Can Turkey Break the Copenhagen Deadlock?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:45:00 GMT

Turkey is being suggested as a "bridge between East and West" on climate change too. Photo of the Bosphorus Bridge spanning Europe and Asia by Jennifer Hattam. As a city that literally straddles Europe and Asia, Istanbul -- and, by extension, Turkey -- has been endlessly described as a "bridge" between East and West. But the manager of a international program on cities and global warming has actually managed to put a new spin on that old cliche -- by suggesting that Turkey could bridge the gap between developed and developing countries on climate change.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

10 Gorgeous Waterfront Campgrounds in the U.S.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:39:48 GMT

Haena Beach. Photo by randystoreyphotography via Flickr. Lets face it: Camping is even better when you have a fantastic waterfront view. And there's nothing to keep you going through a tough winter like dreaming up some ideas for your next green outdoor adventure. We've picked 10 sweet camping sites with a variety of waterfront locations -- on lakes, rivers, the ocean, and more -- that afford great views and plenty of recreational opportunities. What's your favorite place to camp by the water? Let us know in the comments section. And keep an eye out for our list of camping gems around the world.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Adapting to Climate Change in the Arid Middle East

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Yemen and other countries in the Middle East are dry and dependent on agriculture. Photo by Ai@ce via Flickr. Lying at the crossroads of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, both water-poor and heavily agriculture-dependent areas, Turkey has more reasons than many to worry about the effects of climate change. So what are Turkish officials and others in the region doing about it?... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Fresh Photos of Fresh Kills: A Landfill Transformed

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:30:00 GMT

The Fresh Kills mound. Photo by Nathan Kensinger. When New York City decided to turn its 4.6-square-mile Fresh Kills landfill into a recreational nature area three times the size of Central Park, city officials touted it as "the park project of our time." That's a lot of hype to live up to, but eight years after the landfill closed, some new images by a local photographer indeed show a radically transformed landscape.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Saudi 'Solution' to Traffic Jams: No Foreign Drivers

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:27:00 GMT

Some 86 percent of Saudis have cars. Photo of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, via Ar-Riyadh Development Authority. From instituting traffic calming measures to building metrobus systems, there are plenty of ways to ease congestion on the roads. But radio listeners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, think they have a better idea: Keep foreigners and the elderly from driving.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Price of a Pipeline: Rena Effendi's Powerful Photos of Lives Destroyed By the Oil Industry

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:45:00 GMT

An abandoned oil well (left) and a fisherman in an oil village, both in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photos by Rena Effendi via Getty Images. Boosters of the Nabucco pipeline project tout the economic and political clout it will bring to Turkey. But where there are winners, there are also often losers -- as Rena Effendi's powerful photojournalism makes poignantly clear.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

'Build Paris on Paris' & Other Good Ideas for Growth

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:58:00 GMT

The site of the London Olympics is just one example of a plan to improve a city through retrofitting and connecting. Artist's impression via London 2012. Dense urban centers are good; sprawling suburbs are bad. Put in the simplest terms, that's what the conventional environmental wisdom tells us. But sometimes spreading out a little is just what a big city needs.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Walking: An Equal-Opportunity Answer to Traffic Congestion, From New York to New Delhi

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:38:00 GMT

Crossing the street in Delhi can be a tricky proposition. Photo by [Satbir] via Flickr. With just 139 cars for every 1,000 residents -- compared to 209 in New York City, and a whopping 765 in the United States as a whole -- many parts of Istanbul are already clogged with traffic. More residents name congestion as a problem than any other concern -- although 80 percent of those without a car say they would buy one if they could. So will increasing affluence inevitably lead to worsening road conditions?... Read the full story on TreeHugger

A Garden Blooms Inside a Concrete Cloverleaf

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:08:00 GMT

In the loop: a botanical garden inside a highway interchange (inset). Photos via Nezahat Gokyigit Botanical Garden (inset) and the Istanbul Governor's Office. A botanical garden inside an "urban void" -- the loop of a busy highway's cloverleaf interchange -- has been recognized by Deutsche Bank as a creative solution to the problems facing residents of Turkey's largest city, and those of other metropolitan areas around the world.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

EU Puts Bulgaria on Notice Over Enviro Negligence

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:45:00 GMT

The Pirin mountains are among Bulgaria's threatened natural habitats. Photo by Marin Nikolov via Flickr. Come December, the European Council will assess Turkey's slow, sometimes stumbling efforts toward EU accession. If the country gets a decent grade, the next chapter of negotiations to be opened is likely to be the one dealing with environmental issues. And if neighboring Bulgaria's recent experience is any indication, the European body won't be letting Turkey off easy.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Ups and Downs of the World's Most Isolated Sea

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:30:00 GMT

The Black Sea is an integral part of millions of peoples' lives. Photo of Trabzon, Turkey, by Whewes via Flickr. With its watershed covering almost one-third of continental Europe, an area home to some 160 million people, there are plenty of opportunities for pollution to run into the Black Sea -- and only one outlet to the world's oceans and seas, the Bosphorus straits in Turkey. It's little wonder, then, that a dozen years ago, it was described as "facing an environmental catastrophe." More surprising, perhaps, is that conditions in the Black Sea have shown any improvement at all.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

October Eco-Tidbits from Turkey

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:30:00 GMT

Lake Bafa (left) is getting cleaned up, but power-plant construction threatens other parts of Turkey. Photos by Duru... (left) and Bill Ward's Brickpile (right) via Flickr. Istanbul residents came out loud and strong this month as part of the International Day of Climate Action, but local environmentalists have been seeing advances (and disappointments) on other fronts as well. Once again, we wrap up the latest eco-related news from Turkey, developments that prompted reactions of both "super" (yep, just like in English, but with an umlaut) and "maalesef" (unfortunately):... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Going Veg Where Doctors Still Promote Meat-Eating

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:40:00 GMT

Posters for this year's and last year's Planeta Vegetariana festival in Serbia. The Balkan countries aren't generally known for their light, healthy fare. When expat Istanbul-dwellers cross the border into Bulgaria, it's to indulge in bacon-wrapped cheese skewers, cheese-stuffed pork loin... you get the idea. But some forward-thinking folks in Novi Sad, Serbia, are a promoting another way of eating with their third annual "Planeta Vegetariana" vegetarian food and organic agriculture fair.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Drought Decimates Kenyan Herders' Net Worth

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:40:00 GMT

Camels are "like the bank for the Turkana." Photo by xikita via Flickr. The global economic crisis has shattered many families' financial security as the value of investments plummet and jobs become vulnerable, or nonexistent. But in the rural Turkana district of northwest Kenya, the culprit robbing peoples' bank accounts is climate change.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Turks Take to the Streets, and the Sea, to Demand Action on Global Warming

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:20:00 GMT

The "Sun, Wind, 350 Right Now" march in Istanbul. Photo by Jennifer Hattam. On the morning of Oct. 24, Idil Ozkarakaya brought students together to paint banners for the day's climate-action march in a symbolic location: the Istanbul neighborhood of Halkal, one of the areas hardest-hit by September's devastating floods.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Diners Dig Into Invasive Lionfish, But Do They Really Care About Saving Coral Reefs?

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:24:00 GMT

A red lionfish seen at the Tasik Ria diving resort in Manado, Indonesia. Photo by Jens Petersen via Wikimedia Commons. To consumers trying to eat responsibly, supermarket shelves and restaurant menus can sometimes seem like minefields of "don'ts." Don't order that blue fin tuna; it's overfished. Don't eat that non-organic peach; it's loaded with pesticides. Don't buy that chicken; it was raised on a factory farm. So it's really not much of a surprise that when a group of people were told, "Eat this fish and help save the environment," they jumped at the chance.

... Read the full story on TreeHugger

If Animals Could Talk... They'd Say, 'Keep It Down Out There, We're Trying to Breed!'

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:30:00 GMT

Missed connection: European tree frogs are sending out fewer mating calls due to noise pollution. Photo by Andrei Daniel Mihalca via Wikimedia Commons. It's driving people crazy in Cairo, boosting risks of heart disease and high blood pressure in San Francisco, and, according to a new study, keeping animals from mating and hunting successfully. Is it a dangerous new disease or a side effect of global warming? Nope, just too much noise.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ukraine's Ticking 'Time Bomb': Old Pesticides

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:30:00 GMT

A haz-mat team containing a chemical stockpile. Photo via Obsolete Pesticides. When you think of dangerous stockpiles in the former Soviet Union, nuclear and chemical weapons are probably what come most readily to mind. But a single stash of old pesticides in Ukraine poses a major threat to some 7 million people -- and that's just the tip of the icky iceberg.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Designer's Pick for Hot Winter Fashion: Insulation

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:15:00 GMT

Umit Unal (right) designed a custom cloak for the Galata Tower (left). Photos via Today's Zaman (left) and yapi.com.tr. One of Turkey's most well-known avant-garde designers is cloaking scale models of famous Istanbul buildings in one-of-a-kind "jackets" to try and bring a little fashion-world glamour to a decidedly unglamorous subject: insulation.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

ICVolunteers: IT + Education = A Better World

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

A selection of photographs from the La Galerie exhibit. Image via ICVolunteers. The work of professional art photographers and amateur volunteers hangs side by side at La Galerie in Geneva, creating a picture of the environment (and the people who are working to help protect it) around the globe, from China to Peru through India, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

A Chinese Photographer's 'Infernal Landscapes'

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:30:00 GMT

Photograph by Lu Guang via National Press Photographers Association. Freelance photojournalist Lu Guang's unflinching images of AIDS victims in China's Henan province, honored in the World Press Photo contest for 2003, successfully prodded a reluctant Chinese government to take action against the epidemic. In giving the photographer this year's W. Eugene Smith Award, jury members expressed their hopes that his latest work would do the same for the country's industrial pollution.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Cheetah's Return in the Cards for India?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:33:00 GMT

An African cheetah in Kenya. Photo by Mara 1 via Flickr. After widespread hunting of both the cheetah and its prey, along with the converting of grassland habitat to farmland, caused the big cat to disappear from India nearly a century ago, the world's fastest land animal may once again start zipping around the country.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Arizona Art Museum Seeks to Define Sustainability

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:33:00 GMT

Carrie Marrill, Be Realistic Demand the Impossible, 22x30 gouache on paper, 2009, part of the exhibition Nowhere to Hide at ASU Art Museum, Oct. 2009. Photo courtesy of the artist. From a painter's satirical take on 1950s images of a bucolic world to functional recycled mega-sculptures to a major public-works design competition, the Arizona State University Art Museum is tackling environmental issues from all angles with its fall exhibition theme, Defining Sustainability.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

African Artisans' Recycled Products Go Global

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:15:00 GMT

Images via Old Tin Can Ltd.. Make-up artist Melissa Hartzel moved to South Africa with her husband to have a "family adventure." She came back to Watford, England, with an epiphany--and a business plan.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

9 Ways Climate Change Has Animals Running (Flying and Swimming) for Their Lives

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:00:38 GMT

Mountain goats in Glacier National Park. Photo by jessicafm via Flickr. From the Arctic to the Rockies to the Mediterranean, species large and small are changing their migratory patterns and seeking more hospitable homes. Why? Climate change affects weather conditions, hunting grounds, and the availability of water and favored food supplies. Those that can up and move are the lucky ones--for now--but each relocation affects food chains and habitats, often in ways we can't yet predict. These nine critters are just a few of those being rousted from their regular watering holes by global warming.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

An Ice Artist's Poignant Plea to Halt Global Warming

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:03:00 GMT

Melting ice people in Berlin. Photo via Wend Blog. Despite all the scientific and anecdotal evidence, some people still manage to be skeptical, unaware, or just plain unconcerned about global warming and its effect on both people and planet. For those on whom facts and figures haven't worked, the World Wildlife Fund must have thought, a beautiful and haunting piece of art just might.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Kenyan Artists Turn Dangerous, Polluting Materials into Inspiring Depictions of Wildlife

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:30:00 GMT

The "Father Flip Flop" whale-shark sculpture. Photo via Project AWARE. Art made out of recycled materials is always a Treehugger favorite, but it takes on special significance when the work depicts wildlife species--using objects that threaten those very animals, and the environment on which they depend.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Bicycles for Humanity: Donate Bikes, Change Lives

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:15:00 GMT

The Uukumwe ("Togetherness") Bike Shop in Nkurenkuru, Namibia. Photo via Bicycles for Humanity Colorado. An inexpensive, environmentally friendly form of transportation anywhere, bicycles are a true lifeline in Africa, where they allow health-care workers to visit three to four times as many patients as they could on foot, help struggling entrepreneurs expand their markets and keep more of their profits, and encourage children to go to school. In fact, according to Bicycles for Humanity Colorado (B4H), African girls are 70 percent more likely to attend school if their family owns a bike. But even a cheap set of wheels is a big expense for someone living on $1 a day. That's where groups like B4H come in.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Paddlefish and Vultures: Species Lost and Found

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:20:00 GMT

The bearded vulture is rare in India. Photo via Wikimedia Commons. The recent news that one of the planet's largest freshwater fish is close to going extinct was, sadly, hardly a rare occurrence in a world where habitat infringement and pollution, among other factors, are rapidly diminishing ecological variety. But even dwindling species can, fortunately, surprise us with appearances in unexpected places.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

September Eco-Tidbits from Turkey

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:46:00 GMT

While some worked to save bluefin tuna, others were illegally hunting wild rabbit. Photos by Greenpeace (left) and LastBestPlace via Flickr. As Istanbul cleans up and dries out from massive floods earlier this month and prepares for the World Bank/IMF meetings in early October, we once again wrap up the latest eco-related news from Turkey, developments that prompted reactions of both "super" (yep, just like in English, but with an umlaut) and "maalesef" (unfortunately):... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recent Posts by TreeHugger's Jennifer Hattam, Istanbul, Turkey