Green News Weekly – Sustainable Tourism, BP Olympic Sponsorship and Recycling Bins with LED screens

Welcome back to the Planet Forward blog for another edition of our weekly green news highlights. This week: sustainable tourism has an online search tool; controversy over BP’s sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics; recycling bins with LED Screens and countdown to Earth Hour 2012. Just click on the links to learn more.

Image credit: Arenas del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort in Costa Rica

An online search tool has been created by The Rainforest Alliance to help the eco-friendly traveler looking for a greener vacation under the sustainable tourism umbrella.  “The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour.” The website for eco-savvy travelers is SustainableTrip.org and it includes a directory of sustainable businesses including hotels, tour operators and other related tourism companies. Currently SustainableTrip.org only provides recommendations to those visiting Central and South America, Mexico, and the Carribean.  That’s a great start with some of the most popular vacation destinations.  You can search by destination, amenities, price, activity, and sustainability status.  For example, the Arenas del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort in Costa Rica (pictured left) has tons of eco-friendly features like solar panels, low-flow toilets, energy efficient lighting, extensive waste management and recycling initiatives, a reforestation program, composting and many more – a wow resort for the sustainable traveler.

Olympic Games organisers face protests over BP sponsorship deal.  London Olympic organizers are facing some heat over BP’s sponsorship of the 2012 games. “In an open letter to the IOC, the London organising committee (Locog) and the Commission for a Sustainable London, 34 signatories say the organisers have failed to consider the broader ethical and environmental impacts of potential sponsors.”  Signatories included Greenpeace UK, the Polaris Institute, the director of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, the World Development Movement and Climate Rush.

“BP‘s business model involves continuing to extract fossil fuels long into the future, playing a central role in ushering in irreversible climate change. In other words, it is one of the least sustainable companies on earth”, says the letter.

A spokeswoman for BP said: “BP is working with LOCOG to make these Games the most sustainable yet. In our bid to become the Official Oil and Gas partner we presented extensive proposals and details on how we could achieve our goals. We are providing the most efficient and technologically advanced fuels, including some biofuel blends which are not currently available on our forecourts. Through our Target Neutral programme, our goal is to offer to offset the emissions from all spectator journeys to and from the Games and to change behaviours so that more people consider more sustainable ways to travel.”

After Deepwater Horizon, BP isn’t exactly a household name people are proud to hear. It’s a controversial issue. I’m surprised that they were granted the opportunity to sponsor a worldwide event of this magnitude given London 2012’s sustainability plan for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games.

In other London news, recycling bins with LCD screens hit London’s streets.  Renew has found a new way of reducing waste by delivering electronic information through recycling bins with an LED screen on the side.  The screens are updated with breaking news, transport timetables, emergency alerts and of course, advertisements. London launched 50 different displays on January 26, 2012, with a mission to reduce waste from the free newspapers littered throughout the city.  The recycling bins even have instant messaging resources which allow civil and emergency authorities to communicate emergencies to the public quickly. Renew estimates their daily audience at 750,000 and by the London 2012 Olympics, they will have 200 installed which will extend their reach to over 3 million people. “Renew also markets the receptacles as environmentally friendly. The screens have what’s called adaptive brightness technology that they claim is energy-sipping instead of guzzling. In addition, Renew says it will donate 1 percent of profits to sustainable energy projects for world cities.“

And our countdown to Earth Hour 2012 segment continues as we are six weeks away from Earth Hour on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 8:30pm.  This week we’re featuring a quick video of Las Vegas during Earth Hour 2011. 

Stay tuned for more green news.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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