Lily Cole is showing that wearing sneakers can not only be stylish but good for the environment, too. The English model has partnered with the French eco brand Veja to release a new line of sneakers made with fair trade work and without destroying the rainforest.

The sneakers come in three different styles, feature Amazon inspired designs, and are made with wild Amazon rubber. The Brazilian rainforest is the only place on the planet where rubber trees grow in the wild. Their sap is known as “liquid latex” and can be extracted by tapping the tree instead of cutting them down.

“The survival of the rainforest depends on managing its resources,” explained Cole of her shoe line, which uses that tapped sap to make its soles. “With all eyes of Brazil this summer, my collection not only taps into the SS14 flat shoe trend, but also shows how wild Amazonian rubber can be used to make desirable products for people’s everyday lives.”

The tree tappers are paid fairly so it is in their interest to keep the trees standing. This is part of the Sky Rainforest Rescue, a partnership with WWF, to protect one billion trees in Brazil. Cole is an ambassador for Sky and visited the Amazon rainforest in 2012.

“During my trip to the Amazon, I saw firsthand the crucial part that Sky Rainforest Rescue plays in creating demand for wild Amazonian rubber for companies like Veja, and making the rainforest worth more standing,” she said.

The limited edition sneakers will be sold online and at English retailers Selfridges, in London and Manchester, and Topshop, on Oxford Street. Prices range between £55 and £65 and £10 of every pair sold will be donated to the Amazon tappers, equipping them with six more taps and allowing them to keep those trees standing. – Natalia Galbetti

This article originally appears on Ecorazzi

Ecorazzi covers news and gossip on celebrities and notables in support of the environment and humanitarian causes. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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It’s a Start: Zoological Park of Paris Eliminates Elephant and Bear Exhibits

Image: mrvmedia

The post Lily Cole is Standing Up for the Amazon with a Custom Eco Shoe Line appeared first on EcoSalon.

Big breasts equal bigger results for women in the bedroom, according to a new study from Brazil.

Brazilian researchers have found that much like their breasts, a woman’s sex life is given a substantial lift after getting big breasts via implant surgery. The study is based on a whopping – get this – 45 women who underwent the surgery (not exactly a representative sample) It gets worse: their sex lives improved only if they didn’t end up with stretch marks after the surgery.

Researcher Dr. Paulo Guimaraes and his colleagues had the women fill out a questionnaire pre-surgery, and then again two, four and 18 months post-op to gauge their sexual desire, arousal and satisfaction. The ladies (sans stretch marks) reported they were, in fact, more satisfied with their sex lives after getting the big breasts.

I’m not ridiculing any woman who has gotten or plans on getting breast implants – it’s your right, it’s your body, and I fully support any decision that makes a woman feel empowered. But let’s be serious – who’s sex life are big breasts really improving? Especially if you’re a woman who ends up with side effects from the surgery, such as nipple numbness or shooting pains – sure, your big breasts look great, but will you even know what’s going on down there?

According to Dr. David Reath, who’s on the public education committee of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS):

When I see patients and follow up, a lot of them will say, ‘My husband and I or my boyfriend and I are having a lot of fun.’

Um, yeah, because their husband/boyfriend has new toys to play with! I can seriously picture his inner 5-year-old screeching, “Boobies!” and then honking them Fisher Price-style.

While I’m sure big breasts deliver a boost of confidence that may rev up your inner sex kitten, I can’t help but feel bad for the nine poor women from the study who ended up with stretch marks: Are they back to doing it with the lights out – partially to hide the new thing they’re self-conscious about and to save on electricity since their investment has racked up their credit cards?

These “findings” about big breasts are being presented at the ASPS’ annual meeting. Oh, but don’t worry, the findings are only “preliminary” until they’re published in a peer-reviewed journal. I’ll bet my entire life savings – three dollars and 17 cents, plus the change in my couch – that this big breasts study was really put together by the laboratory equivalent of Al Bundy.

So there you have it: I thought the most ridiculous thing I’d learn about this week was Vanilla Ice going Amish, but that theory’s been blown right out of the silicone.

Sources:
Do Breast Implants Boost Women’s Sex Lives?
Breast implants may improve women’s sex lives, study suggests

Related on EcoSalon:

The Breasts Are All Right

The Flaw of the Bra: Health Hazards of Bouncing Breasts

Yep, It’s Really All About the Breasts

Image: Jeremiah Wong

The post The Key to Amping Up Your Sex Life? Big Breasts, Apparently [Study] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Has Melissa earned its eco-friendly reputation?

In the sustainable fashion world, Brazilian shoe brand Melissa has attracted a cult following among women searching for shoes that are stylish, comfortable, and eco-friendly. Not since the jelly shoe craze of the 1980s have shoe fiends embraced PVC footwear with such gusto.

According to its vendors and fans, Melissa shoes are non-toxic, hypo-allergenic, cruelty-free, and vegan. However, little official information exists to back up Melissa’s environmental claims. Does Melissa deserve its eco-friendly reputation?

An investigation into Melissa shoes is actually an investigation into Grendene, the brand’s Brazilian parent company and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of injection-molded plastic footwear. Grendene’s brands include Ipanema, Rider, Grendha, and Melissa, and its thirteen factories employ approximately 20,000 people. The Melissa brand is guided by research-and-development lead Edson Matsuo, and much of its success has come from high-profile collaborations with designers, architects, and celebrities like Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Zaha Hadid, and Gisele Bunchen.

The Good

According to the company’s 2006 annual report, sustainability and innovation are at the heart of Grendene’s operations.

More than a concept, sustainable design is everyday experience instilled into the company’s DNA. Based on the Business-Society-Environment triad, the purpose is to create synergy that all parts of this triad can benefit from.

Grendene states that 99 percent of its industrial residues are recycled, and that other waste is reprocessed, recycled, or disposed of responsibly. According to the report, the company adopts a closed circuit approach to water use, and it has its own onsite sewage treatment systems.

One major way that Grendene embraces sustainability is through its mono-material injection-molding manufacturing process, which results in shoes that are easy to disassemble and recycle. Some Melissa stores host events where customers can bring back old shoes to trade in and recycle.

The Bad

Melissa shoes are made from Melflex, a particular type of PVC which was developed and patented by Grendene. Grendene states that the technology it employs for PVC development is “the most sustainable and ecologically correct in the world market.” But is PVC necessarily a sustainable material?

The opinion is split. Environmental groups like Greenpeace argue that PVC is the most environmentally damaging of all plastics. According to the group, toxic chlorine-based chemicals are released at every stage of PVC’s production, use, and disposal, resulting in health problems like cancer, immune system damage, and hormone disruption. A report from the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University expands on these claims:

PVC poses hazards to human health over the course of its life cycle. PVC production exposes workers and communities to vinyl chloride and other toxic substances. PVC products such as medical equipment and children’s toys can leach toxic additives during their useful life. Vinyl building materials release hydrochloric acid fumes if they catch fire, and burning PVC creates byproducts including dioxin, a potent carcinogen.

Melissa’s website, on the other hand, claims that PVC is “one of the most sustainable thermoplastics available” and that Melflex is “versatile, durable, totally reusable and extremely environmentally friendly.” Grendene’s annual report states that “when disposed of, (PVC shoes) can be entirely recycled, burned for recovery of energy, or even sent to landfills, since they do not contaminate the soils or water tables.”

However, neither Melissa nor Grendene provide any specific information proving that its PVC is less harmful than the types of PVC attacked by environmental groups.

The Questionable 

While Melissa shoes may be cruelty-free and recyclable, they are still made from a material that is synthetic, controversial, and reportedly harmful to the environment. Grendene may claim that its PVC is eco-friendly, but without a public body of evidence, it’s impossible to evaluate if the claim is true or not.

In my opinion, the greatest sustainability element of Melissa shoes is their ability to… well, sustain. EcoSalon’s Editor-in-Chief raves that she has had her Melissas for years, yet they still look like new and retain their distinct bubblegum scent (which we’re guessing doesn’t come from nature). Another friend and EcoSalon contributor has worn her Melissas through nearly a decade of international work and travel.

Melissas are built to last, which is sustainable because it prevents the need for additional shoe purchases. But as for the eco-friendliness of their product lifecycle? Until Melissa and Grendene release more information, we can’t know for sure.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One for One Campaign

Behind the Label: Puma’s Vision and Clever Little Bag

Behind the Label: Timberland’s CSR After the VF Merger

Read more Behind the Label here.

The post Behind The Label: The Sustainability Claims Behind Melissa Shoes appeared first on EcoSalon.

Every day is better with a new track. 

Bonde do Role – “Bang feat. Kool A.D. of Das Racist” by Life or Death PR

Every day we bring you one track for a little musical inspiration. Have a track you want to submit? Email us at contact@ecosalon.com.

Image: nahright

The post Daily Track: Bang featuring Kool A.D. – Bonde do Role appeared first on EcoSalon.

Get ready for Rio+20 by dressing in these picks from some of Brazil’s top eco-designers.

As Rio+20 – the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – kicks off this week, thousands of game changers in the sustainability world will flock to Brazil. We do hope that good things come out of it. The one thing we know for sure is that we want to look the part while discussing how to create the future we all want. What better way to do that than by wearing these picks from some of Brazil’s foremost eco-designers.

Osklen Calca Fem Colour Shine Casual Jeans
These light blue jeans will look great with everything this summer. Pair them with bright colors fun a fun summery vibe or add a flowy white top for a more toned-down look. Oskar Metsavaht, designer of Osklen is one of the most influential voices of Brazilian design and a pioneer of the country’s new luxury movement, using the most innovative high-tech eco-fabrics in his collections. As a long-term environmental thinker, Metsavaht is also the founder of the non-profit e-Institute, dedicated to raising awareness for sustainable human development.
Approx. $194, Osklen

Thin Coconut Bangles by Wild Berry
Handmade by artisans in Brazil, from scrap materials generated in the processing of juices from fruits in the Amazon, these carved coconut bangles are a great addition to your summer wardrobe. Wear them to the beach with a colorful bikini or pair them with a formal dress for one of those summer parties.
$7.99 for a set of three, Wild Berry

Bikini by G Dias Swim
We can’t talk about Brazil and not include a bikini, can we? Local girls seems to live in them and the country does have a high rate of swimsuit models per capita. It seems only fitting that one of them – Gabriela Dias has created her own line, which celebrates the female figure and has both bikinis and one-pieces in vibrant colors with unexpected details. Dias is committed to ecological and social responsibility, and carefully hand-selects all fabrics, and all suits are handmade in Brazil by skilled local artisans in certified facilities.
The Perfect Cup & The Low Riser, G Dias Swim

Osklen Psychedelic Backpack
The backpack is hotter than ever, and what better carry-all to bring with you when exploring all that Rio has to offer (besides high-level UN-discussions). Designed by Oskar Metsavaht of Osklen, this one has a practical, utilitarian shape and a colorful psychedelic pattern that is sure to turn heads.
Approx. $487, Osklen

Melissa + Campana Papel Flats
This latest collaboration between the Campana Brothers and Melissa has double Brazilian appeal as both the famous designer duo and the shoe brand hail from there. The model is inspired by the Campana brothers’ paper creations (“papel” means paper). The bronzy color works with almost everything and looks really great against tan summer skin. Melissa shoes are sustainably crafted in Brazil from MELFLEX, a technologically advanced injected thermoplastic that easily molds to feet for the most comfortable fit around, and they’re totally hypoallergenic, water-resistant and recyclable.
$88, Kaight

Ecotece Butterfly T-shirt
This hand-embroidered T-shirt is made from 50% recycled PET and 50% cotton and features a butterfly patchwork print that is unique for each tee. The Ecotece institute was founded by São Paulo-based journalist Ana Candida Zanesco in an effort to inspire people to dress more consciously. The butterfly represents transformation, the cycles of life and the constant new beginnings. How fitting for a summit on sustainable development.
$47, Ecotece

Ecotece Paste Retece Necklace
Also by Ecotece, this colorful necklace would look great worn to the beach along with a bikini. But, of course, you could also use it to spice of a simple outfit. Made from scrap materials by female artisans who are part of Projecto Retece, a cooperative that provides a safe, sustainable source of income for these women. 100% of proceeds from the sale of this piece goes toward supporting Projecto Retece.
$21, Ecotece

Escama Studio Chica Rosa Pop Top Mini Clutch
This fun mini clutch now comes in a range of new colors, including a delicious bright orange. It’s hand crocheted with over 200 post-consumer recycled pop tops and each piece comes with a hang tag bearing the signature of the person who made it (you can also read more about them on the website). If you would like to send a thank you note, click the email icon and they will translate your message into Portuguese and forward it on. The artists work in co-ops outside of Brasília, Brazil. which offers women and men in the community a means to earn a living wage through handicrafts and provide a setting where friends are made and self-esteem is regained.
$46, Escama Studio

The post Ready for Rio appeared first on EcoSalon.

A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

It’s a great week for attractive opportunists looking to make a little money off the internet. Whether you’re looking to become a globetrotting escort or just sexually harass Tim Tebow. Just make sure you give Egypt a miss on your world tour for now (it’ll make sense below, we promise).

5: U.S. Embassy employees currently facing a lawsuit for allegedly running over a Brazilian sex worker after a financial dispute

83: age of the woman whose cadaver was used in a recent Polish medical study claiming to have discovered the G-spot

$1 million: amount AshleyMadison.com is offering to any woman who can prove she has bedded virginal football player Tim Tebow

343: participants in the world’s largest speed dating event, held over a two-and-a-half hour period at the University of South Florida

55: number of participants who dropped out during the event

100% free: Price of a membership at MissTravel.com for “attractive men and women,” which pairs “Attractive” travelers with “Generous” ones

12 inches: “approximate” length of a pink sex toy a New York woman used to assault a police officer trying to resolve a domestic disturbance complaint

28%: growth in interracial marriages between 2000 and 2010, according to a recently published study of Census data

6: hours after death it would remain legal for a man to sleep with his deceased wife, according to a proposed Egyptian bill known as the “Farewell Intercourse” law

Image: Linh.m.Do

The post Sex by Numbers: A Last Hurrah appeared first on EcoSalon.

In his Chronicles of Peru, Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León marveled,” And to think that God should have permitted something so great to remain hidden from the world for so long in history, unknown to men, and then let it be found, discovered and won all in our own time!”

Latin America continues to inspire shock and awe in voyagers, though now they’re more of the backpacking than the stake-in-the-ground variety. Whether it’s rocky mountains, brilliant beaches, charming colonial towns, or rugged cowboys you’re after, you’re likely to find it in the countries of Central and South America.

(above) Volcan Arenal, Costa Rica

Valles Calchaquíes, Argentina

Soriano, Uruguay

Cartagena, Colombia

Salvador de Bahía, Brazil

Goff’s Caye, Belize

Pacific Coast, Costa Rica

Volcán Mombacho, Nicaragua

Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil

Ruta 40, Chile

Armero, Colombia

Machu Picchu, Peru

Lago Suchitlan, El Salvador

Antigua, Guatemala

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Cordillera Province, Chile

Camino al Monte Roraima, Venezuela

Rio de la Plata, Argentina

Montevideo, Uruguay

Ica, Peru

La Paz, Bolivia

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Los Altares, Chubut, Argentina

Perito Moreno, El Calafate, Argentina

Laguna Hedionda, Bolivia

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Chile

Mt. Humboldt, Venezuela

Concón, Chile

Amazonas, Brazil

Tenorio National Park, Costa Rica

Gamboa, Panama

La Colmena, Paraguay

Caye Caulker, Belize

Canchis, Peru

Montevideo, Uruguay

Curitiba, Brazil

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Roatan, Honduras

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

SEE ALSO:

40 Gorgeous Photos of Europe

40 Gorgeous Photos of North America

25 Photos of Islands Threatened By Climate Change

40 Gorgeous Photos of Asia

The post 40 Gorgeous Photos of Latin America appeared first on EcoSalon.

Thanksgiving is for lots of things – feasting on turkey or vegetarian alternatives with family, watching or tolerating football, and if you’re celebrating it in the U.S., contemplating the origins of the country. European colonists here learned and gained a great deal from Native Americans, yet not how to live in harmony without ownership and abuse of land.

Appropriately, all week the topic of land ownership has been heating up the blogosphere. Why? Contrasting concepts.

First, two tax breaks that make it easier, economically, for U.S. property owners to dedicate their land to a trust, thereby protecting it from potentially damaging development could expire if they’re not refreshed by Congress by the year’s end: The Conservation Easement Incentive Act; and the Rural Heritage Conservation Extension Act.

Second, there have been new reports circulating about the way protected lands are profitable, especially for nations that are growing or emerging in the “green tourism” market.

Russell Shay, the director of public policy for the Land Trust Alliance in D.C., an organization that lobbies for conservation-friendly policies, and solicits donations of private land to public trusts, nationwide, cautions free market enthusiasts: “The benefit of protecting natural resources should not be measured in dollars. Even if green tourism is important to the economy.”

In order to get people to protect land in the U.S., Shay says, financial incentives (like tax breaks) aren’t big enough compared to the money sellers here can get from a juicy real estate deal. The extreme example can be seen in Napa Valley, he notes:

“In Napa, you have the most valuable agricultural land. People prize the grapes grown there. The money an agricultural landowner could get there translates to about $45,000 an acre. But then people will spend $700,000 an acre or more to buy it for residential use, to build a house on it.”

Is Shay right, or can the worth of protected land in the U.S. be measured in dollars? Link, learn, and comment below!

BASIC READING:

“Investment in the protection of Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve is generating an annual of income of close to US$50 million a year, has generated 7,000 jobs and boosted local family incomes…” – A SustainableBusiness.com feature

“Brazilian states give 25% of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) to cities. Some municipalities allocate 5% of these funds for environmental preservation projects…” – A story on Brazil’s green taxation practices via World Resources Institute

“Conservation easements allow a landowner to voluntarily sell or donate the development rights of their property to a not-for-profit land trust group. By placing land into a conservation easement, owners can continue to farm and hunt the land, but they forgo ever subdividing the land for residential or commercial use…But, it’s not for everyone.” – A A news item in NewWest.net by Dan Testa

FURTHER RESOURCES:

“An amazing 261 Representatives from all 50 states – including majorities of both parties – have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 1831! Senate legislation, S. 812, now has 38 co-sponsors”¦” – A news brief in Citizenlink.org

“There is [a] belief that there are some species of birds which are only found in Sierra Leone, and for which tourists could spend millions just to come and see”¦While other countries continue to make inroads into making tourism a profitable venture, we are yet to come out of our usual concept of tourism as a non profit endeavor.” – EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and business highlights by Lora Kolodny.

Image: fmc.nikon.d40

The post EcoMeme: Land Con$ervation appeared first on EcoSalon.

My old college bud, Kenny Scharf, is arguably the original green artist – a brilliant guy from L.A. who began his career nabbing trash from the streets of Manhattan and embellishing old appliances with his phantasmagorical, Fifties-inspired, squiggly creatures and symbols.

Working alongside East Village graffiti muralists like Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat, his uproariously spacey icons were quickly embraced by Andy Warhol and other enthusiasts with clout. He quickly rose to the ranks of artist superstar.

Scharf  conveyed his erumpent celeb status to me when I caught up with him back in 1984. I was covering festivals and parades during my first big break as a TV reporter in Central Pennsylvania.

“I’m really big now, Luanne,” he informed me. “I mean really big.”

Oh, yeah? Well, I just downed my 10th funnel cake at another Keystone country shindig, so there!

A few decades later, the prolific, globally-acclaimed pop star is still doing what he does best: painting, scavenging beaches for trash for his sculptures, performing at his recycled Brooklyn live-work space and enjoying the fanfare of a new retrospective book, Kenny Scharf by Rizzoli.

Oh, and another thing he’s still doing – riding his bike instead of driving whenever possible. It’s been his favorite mode of transport for the past 30 years. In fact, he was riding with cell in ear when I caught up with him, yet again, huffing only so slightly. Quite admirable for 51.

“I ride my bike everywhere,” he says. “I live in Brooklyn and ride over the bridge and back, sometimes twice a day. Why drive a few blocks when you can walk or ride?”

His biking is admirable not only for cutting fuel emissions, but also for keeping him as fit as the new crop of young artists who form his entourage in New York. They include Daniel Heidkamp, who encouraged Scharf to lend his magic to one of the many empty commercial storefronts hit by the recession.

Landlords have been luring in artists to keep up appearances in the darkened spaces with that edgy, gallery feel. According to the New York Times, the goal is to deter crime while attracting tenants who can afford the rent. Scharf agreed to be part of a group show in one of these pop-up galleries, finding it exciting to be part of the scene.

“I said I didn’t have work I could donate, but I could do something directly on the wall like a spray painting,” he told me. “I will do that pretty much anywhere. So I did my spray painting and there was a photographer and a reporter from the New York Times waiting for me there.”

The unexpected coverage boosted the opening of the show, entitled ‘Too Big to Fail: Big Paintings’.

“I went and it was nice, like a bunch of 20-something artists,” he says. “I liked the work and to be part of the youngsters [scene].”

I assured him he’s still a youngster, too. After all, I still sense a wide-eyed wonder in his current work that merges organic earth elements with sensual, knobby creatures in the perspective of a damaged Cable Guy way over-exposed to TV Land stimuli. The familiarity of his fantasies make us laugh as we drink in the irony and nostalgia.

,

Today, the high-energy Scharf divides his time between homes in Brazil and NYC.

He enjoyed a recent show of his paintings (above) and sculptures at the Honor Fraser Gallery in Venice, Ca. At home in Brooklyn, he lives in a basement studio called the Cosmic Cavern A-Go-Go, which moonlights as a psychedelic nightclub for parties and performance art.

“I have been working with garbage and refuse for all these years, and the Cavern is made out of found objects from the street that I pull in and decorate,” he explains.

The Cavern attracts a following of young visionaries (like the space Cadette with Kenny, below) eager to talk trash with the painter and celebrate his lighthearted sensibilities.

“We have actual performances when the music stops playing,” Scharf tells me about the club. “People appear as art objects and they go all out. It’s about being inclusive and everyone being allowed to be a part of it.”

The lucky patrons who come unadulterated get a quick Scharfian make-over.

“I just paint their faces,” he says. “Then they sweat it off dancing.”

Guess we can’t really call that sustainable craft, but the artist himself is enduring longer than most of his peers, many of whom passed on years ago from AIDS (like Haring).

“I miss my dead friends very much, but I’m used to not having them around,” Scharf says.

Instead, he surrounds himself with their art (he used to trade his for theirs) and his golden memories, while forging ahead in a brave, new and green world. A world where the resourceful painter is as much at home in Orbit City as George Jetson.

“I’ve been an eco-artist for a long time,” he tells me. “Though I’m not some puritan. I use spray paint; I take airplanes; I make sculptures out of resin when I need to, but I’m very conscious of it.”

I believe you, Kenny. You are really big and you are really conscious. Anyway, it’s not easy to spray paint with vegetable dye and ride a bike to Brazil. But if you could, you would.

Main Image: New York Times

Image One: Kenny Scharf

Image Two: RizzoliUsa

Image Three: Honor Fraser Gallery

Images Three, Four, Five : Kenny Scharf

The post Original Green Artist Kenny Scharf – Still Basking in the Limelight appeared first on EcoSalon.

Debate is raging over Rio De Janeiro’s proposed eco-barriers designed, according to officials, to protect its endangered Atlantic coast forest.

There’s no question that the Atlantic forest, which has over 20,000 plant species, 950 bird species and more than two dozen Critically Endangered vertebrate species, needs protecting. More than 90 percent of the forest has already disappeared over the past hundred years – initially due to coffee and sugarcane plantations and later, to urbanization.

But the building of the huge concrete walls (up to 10 feet in some places) as “eco-barriers'” to contain urban sprawl is seen by critics  not as a means of protecting the forest but a strategy for walling in and containing the city’s favelas (slums).

The wall critics argue that the eco-barriers are a cover for cleaning up the city in preparation for the World Cup in 2014 and the possibility of the city hosting the Olympics in 2016.

Officials, however, say that’s simply not the case. What remains of Brazil’s Atlantic forest needs to be protected and eco-barriers appear to be the best and easiest way to do this.

Construction of the controversial concrete walls began in March, but so far only a few hundred yards have been completed.

Meanwhile, at least one city neighbourhood, the Rocinha favela, has come up with an alternative solution that both residents and local officials are happy with. Instead of a high concrete wall, Rocinha’s eco-barrier will take the form of a park, complete with nature paths and community space.

It remains to be seen whether this alternative solution could also be created at the other 12 designated locations that the local officials have determine require barriers. After all, it sounds like a much more environmentally friendly way to deal with protecting the forest.

Further reading about this fascinating debate can be found at the Christian Science Monitor‘s bright green blog.

Image: Rocinha aerial view courtesy skyscrapercity

The post Rio De Janeiro’s Eco Barriers: Protecting the Environment or Hiding the Slums? appeared first on EcoSalon.