Deep Culture Travel

Earth Hour 2012: Turn Out Your Lights!

From London to Sydney, New York, Jakarta and Singapore, people across the world will be joining the Earth Hour 2012 challenge by turning off their lights for one hour on March 31, from 8:30 p.m. your local time to 9:30 p.m.

The World Wildlife Fund started Earth Hour in 2007, and since then millions have chimed in to help stop climate change and take real action for the environment.

Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and communities (and probably your town or city and state) are participating in Earth Hour 2012. Among the many sites, lights will go out here:

• Golden Gate Bridge
• Great Pyramids of Giza
• St. Peter’s Basilica
• Big Ben & Houses of Parliament in London
• Sydney Opera House
• Manchester United
• Microsoft
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Harrah’s Casinos
• Wells Fargo
• Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa
• Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA
• Bloomberg News
• All Fairmont hotels and resorts   
• Illinois’ Capitol building and governor’s mansion 
• United States Marine Corps
• UN Headquarters
• Las Vegas Strip
• and thousands more organizations, schools
• businesses, hotels, churches
• states, cities, landmarks
• and individuals . . . .

Watch an amazing video of Earth Hour “lights out” activities


For the first time, Earth Hour will extend to the International Space Station, where ESA astronaut and WWF ambassador Andre Kuipers will keep watch over our planet as the lights switch off on 31 March, sharing photos and live commentary of his experience via the European Space Agency (ESA).
Humans are consuming resources at a faster rate than ecosystems can regenerate them--we currently use the equivalent of 1.5 planets’ worth of natural resources. From melting sea ice in the Arctic to a deforestation disaster in the Amazon, coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef to a drought-induced famine in the Horn of Africa, it’s time to do something about it.

Go to EarthHour.org to watch fun and inspiring videos and photos, and to find out what will be happening on Earth Hour day. You might also sign up for one of the “I Will If You Will” challenges—tons of celebrities are involved.

Karen Misuraca is the author of several guidebooks, including Backroads of the California Wine Country; Backroads of the California Coast, and the newly released 8th edition of Fun with the Family Northern California. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.

Interna Women’s Day March 8, 2012

Founded in 1911, International Women's is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. Women connect with political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events, local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more. Check out the web site for what's happening around the world and in your town.

Connect on Twitter: Michelle Bachelet Under Sec-Gen & Exec Director UNWomen (former President of Chile) tweets “No longer afford to leave women out. Time is now for women's right & full partic'n”            

Some fabulous photos that “Put the Whoa! In Woman”

ThomsonReuters “Women Living in Extraordinary Times” slide show

Women and Girls Lead online films throughout March

Gloria Steinem Speaks in California on “War on Women”

Women’s Day in the Yucatan

 

 

Karen Misuraca is the author of several guidebooks, including Backroads of the California Wine Country; Backroads of the California Coast, and the newly released 8th edition of Fun with the Family Northern California. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.

¡Cubanidad! Resident Artist at Scottsdale's Westin Kierland Resort

 

A political refugee who fled from Cuba to Phoenix in 1999, Nelson Garcia-Miranda started as a steward at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale. When the hotel found out that he was a renowned Cuban artist, they asked him to create some of his vibrantly-colored paintings for the resort's Latin-influenced Deseo restaurant, which has become a spectacular gallery of his "Cubanidad"-inspired works.

Now, Garcia-Miranda is the hotel's full-time artist who paints and hobnobs nightly with guests in the Deseo lounge, and also at many special events around the resort. Among his dazzling abstract/impressionist images are representations of cagüeiros (sorcerers who become animals), güijes (Cuban goblins) and the exuberance of life in the Cuban countryside, and Cuban music.

 

Mayan Influence at Riviera Maya Spa Mayakoba

Attuned to their Mexican and Central American heritage, Mayans of the Yucatan have a strong influence on the many resort spas along the Caribbean coastline known as Riviera Maya, south of Cancun. Within the luxury enclave of Mayakoba, the Rosewood Mayakoba resort looks to local shamans and herbalists to enhance their offerings in the Sense, A Rosewood Spa.

Among unique experiences for guests is the ritual of the Mayan-style temazcal, a domed enclosure involving hot stones and steam infused with herbs. Guided by a temazcalero, this aromatic, steamy, non-intimidating environment is a purifying, healing steam bath After the temazcal, guests can ease their way back into reality by heading for the Agave Azul Raw Bar and Tequila Library.

Balance Your 5-Star Resort Vacation with a Volunteer Day

If your pockets are deep enough for a vacation at one of the 5-star-rated Four Seasons hotels or resorts, they're deep enough to spend an extra day making a difference in the local community. Located in some of the most beautiful natural settings on the planet, Four Seasons properties make it easy for their guests to participate in a variety of worthy volunteer programs related to sustainability, habitat restoration and community involvement.

You can read to orphaned kids, help clean up a park or a beach, build a birdhouse or plant a tree. In celebration of the company's 50th anniversary, 4 Seasons has made a commitment to plan a million trees. On the Big Island of Hawaii at the 4 Seasons Hualalai, guests are helping to plant 500,000 GPS-tagged native koa trees, while at the 4 Seasons Costa Rica Peninsula Papagayo they are planting 1,800 fruit, shade and flowering trees around the resort's golf course.

Celebrate Earth Day, get involved in the health of the planet

Earth Day Flag

Earth Day 2010 is a reminder that it's easy to be an eco-friendly resident of the planet. Here are ten ways to play your part in helping to keep Mother Earth healthy and thriving.

Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley conserves and replaces every drop of water

that flows out of mineral springs in the surrounding mountains

Museums of the Eastern Sierras feature "Women of Eastern California"

Museums of the Eastern Sierras

A magical chain of museums is waiting to be discovered along and nearby the U.S. 395 corridor in the Eastern Sierras. This year through September, seventeen of the museums, historic sites and interpretive centers are participating in a series of lectures and exhibits focused on "Women of Eastern California", featuring native and pioneering women from throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. 

Mii Amo Spa hosts Inner Passage retreat with Matthew Walker

 

The world-famous spa resort in the red rock country of Sedona, Arizona, Mii amo Spa at Enchantment Resort is sponsoring a retreat with Matthew Walker, veteran mountain guide and psychologist.

Walker will lead the Inner Passage: Bringing Mindfulness and Adventure into Everything retreat, which runs from February 25 to Sunday, February 28. This weekend retreat is an experiential opportunity to explore how the spirit of "adventure in everything" yields a life of satisfaction, joy, challenge, and reward.

The Green Prince: Charles the Environmentalist

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Henry VIII instigated the very first piece of green legislation in England when, in 1543, he created the Preservation of Woods law requiring that when one mature oak tree was cut down, 12 trees had to be left standing on the same acre, and none of those could be cut until they reached maturity. Henry's law came about when he realized that the tremendous shipbuilding going on in England was going to outstrip the available supply of oak wood.

Today's environmentally-oriented royal, Charles, Prince of Wales, said, "What was understood by many in King Henry's time was the importance of working with nature to maintain the balance between keeping the earth's natural capital intact and sustaining humanity with renewable income. It is this knowledge that I fear we have lost in our rush to pursue unlimited economic growth and material wealth. . . . .the balance needs righting and timeless principles need to be reintroduced in order to create a more integrated approach."

Giving a keynote speech at the recent Copenhagen Climate Conference, he used his Prince's Rainforests Project as a key example of solutions based upon a public, private and NGO sector partnership. He said, "I am convinced it is through these kinds of global partnerships – between Government, business, N.G.O.s, civil society and even individuals – that we can help provide the global solutions we need to secure our future. If an effective and globally equitable deal can be agreed, it will create the conditions for transformational change in our global economy and deliver the economic signals that companies need if they are to invest billions of dollars in low carbon products, services, technologies and infrastructure." (watch the video of the speech)

New Volunteer Vacations for 2010

 

Planeterra's Project South Africa

A company that specializes in voluntours, Planeterra has announced new volunteer vacations for 2010, from work at the world'’s largest Panda reserve in China to family adventures in Cuzco, Peru, and building a playground in the Galapagos.

Visiting Thailand? take time to voluntour

 

When on vacation in Thailand, you can make an environmental and social impact, and have an unforgettable experience, by volunteering for 1, 2 or 3 days with North by North East, a Thailand- and Laos-based tour operator in southern Thailand.

Featured in major publications such as Travel+Leisure, Conde Nast Traveller and The New York Times, the tour company is a member of The International Ecotourism Society.

Travelers are given the opportunity to interact with villagers, including those in tsunami-hit Andaman villages, and work with locals on such projects as cultural preservation, rural development, tsunami relief, education and medical assistance. You might be asked to teach English, help out at a school or with mangrove reforestation, or share your skills or hobbies, and you may have the chance to stay with a host family.

Tree Huggers Art Raises Eco Awareness

In public places and at events around the world, eye-catching, inspiring environmental art is erected by vounteer artists for the Tree Hugger Project, an organization that aims to help people rediscover their relationship with nature. Made from twigs, branches, sticks, vines and other natural materials, the playful sculptures are conversation starters, meant to be metaphors for the symbiotic relationships between organisms. A kind of political art, the Tree Hugger sculptures raise awareness of the relationships between humanity and the besieged environment. Check out the fascinating photos at www.treehuggerproject.com.

Installations have appeared around the planet, from Nevada to Missouri, Poland, Vienna and England. On the drawing boards are multi-part sculptures for the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario, Canada; the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and three large installations will be erected at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December, 2009.

At the installation "Lonely Tree, Lonely People," at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland in 2008, hundreds of people lined up behind the figures to try to imagine that there was just one tree left to hug.

Mindfulness & Movement in AZ

A company specializing in unique nature/personal growth programs, Inner Passage is offering a life-changing weekend of Mindfulness and Movement, involving collaborative learning, introspection and mind-body focus while camping in the spectacular high desert of the Cochise Stronghold in the Coronado National Forest of southeastern Arizona. Spend precious days with a small group, doing yoga, guided mindfulness meditation and rock climbing. Holistic health and goal-setting are topics of exploration. Activities also include one-on-one life coaching, hiking and more. Friday, April 24-Sunday, April 26. $575 per person covers meals, technical and camping equipment; bring your own tent & sleeping bag. (Other weekends to be held in Jackson, WY, Joshua Tree National Monument, and Sedona. Check out this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and other programs offered at www.Inner Passage.net––from Zen and the Art of Work to Adventure Therapy and 1-day Intro to Rock Climbing.

Sycamore Resort Goes Green

Secluded on 100 acres of forest, hills and meadows between San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach, Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort has been a hot mineral springs resort since the 1930s. Guests sink into luxurious rooms and suites for weekend getaways here, sinking into tree-shaded, private hillside hot tubs, wandering the forest labyrinth, taking spa and wellness treatments and hiking and biking the coastside trail.

The resort has gone "green" by automating their extensive hot tub system to conserve 12,000 gallons of water per day and by using their naturally-occurring hot water to heat the swimming pool. The gorgeous, extensive gardens are planted with indigenous, xeriscape plants. The award-winning Gardens of Avila Restaurant menu is based on local and sustainable ingredients. Shuttle vans are available for group daytripping to nearby wineries and to Avila Beach, as are bikes for individual guests.
(800) 234-5831 www.sycamoresprings.com

Unbalanced Travel Writers

From the Associated Press: Paul Theroux acknowledges that a great writer doesn't have to be a good person. In fact, he doubts that it's possible. Writers, he says, are by nature "unbalanced." And Theroux does not count himself among those who have kept the scales even.

"Obviously not," he says. "Otherwise, why have I written, as I have, there's some emptiness or disorder that one's trying to fill or find an order in? If you look into history, you won't find many jolly, well-balanced people who were writers. I mean, look at them.

"In a way, you can't be a writer unless you have sort of a personality problem. Balanced people don't become writers, obviously. Balanced people become gardeners, they raise happy families, they go to work every day, they smile. They have noodle salad."