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Thurston
Get Blog Posts As EmailsA quick recommendation: This Sunday, September 27th at 8pm on PBS is the premier of Ken Burns’ new documentary series called, “The Nation Parks: America’s Best Idea.” I’ve been following this for a few months now, and the scenes are breathtaking. Watch a short preview, here. In some uplifting news from the UN General Assembly, the [...]
Parks, Sharks, and The White House LEEDing the Way
September 25th, 2009 by Mark
Deforestation
September 23rd, 2009 by DavidThe provinces of Los Santos and Herrera are considered the heartland of Panama. Many Panamanians trace their roots to these strongholds of Spanish settlement. It is in these areas where ranchers and cowboys tend to their cattle, where the best tipico music and food originate, where some of the greatest sense of national pride is [...]
Vertical Green
September 22nd, 2009 by FrancesRecently I read about a very interesting vision of the future. One that sees traditional “soil-based” farming as unsustainable long-term, and puts forth the idea of urban “vertical” farming, or Sky Farms. Take a look at this op-ed piece by Dr. Dickson D. Despommier in the online New York Times here. Despommier has a book [...]
Torrejas de Maiz (Fried Corn Dough)
September 17th, 2009 by FrancesIn researching this Panamanian recipe I discovered that the word “torrejas” means different things in the many Latin American cultures. In Argentina, torrejas are french toast. In Honduras, torrejas is a baked dish of lady fingers soaked in syrup. But in Panama torrejas are a sweet dessert of fried dough made mostly from fresh corn. [...]
Kuna Yala
September 17th, 2009 by DavidThe San Blas islands, otherwise known as Kuna Yala, are an archipelago of over 350 islands dotting the northeast coastline of Panama. Many of the islands are uninhabited and some are less than an acre in area with just a couple of coconut trees garnishing them in the surrounding Caribbean water. Kuna Yala is inhabited [...]
Trump Ocean Club Rising
September 17th, 2009 by JerrodDriving into Panama City from the airport, I noticed a distinct shape emerging on the Punta Pacifica (a peninsula filled with towers that juts out into the Panama Bay). The shallow arc was that of the Trump Ocean Club rising, a 70-story condominium/hotel/condohotel/retail building. It is actually a surprisingly beautiful piece of architecture and should [...]
Press Release – Island Properties – An Inherently Ecological Land Form
September 14th, 2009 by FrancesCHICAGO, Sept. 11, 2009 — While real estate developers on the mainland often struggle with the economics of sustainable initiatives, island properties inherently lend themselves to environmentally responsible design. While not many island developers explore sustainability as a common sense strategy, there are some who are on the vanguard of sustainable practices – and reaping [...]
UPDATE: The Cove
September 11th, 2009 by MarkI posted a few days ago about a place known as The Cove in Japan, and how a documentary seemingly ended the towns annual slaughter of dolphins. In a bit of bad news those dolphin hunts have started again. It has been reported that a few days ago 50 pilot whales and 100 bottle-nose dolphins were rounded up. The [...]
Orchard, Beachgoers, and Sea Turtles…Oh My! Notes From the Island
September 10th, 2009 by JerrodThree days on Palenque have quickly come to an end as I get ready to pack up and head back to “civilization.” My days were mostly filled with the typical pre-construction on-site task: walking property. I was deciding the ideal location for a potential model villa and making sure the area where we will have [...]
Tree Climbing
September 9th, 2009 by DavidOn a trip to Costa Rica three years ago, I was taken on a jungle tour by an American expat biologist. He lived on the Osa Peninsula, not far from the Panamanian border and offered his diverse knowledge on the rainforest as his means of livelihood. I learned several interesting things on the trip and [...]