Organic Gardening and Farming in Fiji

With more than 20 locations across the U.S., Xanterra Parks and Resorts serves people visiting Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Napa Valley and a number of national and state parks. In line with its connection to nature, Xanterra has been taking steps to lower its environmental impacts with energy efficiency measures, waste reduction and choosing local and sustainable foods. Greener World Media contributor Sarah Fister Gale spoke with Chris Lane from Xanterra about how to green up dining facilities, the importance of environmental management systems, how to bring down your energy needs and what it takes to get your suppliers to cut their waste. Rethinking Dining, From Kitchen to Compost | GreenBiz.com

20th of January 2009 PRESS RELEASE Tourism Fiji in collaboration with key industry partners including the Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association (FIHTA), Society of Fiji Travel Associates (SOFTA) and Air Pacific confirmed that the necessary infrastructure, facilities and equipment to operate Fiji’s Tourism industry has been largely unaffected by the recent flooding with only minor damage reported by member Hotels, Resorts, Transport, Transfer and Cruise Operators, and International and Domestic airlines. The industry is unified in its efforts and working hard to reassure visitor’s considering travel to Fiji to take advantage of Fiji’s tropical climate, excellent deals and of course to enjoy Fiji’s biggest asset – it’s warm, friendly people. Key strategies to lure visitors to our shores include wide ranging familiarization visits commencing early next week to key tourism areas by prominent Travel Wholesalers, Travel Agents and Trade Press to demonstrate first hand the experienc...

It's a big deal when you get the Minister of Finance, the person holding the purse strings for the entire country, to open a meeting. It's an even bigger deal to have him announce that the country's sugar industry, the backbone of the national economy, will thrive if it switches to producing organic sugar. Thirty-four stakeholders gathered on April 12 and 13 to discuss the potential of the greening of Fiji's sugar industry. The meeting, organized and hosted by The Fiji Organic Project and Sugar Research Institute of Fiji, and sponsored by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, was a landmark occasion in the history of sugar industry deliberations, as it brought together the most diverse array of constituents that has ever convened to discuss the future of Fiji's sugar industry. Those constituents included environmentalists, tourism officials, NGO leaders, cane farmers, researchers, trade commissioners, academics, students, businesspeople, marine scientists, en...

Interview With Tony Momoh From Echarger August 12, 2008 · Written by Adam Solar charging has been getting cheaper and consequently more popular, Echarger.co.uk aims to make solar charging affordable to everyone. Life Goggles spoke to it founder, Tony Momoh. Tell us about how Echarger got started and your involvement in it? Echarger started five years ago coming from African roots we have a big issue with power shortage. I started researching of ways to help my people try and find a way they can use alternative energy to charge certain appliances. The idea got so big that it was too much juggling work and doing research at the same time. Then four years ago my mum passed away, God bless her soul, and I had to go home for the funeral which was hard to deal with it. We arrived at the airport and the light was taken off as we arrived we had to wait 10- 15mins before the power generator came on. Everyone had mobile phones but had to go outside and pay some dude a certain amount e.g 50...

Voluntary standards that focus on the most critical aspects of sustainable tourism in order to help travel suppliers around the world meet increasing consumer demand for products and services that will have positive effects on communities and the environment. (UNWTO) - United Nations Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner joined the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) today to announce the first-ever globally relevant sustainable tourism criteria at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The new criteria — based on thousands of best practices culled from the existing standards currently in use around the world — were developed to offer a common framework to guide the emerging practice of sustainable tourism and to help businesses, consumers, governments, non-governmental organizations and education institutions to ensure that tourism helps, rather than harms, local communities and the envi...

Three Big Things We Should Do Now to Slow Global Warming The following summary was submitted by Andrea Hill, who works with Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development . Amidst all the complexity of international climate change negotiations, it is easy to lose sight of actions we can take now, using proven technologies. Such “immediate mitigation” is essential if we are to avoid irreversible tipping points for abrupt climate change. There are three very promising ways of meeting the need for speed. 1. Black Carbon Black carbon, the light absorbing matter in soot, warms the atmosphere by absorbing solar radiation and releasing it as heat. It also accelerates the melting of snow and ice by reducing their ‘albedo’ (the ability to reflect light). This is most dramatically demonstrated by the contribution which black carbon is making to the disintegration of Arctic sea-ice, which in turn threatens to accelerate feedback mechanisms that will spe...

Well it is in my veggie patch I lifted the shallots the other day and now I have got a space for something else. I was very impressed how many I got from the bulbs I put in at the end of Spring. Each bulb produced 5-6 new shallots, so as you can see I have plenty. They have been one of the more successful veggies I have grown this year and I have learnt even more so come next year it will be even better. One of the mistakes I have made was putting in Sprouts and Turnips into such a small bed. They have taken far to much room up and I wont be doing them next year. I have red onions and leeks doing very nicely as well and strawberry plants are around the edge. I have also become a surrogate tomato grower, as one of my neighbours daughter's doesn't have any space so I am looking after it. I have to say though with all this rain and cloudy days I don't think it will do very well as we will probably run out of sun before any of the tomatoes ripen. I also had very green fin...