on its roof, which house over 100,000 Italian honeybees. The bees are part of the hotel's culinary program, and sous chef-turned-beekeeper Ian Bens expects the bees to produce some 300 pounds of honey in the first year. The honey will be used in soups, salad dressings, ice cream, and pastries at restaurant Juniper, and eventually Fairmont hopes to turn the honeycomb into candles and soap. Canadian-based Fairmont has beehives at its Vancouver, Toronto, and New Brunswick properties as well.

In the past two years ice cream giant Häagen-Daz has donated some $500,000 to universities to promote honeybee awareness and to research colony collapse disorder. Blueberry farmers in Maine are also trying to help the dying honeybees. Jasper Wyman and Son, the largest blueberry producer in the United States, imports some 10,000 hives each year to pollinate its blueberry fields. According to president Ed Flanagan, there has been an 80 percent spike in cost of pollination in the past few years. The company just donated $50,000 to Penn State to research colony collapse disorder.

Even the 2010 Winter Olympics is doing its part. The Vancouver Convention Center, which is undergoing a huge renovation in preparations for the Olympic Games in 2010, has installed beehives on its 2.4-hectare green roof. The goal of the installation: bees bring business. According to TMCNET.com, "bees are the new 'it' endangered species and urban planners and architects across... are anxious to bolster their numbers in urban settings."

Photo: skb_inspirations via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

We don't just talk the talk when it comes to being green here at the National Geographic Society. We're constantly working on reducing our impact on the environment, from using compost bins in our cafeteria, to switching all desk lamps to energy-efficient CFL bulbs, to purchasing wind power instead of getting our electricity from coal-fired plants. But even we were impressed when we heard about our colleague Fabio Amador's sporty new ride. Called the Go-One, it's a three-wheeled "trike" with a removable top -- making it a convertible of sorts. Weighing in at about 50 pounds, it pedals like any other recumbent bike. Fabio (whom we can't help but think is aptly named, given his sleek, racing car-styled vehicle) received a special parking place in the NG garage and uses the trike to commute the two miles between his home and the office.

"I figured this was a great way to show personal initiative in an organization that cares about conservation," he says. "No gas, no insurance and no permits. And I wanted to make an effort to leave no carbon footprint."

We asked him to tell us a bit more about his ride.

So what does it feel like to get around in that thing?

Moving through a suburban and urban cityscape, you're very low to the ground and you're moving between cars at a high speed. You can seem invisible, though the vehicle itself gets noticed quite fast once people do see it.

What's kind of response do you get?

Mostly amazement, laughter. I've been a shy person all my life, but this is not the way to continue living anonymously. But I see it as a way for a person to motivate others to do something, whether it's fighting against diabetes or not leaving a carbon footprint. One person can change the world.

As the world's most widely published underwater photographer, Stephen Frink knows a thing or two about the ocean. For 30 years, he's traveled the world shooting everything from starfish to great white sharks for publications like Glamour, Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, and he's even published a book, Wonders of the Reef. When he's not submerged in a remote tropical lagoon, Stephen serves as a columnist and photography director to Scuba Diving magazine. He lives in Key Largo with his family, where he was nice enough to take a break from running his gallery and photography school for a quick Q&A with Kristen Gunderson. Read on to find out his take on kids, tricky photography, shark fishing, and the plight of the world's oceans.

Tell me about your favorite photo.  What's the story behind it?

My favorite photo is one of my daughter Alexa swimming with a dolphin, which I took several years ago near Freeport, Grand Bahama. She was three years old at the time (she has her learner's permit now). For me, the photo shows a moment of incredible and touching interaction. It was also an inspiration that a kid that age would be open to jumping in with such a big "fish." We weren't sure how she would handle it, but she showed no fear. There was also a 13-year-old in the water, and at one point, he began to freak out. Alexa put her head in the water, resurfaced, and said matter-of-factly, "Daddy, it's just a nurse shark." I knew then we wouldn't have to worry about her.

See the photo, and the rest of the interview, after the jump.