Doomsday tourism, eh? Nice term. It’s a fine difference to eco-tourism, where you just want to see natural sites. Here, you want to see natural sites that is not predicted to remain for long. 

An interesting story about the eco-tourist boom of those rushing to see sites that are changing so fast they may disappear and never be seen as they were. Most of these are ice disappearing in one form or another, or sea levels rising. Let’s hope those who are rushing there are doing so responsibly so these sites are not gone sooner than would be otherwise without their presence!

Antarctica: the Müller ice shelf and the Larsen ice shelf are shrinking dramatically.

Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: global warming is blamed for melting of the year-round snows at the summit of Africa’s highest mountain. They could be gone in 15 years.

The Arctic ice cap: the melting of icebergs and ice caps in the Arctic is blamed on global warming and threatens the habitats of species such as polar bears.

The Maldives: rising sea levels (3½in per year) could make these 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean uninhabitable within 100 years.

Venice: the Italian city is sinking into the Adriatic and rising sea levels could make things worse.

Alaska: American travel agents report thousands heading for the shrinking glaciers and melting permafrost.

Great Barrier Reef, Australia: it’s been predicted that rising water temperatures, which are bleaching the famously vivid reefs, will kill 95 per cent of the living coral by 2050.

Kitzbuhel, Austria: the home of the world’s most fearsome ski run is among low-lying Alpine ski resorts whose long-term futures are threatened by rising temperatures - on average the warmest they have been for 1,250 years.

Galapagos Islands: rising water temperatures are bleaching coral and causing the deaths of marine species.

Patagonia: South American glaciers are also retreating.

According to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, more than 37,000 tourists visited the continent last year - double the number five years ago. A third came from America, while the second largest contingent - one in seven visitors - travelled from Britain. “There definitely is a rush to see and explore the world before it changes,” said Matt Kareus, of Natural Habitat, which operates excursions to Antarctica.

Interesting. We Canadians flock to warmer weather. Going to Antartica isn’t exactly our style, though, mind you, I personally took a half day vacation last winter to photograph Halifax harbour freezing in -36C windchill. We’ve got the deepest ice free unfrozen natural harbour in the world, in case you didn’t know. Besides, we Canadians have got the North Pole so why go to the South Pole?

At least we’ve got the North Pole for now.

Merry Christmas again! [Envirostats author]

- Eco-tourism story via The Telegraph, Dec 23 2007

The greatest emissions resulted from flights to and from Indonesia, but extra air conditioning and car travel during two weeks of meetings added significantly to the carbon budget.

While all UN delegates and most European government delegates had their flights offset with financial investments in schemes which buy up greenhouse emissions, it is not known how many other attendees tried to lessen their impact.

The UN spent nearly £50,000 offsetting its emissions from two dozen UN agencies, funds and programmes, as well as the carbon footprint of secretary general Ban Ki-moon and his entourage. “We at the UN climate secretariat are offsetting by buying emission reductions under the Clean Development Mechanism. Then it is up to the individual delegates and journalists. The responsibility lies with them,” said a UN spokesman.

David Adam, the Guardian’s sole correspondent in Bali, had his carbon footprint offset in a scheme by Climate Care, which invests in renewable energy in developing countries. 

- CO2 statistics courtesy of the United Nations while trees planted statistic courtesy of the Indonesian government, both via The Guardian, Dec 15 2007

I know we planted trees in Canada, and the US, and the UK, but where were we in all of this???

And just look at Ethiopia! Wow! Standing O for them! [Envirostats author]

On Nov 28 2007, Professor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, the inspiration behind the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign, UNEP, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and Prince Albert II of Monaco announced that a promise made last year for the UN climate convention meeting to plant a billion trees in 2007 had been met.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: “I am delighted to say that an initiative to catalyze the pledging and the planting of one billion trees has achieved and indeed surpassed its mark. It is a further sign of the breathtaking momentum witnessed this year on the challenge for this generation-climate change”.

“There had been a few cynical smiles and shaking of heads when the Billion Tree Campaign was launched. Some said it would never happen, and others couldn’t at first see the raison d’être. But citizen after citizen, community after community and country after country, have proved the doubters wrong and demonstrated an abiding truth in 2007,” he added.

“Namely that given a focus and the chance to act, millions if not billions of people around this world want an end to pollution and environmental deterioration and have rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty to prove the point,” said Mr Steiner.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder and Patron of the campaign, said: “I am elated beyond words at the global interest and action that was motivated by the Billion Tree Campaign. I knew we had it within us as a human family to rise up! We called you to action almost exactly a year ago and you responded beyond our dreams. Thank you very much! Now we must keep the pressure on and continue the good work for the planet. Plant another tree today in celebration!”

The enthusiasm of individuals to make a difference is underlined by figures collected by UNEP which indicate that half of all those who planted are often private citizens or households planting one to three trees. Significantly, another 13 per cent have been planted by the private sector, which participated actively in the initiative.

ICRAF Director General Dennis Garrity said: “The World Agroforestry Centre is very proud that the ambitious goal of the Billion Tree Campaign has been attained. This milestone shows clearly that the global community has the spirit and the substance to unite in achieving ambitious targets to create a better environment for all. We look forward to working with UNEP and so many other organizations in setting and achieving even greater stretch goals for a more ‘bountreeful’ world in the coming years.”

The billionth tree planted is believed to be in Ethiopia where, and as part of the country’s Millennium Commemoration 2007, close to 700 million trees have been planted alone.

The initiative, whose other Patron is His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, is unlikely to end with the surpassing of the one billion trees planted mark.

UNEP is expecting that Guatemala, China and Spain will shortly announce that several million more trees have been planted.

Indonesia is expected to plant almost 80 million trees in one day in the run up to the Bali climate convention meeting next month.

- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Press Release, Nov 28 2007

This is a collection of links to great green gift ideas to start off your holiday season now that it is December and by my books, fair time to start Christmas shopping. I’m not into the consumerism hoopla that is Christmas, but I’m not a grinch, either. The list here is the same as the page on this blog I just created called Green Gifts, found at the top menu bar. As a result, the lists will be for Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year. However, green gifts can be given all year round, though at the caution of consumption. So please, enjoy your holidays responsibly in as many ways as you can!

Minh Tan
Envirostats author
.

10 great gifts for the eco child 
It’s a tough job to keep the kids happy and save the planet, but the following should do the trick.
(The Independent)

10 great gifts for the green woman
Racking your brains for something suitably stylish, yet planet-friendly?
(The Independent)

10 great gifts for the green man
A selection of presents to the keep the eco-warrior in your life at the top of his game.
(The Independent)

10 great organic christmas drinks
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t go local or organic with your festive tipples.
(The Independent)

Green Christmas getaways
Let someone else worry about the cooking while you take a break in the lap of eco-luxury.
(The Independent)

Alternative green Christmas activities
activities for nature-lovers where family fun is high on the agenda.
(The Independent)

10 green new year’s resolutions
From buying local to saving water, Laura Smith offers 10 ways to make 2008 an ecologically sound year.
(The Independent)

Environmental Defense Christmas List 
Annual roundup of earth-friendly ideas.
(Environmental Defense)

“Dirtiest” was the term used to describe these plants, but largest CO2 emitting is a more accurate term because “dirty”, even in CO2 emissions, might be better indicated by some sort of per unit measure.

I did not list the entire list sum for the countries with one each because I wanted to demonstrate the point of how many of these plants were in Asia. Sure, we worry about our coal-fired power plants, but something should be done about those in Asia first, especially China, because this list truncated at 25 is not misleading but rather indicative of bigger lists based on the  amazing Carbon Monitoring Action (CarMA) database of all the power plants in the world, coal or otherwise.

Tons are most likely short tons and not metric tonnes as this is an American database compiling the data, but all are subject to the same measure that is only about 10% higher than the metric tonnes value in number (or 10% less in weight if converted to metric tonnes).

Interesting list for reference but check with database source listed at the end as time changes. [Envirostats author]

- Carbon Monitoring Action (CarMA) world power plant database via The Telegraph, Nov 14 2007