Eco Friendly Resort Development
75
As part of my professional career as a blogger, I write the luxury property blog, and one of the things I have an interest in is environmentally friendly developments. Some time ago I was asked to produce a press release for a company called Ravenspur investments, who are apparently developing a supposedly eco-friendly resort in Belize called “Palmetto Bay.”
When I first published their press release, I was horrified at the amount of negative comments I got from readers telling that this was in no way environmentally friendly. I then contacted the developers and asked for some information to back up their claims. No response.
The next time I heard from them was another request to publish a press release. I refused unless they could provide me with some substantiation. After numerous emails – I got nowhere. Which leads me to believe I was sold a pup. I have left the post up – along with all the negative comments. But this got me thinking as to how many other so called “environmentally friendly,” developments are nothing of the sort.
This one appears to be going ahead against the wishes of many local inhabitants and I guess the real question I want to ask (and I welcome any comments on this) is – Is it possible to have an environmentally-friendly resort development in such an out of the way place?
Let’s face it – the environmental cost of transporting the necessary building equipment, concrete etc must be fairly high. And the very fact that almost every visitor to the resort will have to travel a substantial distance must surely out-weight the “savings,” of building a “green” resort. And I use the terms loosely.
I have a feeling that much of this “green,” development is just another case of jumping on the bandwagon. I mean this one is planned ti have a 36 condo development on only 400 meters of land. According to the comments I got – it was originally going to be only three storeys tall, but when the plans were unveiled it had grown to six and all the surrounding properties are single storey homes. And also – no Environmental Impact Assessment has been done – which is supposed to be a prerequisite for any development in Belize. I guess the art of backsheesh is as alive and well in Belize as it is anywhere in the world.
Feel free to let me know what you think. I won’t delete any comments.
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
If you are going to stop by and leave an inane comment - the least you could do is read it lol
Not knowing the details of the development makes it difficult to comment constructively but I do know from my studies of the subject that achieving an eco-friendly project is a very delicate balancing act.
There are a lot of people with strong opinions on this subject who are very quick to point out the shortfalls of any development parading as eco-friendly and because of the complex nature of the processes sorting out whether the scales fall on the side of eco or not can prove to be pretty difficult.
Just getting the general public to accept reasonable conclusions can be even more difficult especially for projects on their patch so to speak.
I must admiit to being a little confused. I have had difficulty finding the environmental costs of doing a resort like this in the first place. What really triggered my skeptiscism is the fact that the developer could not provide me with any sort of information to substantiate the claim.
Thanks for the input :)
Any manmade developement will impact the environment negatively in some way., some worse than others. Our hope is to do it ith the elast negative effect isn't it? good job Mark in catching it. Good luck with the hugchallenge now
Thanks CC - Yes - I just question calling this eco friendly :)
Maybe someone should explain to them what eco friendly means . Obviously, this is a halfhearted attempt on their part. Profits first---right.
I don't know what eco friendly means :(
If a place needs to be eco friendly it must not cause damage or drastic change to the ecocyle in existance in the area. Unfortunately most resorts are unlikely to be anything like that. So having an eco friendly resort is all eye wash.
That was the conclusion I had come to :)
Thanks.
A huge development was proposed on 26 sq km of arid land in the east of Crete. The 'Cavo Sidero' project has caused much concern and debate on the island. How can 3 golf courses, 5 villages and a marina be marketed as 'eco - friendly' and 'in harmony with its environment' in an upsoilt part of an island which is in danger of desertification?!
Some info on this, with a photo of this area, plus comments on the 'measurability' (or lack of) of eco- tourism in general here:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/travel/19head
Regarding the Crete project - the Greek Ministry of Tourism have supported the project throughout,(money talks) but more recently the local Crete Council of State declared the Ministry's 2007 approval of the environmental impact study illegal and have blocked the project for now.
Completely agree with cashmere's comments.
Thanks Carolina - I think we are all being sold a pup on these "eco" developments.
Any development that doesn't use local natural materials could never be considered environmentally friendly. Look to Five Sisters Lodge or Blancaneaux Lodge as better examples of "eco-friendly" resort development, which I suppose is an oxymoron if there ever was one.
I happen to know the resort in Southern Belize you are taking about. The eco- friendly aspects as I understand it has to do with waste management, rain water collection for flushing of toilets and replenishing the pool, all sinks and bathub waters aere used for plant maintenance, the use of local building materials, geothermal cooling, and no chemicals on the development. You have jumped to some very negative conclusions. I visited, was impressed and am now thinking of purchasing 2 units. The negative comments are from a neighbour who feels that no development is acceptable because he went there to retire. Sounds like sour grapes and you are buying into it. Visit the site and talk to the other buyers and the developer before jumping on the down with development band wagon. You seem more intelligent than that.
No - if you read what I wrote, I asked the developers and promoters several times to back up their claims with some information. Absolutely none was forthcoming so I did not "jump to any conclusions," and there are no "sour grapes" on my part. I would have been quite happy if there had been some information given.
Still, if you can explain in more detail I will be only to happy to edit it or write another piece. Perhaps if you gave me some actual infpormation instead of this "as I understand it" stuff?
As for jumping on a band wagon - I would say much of our current economic mess has been caused by over-development. I am all for environmentally friendly development but am getting a little sick of the overuse of this term with nothing to back it up.
As I also mentioned, no Environmental Impact Assessment has been done. Why not?
Great article, great questions. I work in the eco-building industry. We are experiencing huge growth because everyone wants to get in on the GREEN bandwagon. Our company has been doing this for 15 years. The rush for Green and greenbacks is helping us to change the world. So even if their motivations are wrong, the good news is that some people are changing the way they think and where their money goes.
nms says:
7 months ago
wow!..what a project! now technology is turning to be very eco-friendly, we must encourage..