Posts in the category "Environment":

Next weekend, February 6 and 7, 2010, visitors to the Düsseldorf International Airport will be entertained by skiers and snowboarders performing stunts and jumps on a 130-foot long ski slope set up right in the shopping arcade of the terminal.

Pretty impressive by itself, but if you’re heading to Düsseldorf to see the world’s first indoor ski jump at an airport, you may as well go visit the moon.

(The ‘Largest Moon on Earth’ – sculpture and photo by Wolfgang Volz)

A reproduction and exhibit of the solar system — including an 82-foot wide moon sculpture that is the largest moon sculpture in the world — is on display inside a 380-foot tall former gas container, in nearby Oberhausen.

The exhibit, Out of this World – Wonders of the Solar System, also includes impressive replicas of the sun and its planets and is open through December 30, 2010 as one of the projects of “Ruhr 2010”, a year-long series of art events and exhibits in Germany’s Rhine Ruhr area, near Düsseldorf.

Categories: Air Travel, Art, Environment, Events, Exhibits, Fun Stuff, Layover
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Right now, when most of us think of Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) we think about that failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day.

But a few days before that awful event, the Detroit Airport hosted a four-day karaoke fundraiser.  Performers were asked to contribute at least $5 for each song and, thanks to fact that many people paid more than $5 a song and the fact that many passersby also contributed, “Sing Because You Care” raised more than $2600 for the  Salvation Army.

Here’s an example of what people sang:

Categories: Air Travel, Environment
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This time of year, you may find yourself looking around a busy airport filled with novice travelers and muttering to yourself, “This place is a circus.”

Say that at Germany’s Düsseldorf Airport this Sunday – and you’ll be right.

On Sunday, December 20, 2009 the Dusseldorf Airport is hosting an international Circus Festival with two stages and more 40 aerialists, roving performers and circus school graduates competing for prizes that include paid gigs, prize money, and trips on Lufthansa to the renowned World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow (Mondial du Cirque de Demain) in Paris.

It’s the first time the airport is hosting the Circus Festival, but the folks there seem up to the task: in the past the airport has also hosted an airport games event that included pole vault, long jump, and javelin throw competitions.

Categories: Contests, Environment, Events
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I was pretty sure the story about ANA (All Nippon Airways) asking passengers to pee before boarding – to help lighten the airplane’s, uh, load – was an offhand joke that went viral.

Especially when I couldn’t find anything about the campaign on the airline’s Web site.

But that was just because I can’t read Japanese.  An English version of the press release outlining the flush-before-you-fly program has now been released. And they’re not kidding: as part of a campaign to test out some environmentally-friendly strategies, the airline will indeed be asking passengers to empty their bladders before boarding.

During October, ANA will also be testing out some other “e-ideas” on a variety of domestic and international flights, including offering eco-focused in-flight merchandise and stepping up the in-flight recycling program.   Paper drinking cups and plastic drink bottles will be collected and recycled.  Passengers will also be given chopsticks made of recycled wood products and paper napkins blended with used green tea generated during the manufacturing of green tea drinks.

“Green tea,” notes the airline, “has antibacterial properties and a deodorizing effect, and also provides a pleasant scent for passengers.”

Categories: Air Travel, Airlines, Bathrooms, Environment
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Earth Hour, Earth Day and Earth Month may be over for this year, but the trend to go green is becoming a year-round thing at many airports.   Rare is the terminals that doesn’t at least have recycling bins these days.  And now many airports are embracing solar power and wind power.

My recent column in USAToday.com has a round-up of aiports generating some of their own juice.  Included: Denver International Airport, Fresno Yosemite International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Austin-Bergstrom Interrnational Airport, Long Beach Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and several others.

Here’s a link to the story: Solar Airports? It could happen.

7 acres of solar panels field at Denver International Airport

Categories: Energy, Environment
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