When Osama Bin Laden Talks about the Environment

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I know, this sounds very unlikely, but this murderer mentioned it in its latest tape, as explained here by Fast Company. Of course this psychopath used it as a new angle to attack the US and the West.

The only good news I can see in that is that if someone like him starts using it is that now it is 100% mainstream. On the other hand, it could also announce something more terrible: eco-terrorist. I am not saying that Al-Qaeda would evolve into this, but some radical ecologists could in the future move to violent action to "protect the earth". What could be their target? Well, I would say polluting industries and big businesses. Not saying I am a fan, but honestly, in the long run, terrorism is a dead end.

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Haiti: When Bad Governance Ruins a Country

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You have all heard of the tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti. What is unfortunate from an environmental points of view is that the catastrophe has been amplified by the destruction of the environment that the country has undergone over the last decades: exhaustion of natural resources, deforestation, pollution. All these problems have been created by a lack of governance led by dictators more interested in making themselves rich than improving the situation of their people. Jared Diamond, in his book Collapse, explains this better than I could ever do.

Not only Haiti is a failed state, the poorest of the Western Hemisphere, but it also has one of the most damaged environment of the planet. I am not saying a better governance would have prevented the earthquake, but it would have had a different impact (less building collapsing because of better infrastructure; less landslides because of trees to keep the ground). And the problem is that the destruction of the environment has created a vicious circle hard to break: as there are less opportunities for development, people will exhaust the environment even more to survive, worsening the problem.

It is hard to see any light at the end of this depressing tunnel, but right now what people need is help, not pessimism or cynicism. If you want to do something, here is a list of charities working in Haiti.

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Green Marketing: Planting Trees to Promote a Website!

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I got contacted some time ago by Ruba that told me that if I had their logo on my blog they will plant a tree for that. Moreover they would do the same for any person putting it on their own blog or website. The trees will be planted by Trees for the Future. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me, so if you want to have a tree planted, put the following badge on your website!

Ecotourism in Korea Demilitarized Zone?

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If you have never heard of it, the Korean Demilitarized Zone is a buffer zone that separates the two Koreas. Created after the end of the war in 1953, this no man's land is surrounded by one of the highest concentrations of military in the world. It is without any doubt one of the hot spots of our planet.

However, as it has been untouched for more than 50 years, this space has been recolonized by nature: to some extent, it is a natural park guarded by the military! So as the relationship between the two countries have warmed up over the last decade, some people are now suggesting to open up this zone, and strangely for ecotourism.

So who knows, in a couple of years if you are in Seoul you might spend a day trip admiring nature, without realizing you are surrounded by soldiers, landmines and other nasty military inventions. It will not be weirder than visiting Chernobyl.

2010 = Commitments?

OK I am a bit late for wish you a happy new year, but I am still on time to provide you with content that shows you how some people see green travel going in 2010, (well some also call it ecotourism). Ron Mader decided to bet on the countries we will hear on the ecotourism front this year. Other people are even bolder by betting on what will happen in the next decade in terms of sustainability.

Personally, I hope 2010 will be a year of commitments as there is not much time left to change the effects of climate change. The failure of the Copenhagen summit in 2009 showed all the difficulties associated with this problem (the main one being able to agree on a common solution), so the least we could do from this is to learn from our mistakes and move on, hopefully in the right direction.

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