New Flights Into Costa Rica’s Ecotourism Haven

Posted on November 22, 2011 by quest

Costa Rica is truly a magical place and apparently JetBlue Airways realizes this because they recently announced four new weekly non-stop flights to Liberia, in Costa Rica’s rich Guanacaste region; from its home base at New York’s JFK Airport. Liberia, on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, will be the airline’s second destination in the country. JetBlue has served Juan Santamaria International Airport in the capital, San Jose, with nonstop service from Orlando, since 2009. Named after the national tree of Costa Rica, Guanacaste is one of the country’s most popular vacation and ecotourism destinations thanks to nearly a dozen well-known biological reserves, national parks and wildlife refuges. Known as a haven for nature lovers and outdoor adventurers alike, stunning Pacific coastlines are plentiful in this northwestern province, as are the seemingly endless hours of summer sunlight.

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JetBlue five-hour flights between New York and Liberia will be operated with the airline’s fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring convenient, assigned seating; a first-checked bag free; complimentary and unlimited name brand snacks and drinks; comfy leather seats; more legroom than any other carrier in coach ; and its award-winning customer service.

Nestled between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Costa Rica is located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama. The country represents only .05 percent of the planet’s surface but shelters almost 5 percent of the world’s biodiversity and 3.5 percent of the world’s marine life. Costa Rica is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, four types of forest, 12 microclimates and more than 500 species of flora and fauna, with more than 26 percent of its territory comprising national parks and other protected areas, making the country one of the most popular sustainable tourism destinations in the world. To celebrate, the airline is also offering an inaugural fare of only $119 if booked by December 1, 2011 for travel through February 15, 2012. We look forward to welcoming JetBlue passengers into our country, where they can experience first-hand our rich culture, commitment to sustainability and the happiness that is unique to our country,” commented Costa Rica Minister of Tourism Allan Flores.

ParkVida Tree Houses Welcomes Ecotourism Adventurers

Posted on September 25, 2011 by quest

ParkVida Group, Inc. is pleased to announce the purchase of JBP SRL from Park Capital Management, Inc., in addition to a new name and symbol. JBP is a Dominican based limited liability company intent on developing a first class resort devoted to mountain bike riding and eco-tourism. The development is known as ParkVida. ParkVida is located at the top of the Cordillera Central mountain range in the Dominican Republic on a 700 acre former coffee plantation that is adjacent to the Armando Bermudez National Park. The development will offer 199 hotel rooms, cottages and “tree houses” in harmony with the environment as a welcome alternative for travelers seeking a deluxe outdoor experience over traditional packaged tours.

Adventure activities will focus on downhill and cross-country mountain biking with a dedicated chairlift for the uphill return. ParkVida’s destination riding vacation will be designed for mountain biking enthusiasts who want to focus on the trail, the ride, and the thrill of riding with the promise of great accommodation, service and relaxation. Personal skills will be matched with equipment and guidance to provide that “local trail” experience on a host of trails engineered and hand built by bikers for bikers. Other ParkVida activities will include zip lining, adventure rope courses, water slides, hiking, fishing, spa, mule riding, quad biking, cultural classes, eco tours and coffee related experiences such as growing, roasting and brewing.

JBP is in the process of finalizing design plans and seeking out regulatory permits that would enable the first phase of construction at ParkVida. Management hopes to begin construction of the resort early next year subject to receiving approvals from local authorities, the completion of an environmental study and the realization of financing efforts.

Maldives set to harnesses the Sun in a big way

Solar Powered Robotics Survey The Worlds’ Seas

Beyond Irene: The Future Of Hurricanes

Posted on August 29, 2011 by quest

By Natalie Wolchover - Hurricane Irene battered the East Coast this weekend, blasting buildings and trees that hadn’t felt such strong winds in decades, and flooding subways, tunnels and entire coastal neighborhoods.
Thankfully, Irene diminished in strength before making landfall on the Mid-Atlantic Coast and New England; though she is estimated to have caused $7 billion in damages, things could have been a lot worse. And atmospheric scientists say they will be.
They warn that hurricanes will get more destructive in the future. And as oceans warm, more and more of the strongest storms will creep north.

Warm seas
About 90 tropical cyclones form worldwide each year; that pace hasn’t changed recently. Rather than causing more hurricanes and typhoons to develop, the 0.5-degree Celsius rise in tropical sea surface temperatures that has occurred over the past 30 years seems to have another effect. As Colorado State atmospheric scientist James Elsner ominously put it: “The strongest storms are getting stronger.”

Hurricanes are like heat engines, Elsner explained. When the ocean puts more heat in, more energy comes out in the form of faster winds that blow for longer. As detailed in a 2008 paper in Nature (and in later studies analyzing subsequent hurricane seasons), he and his colleagues have noticed a steady upward trend in the maximum wind speed of the strongest hurricanes. For the top fifth most intense hurricanes, wind speeds have increased by 4.5 miles per hour per degree-Celsius rise in the ocean temperature. For storms in the top 10th of the intensity ranking, wind speeds have increased by 14.5 mph per degree Celsius. That’s a jump of almost an entire category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale that rates

Fabien Cousteau, Keynote Speaker at Ecotourism Conference

Irene Lane To Address Ecotourism Conference

Posted on June 29, 2011 by quest

Eco-entrepreneur, Irene Lane, is poised to speak at the 2011 Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference(ESTC) this September hosted by Hilton Head Island, South Carolina,. A native of Greece and founder of sustainable travel web hub, Greenloons.com, Lane will discuss the relationship between tourism and heritage preservation, presenting Alonissos, Greece as a model of how tourism can be leveraged to effectively raise awareness and contribute to wildlife restoration on a global scale.

Lane’s presentation will center on the Aegean island of Alonissos, whose endangered Mediterranean monk seals feed on fish local fishermen depended on to make a living. To halt the depletion of commercial fisheries and the resolve the issue of subsistence fisherman killing the monk seals out of economic necessity, the National Marine Park of Alonissos was created by government proclamation in 1992. The managers of the minimally funded national habitat then joined forces with the surrounding communities in the Northern Sporades islands to provide sustainable tourism planning and conservation education. The collaborative effort has succeeded in helping the people of Alonissos elevate their standard of living as well as protect one of the world’s most endangered species.

“The methods used successfully by the stakeholders in Alonissos can be replicated in other areas of the world also struggling between environmental responsibility and economic livelihood,” says Lane. “I look forward to discussing the Alonissos effort and its implications in more detail at the ESTC conference.” The Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference 2011 will be bringing together 500+ business leaders, industry professionals and community stakeholders from September 19-21, 2011 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

SUNNY DAY FOR SOLAR STOCKS

The Wildwoods Named Jersey’s Best Ecotourism Beach

Posted on May 28, 2011 by quest

The Wildwoods’ beaches were voted best in New Jersey in the 2011 Top Ten NJ Beaches survey today by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium (NJMSC), New Jersey Sea Grant and the Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center. In addition to the #1 ranking for the state of New Jersey, the Wildwoods were also named ‘Best Beach for Family Vacations,’ ‘Best Beach for Day Trips’ and ‘Best Beach for Ecotourism’. The Wildwoods received 7,055 of the 19,158 votes cast for ‘Best Beach in New Jersey’ during an online poll conducted this spring – nearly two thirds more votes than the 2nd place winner. The survey, compiled throughout the spring by NJMSC in conjunction with the New Jersey Sea Grant, the Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center and the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism, collected online votes from residents and visitors. The survey determined the public’s opinion of the Top Ten Beaches in the state, along with the best beach in categories of Ecotourism, Family Vacation and Day Trips.

“We’re honored, yet again, to be named New Jersey’s Top Beach. The Wildwoods’ beaches are second to none, and best of all, they’re FREE,” said John Siciliano, Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement & Development Authority executive director. “The fact that our beaches have been named ‘Best in New Jersey’ year after year, as well as earning several other distinctions, such as ‘Best Beach for Day Trips,’ ‘Best Beach for Ecotourism’ and ‘Best Beach for Family Vacations,’ is a tribute to our island’s hard-working public works departments that do an excellent job of maintaining our beaches and assuring that they’re always in pristine condition. Our hat goes off to all those involved in the effort to keep the Wildwoods’ beaches among the very best in New Jersey.”

Long renowned as the premier family vacation destination of the Jersey Shore, more than nine million visitors flock to the Wildwoods every year – taking advantage of New Jersey’s largest beaches. Stretching for five miles along the shores of North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, the Wildwoods’ wide, white-sand beaches are a perfect way to spend a relaxing, sunny day at the Jersey Shore and are absolutely FREE to enjoy. Consistently growing in size year after year, the Wildwoods’ beaches are the backdrop for a variety of one-of-a-kind festivities throughout the year including the Wildwoods International Kite Festival, the National Marbles Tournament, Monster Truck Races & Motocross Races on the Beach, Beach Soccer & Beach Lacrosse Tournaments, and many more.

GREEN NEWS YOU CAN USE

Solar Cells Mimic Insect Eyes

Posted on January 23, 2011 by quest

Anti-reflective film based on moth eyes increases efficiency of photovoltaics The eyes of moths, which allow them to see well at night, are also covered with a water-repellent, antireflective coating that makes their eyes among the least reflective surfaces in nature and helps them hide from predators in the dark. Mimicking the moth eye’s microstructure, a team of researchers in Japan has created a new film, suitable for mass-production, for covering solar cells that can cut down on the amount of reflected light and help capture more power from the sun.

In a paper appearing in Energy Express, a bi-monthly supplement to Optics Express, the open-access journal published by the Optical Society (OSA), the team describes how this film improves the performance of photovoltaic modules in laboratory and field experiments, and they calculate how the anti-reflection film would improve the yearly performance of solar cells deployed over large areas in either Tokyo, Japan or Phoenix, Ariz. “Surface reflections are an essential loss for any type of photovoltaic module, and ultimately low reflections are desired,” says Noboru Yamada, a scientist at Nagaoka University of Technology Japan, who led the research with colleagues at Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. and Tokyo Metropolitan University.

The team chose to look at the effect of deploying this antireflective moth-eye film on solar cells in Phoenix and Tokyo because Phoenix is a “sunbelt” city, with high annual amount of direct sunlight, while Tokyo is well outside the sunbelt region with a high fraction of diffuse solar radiation.They estimate that the films would improve the annual efficiency of solar cells by 6 percent in Phoenix and by 5 percent in Tokyo. Yamada and his colleagues found the inspiration for this new technology a few years ago after they began looking for a broad-wavelength and omnidirectional antireflective structure in nature. The eyes of the moth were the best they found. The team is now working on improving the durability of the film and optimizing it for many different types of solar cells. They also believe the film could be applied as an anti-reflection coating to windows and computer displays.

Habitat for Humanity Partners to Create Its First Eco-Tourism Village in the World

Project will make Indonesian history, culture accessible to international visitors
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia -Habitat for Humanity Indonesia today announced it is partnering with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to create Habitat’s first eco-tourism village of more than 420 homes and guest accommodations near some of Indonesia’s most picturesque ancient temples.
“This unique program not only improves housing for most of the community, it also allows Soran villagers to economically benefit from the art and culture they have preserved for centuries, and to share it with the world.”
The development will take place in the village of Soran, located near the famous Prambanan Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built around 850 AD. The village is also located near Mount Merapi, the nation’s most famous volcano, which erupted last year. Read more in