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People
Jaime Lerner: Architect of Urban Acupuncture and Better Cities
Jaime Lerner is the inventor of Urban Acupuncture, a startling new approach to city planning that allows people to define the space they live in. Jeremy Torr looks at how Lerner's theories, first applied in Brazil, can transform cities across the globe.
Albert Teo: Responsible Tourism for Borneo Biodiversity Preservation, Community Capacity Building
Protecting wildlife and fragile ecosystems while boosting livelihoods can be done through purposeful enterprise, as demonstrated by Borneo Eco Tours' Albert Teo, in the Lower Kinabatangan and Kudat areas of Sabah. Mallika Naguran seeks to understand his business model while reviewing Sukau Rainforest Lodge.
Reese Fernandez: Filipino Social Enterprise Rags2Riches Provides Decent Work for Women
Rags2Riches is a Filipino brand that turns scraps of cloth into high-end fashion accessories and in the process provides jobs, dignity, decent wages and financial training to women from some of the poorest communities in the country. Michael Switow chats with Reese in this special Gaia Discovery podcast.
Sanjeev Sanyal on Sustainable Urban Environments
Sanjeev Sanyal, an author, strategist and founder of the Sustainable Planet Institute, talks to Michael Switow about urban development, improving livelihoods and making the urban jungle a bit more environmentally friendly.
James Anak Bali: Conserving Borneo's Sea Turtles Creatively
Where once sea turtle population took a dive for the worse, one man introduced unusual methods to revive the numbers on Pulau Talang Talang, part of Talang-Satang National Park, Sarawak. Michael Switow talks to Sarawak Forestry official James anak Bali.
Places
Birding in the Ngorongoro Crater
Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater, famous for its panoramic views and large wildlife, is also a birders' paradise with a unique glimpse of impressive, exotic, migratory birds, writes Duncan Butchart.
Community-based Eco-tourism in Belize
When nature attracts tourists and tourism is one of your country's top sources of revenue, how do you ensure that large groups of visitors don't wreck the environment and economy in the process?
Showcase Eco-Resort: Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa
Beyond green, this eco-resort in West Malaysia shows how organic methods can be applied to address environmental problems and tourism impacts to produce amazing results. Mallika Naguran checks it out.
Mekong Responsible Travel E-Guide Launched
A new e-guide describes over 185 responsible holiday activities in the Mekong river region of Southeast Asia. It is to boost demand for the many responsible businesses in the Mekong region that now cater to all budgets and types of holidaymakers.
Eco-friendly Amarela Resort's Boholano Heritage
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Committed to heritage and low impact hospitality services, Amarela Resort is a charming eco-resort perched on the Panglao Island coastline of the Philippines. An old Visayas art form - Boholano - is revived here, and the environment is given tender loving care as well. A resort review by Mallika Naguran.
Planet
Surface mining that blasts away mountain tops to reveal the underlying coal has turned many small West Virginian communities into ghost towns, literally inverting their eco-systems. Emissions from old coal smokestacks in Chicago create thick layers of dust, believed to cause asthma. The voices of women in these communities are being brought to the forefront during two Gender and Climate Justice Tribunals.
Coal miners have discovered a huge fossilised forest in the US that existed millions of years before the dinosaurs. Studying the remains of this ecosystem, which was wiped out by flooding over 300 million years ago, could provide clues about modern climate change.
UN Climate Chief Calls for Energy Revolution
The public and private sectors need to collaborate more to bring down the cost of clean energy technologies, argues Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Watch the video of her lecture here.
New Portal for Energy & Environmental Solutions
The Green Disc – a great resource about innovative technologies for developing countries and small island states – is now available online. The site is meant to be a one-stop online location for researchers to post data and information about potential solutions to energy and environmental issues. Topics include space-based solar power, tidal energy, using algae as biomass and much more.
Virgin Coconut Oil Health Benefits
Coconuts - merely a great source of sweet chocolate bar and dessert ingredients? There is much more to this versatile fruit than that, especially when virgin coconut oil is extracted. Henrylito D. Tacio reports.
Marine Life
Diving opens up an underwater world of natural marvels, but Fiona Childs finds out how it also quickly reveals man-made damage. Biorock® Reef Gardens offer a great way to keep reefs healthy.
Coral Regeneration in Gili Trawangan
Life coach Carmen Loke learns how to help coral reefs battle for survival and in the process discovers a beautiful remote Indonesian paradise.
Fish Depletion, Marine Habitats Destruction in the Philippines
A report by Henrylito D.Tacio on the state of fishery in the Philippines and the threats to marine environments such as coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass.
Marine NGO Problems: Financing, Local Empowerment & Economics
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Benita Yue, a marine environmentalist, looks at how NGOs manage their operations with funding from various sources based on different business models. She also makes useful suggestions on the long-term sustainability of these non-profit organisations.
Tuna Handline Fishing in Philippines to Meet Marine Stewardship Council Sustainability Criteria
WWF announces a four-year pilot with the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to address the socio-economic conditions of local fishermen while addressing fishery crises. Tuna handline fishers in the Philippines now have a better chance at competing in European markets.
Adventures
Andaman Freediving Championship 2012
Fifteen divers from ten countries travel to Koh Lanta in southern Thailand to compete for top honours in the Southeast Asia Freediving Competition. Walter Johnson holds his breath in this first-hand account.
Review of Panglao Island Diving with SeaQuest: Balicasag and Coastal Dives
There is more to Panglao island than Balicasag - a famed dive destination in the Philippines that has earned honorable mention in most dive guides, even clinching top ten rankings in reviews. Mallika Naguran explores the underwater world.
Wicked Diving on Ethics, Responsible Tourism and Organic Products
Divers may be pleased to know that dive centres are going big on ethics and translating their principles into action. Mallika Naguran travels to Thailand to meet Wicked Diving.
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Timor-Leste First Adventure Race Through Dili, Christu Rei, Dare to Comoro – with Sweat!
Timor-Leste’s first Adventure Race in December 2010 was an odd mix of dashes, dunks and dirt. But the one-day race offered sights, sounds and smells that were uniquely Timorese. Mallika Naguran reports from a dry, respectable distance.
Disabled Scuba Divers in Bali Overcome Stereotype Prejudices
Avandy Djunaidi is the owner of Bali International Dive Professionals, a scuba diving operation in Sanur, Bali. Simon Pridmore finds out how Avandy, together with the Senang Hati Foundation, is inspiring a sea change in attitudes towards the disabled in Indonesia.
Festivals
Penang World Music Festival
After a three year hiatus, the Penang World Music Festival is back and bigger than ever, with 18 bands from across the globe. Join the fun from 30 March - 1 April.
CausewayEXchange: Lit Up KL, Plays, Film, Poetry Slam
Singapore and Malaysia got together for a unique cultural programme, CausewayEXchange 2011, where Mallika Naguran joined fellow Singapore travellers to enjoy the weekend's literary affair in Kuala Lumpur.
14th Rainforest World Music Festival a Wonder
From 'pathos in purity' to 'high-wire energy', Borneo's famed world music festival is all of this and more, describes Mallika Naguran.
Rainforest World Music Festival 2011 Showcases Record 22 Performing Acts
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Once again the magic of Sarawak's iconic Rainforest World Music Festival has begun. World music lovers can look forward to an incredible line-up of world class acts among the 22 bands - the highest so far. Mallika Naguran tunes in.
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Rondalla: The Festival that Rocks the Philippines
Tagum City has no natural attractions to speak of – so it is making up for the deficit with a year-round list of attraction, events and festivals. By Henrylito D. Tacio.
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Travel responsibly - Read Gaia Guide 2011/2012 (download the ecotravel Gaia Guide here and view Gaia Guide on SlideShare here).
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