Malta is becoming the first smart grid island. Now comes an architectural plan to turn a whole Asian island into a zero-emissions eco-resort. Call it one massive brownfield reclamation project.

The Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG, wants to turn Azerbaijan’s Zira Island into a resort and residential complex that would produce the same amount of energy it consumes. Some towns have looked to become carbon neutral and eco-cities are under construction. BIG’s idea seems to match any of those ambitions.

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A colony of giant African bats has made a dramatic return from the brink of exctinction, thanks to a conservation drive discouraging people from eating them as delicacies.

As recently as 1989, the Pemba Flying Fox, one of Africa’s largest bat species, was critically endangered, with only a few individuals left on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania. Since an intervention by Flora and Fauna International (FFI), numbers have soared to a staggering 22,000.

According to conservation worker, Joy Juma, “At one time roast bat was a very common dish on Pemba. Now people value the bats for different reasons.”

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Dear Mr. DiCaprio,

If you haven’t heard, there are reports that several years ago you bought a “pristine” Caribbean Island in the Central American country of Belize. It’s been the subject of speculation for some time, and there are many reports and rumors that you plan to build a “green resort.”

Seeing as that I just came across another one of these stories today, I would like to offer you some unsolicited advice, Leo, if I might.

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Most scientists are now in agreement that global warming is happening, and that, in the not too distant future, we may all have to get used to living in a world of mass species exctinctions, population explosion, resource scarcity and rising oceans. The question on many people’s lips is, how will mankind adapt to this drastically different future world?

One possible solution to this dilemma has come from a collective of New York based artists, who have proposed a mass shift towards a waterborne, nomadic existence. In May 2009, the team will launch a new work called Waterpod, a floating eco-habitat designed to support a fully sustainable community (more pics after the jump).

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While California plans to use the same company, Better Place, to build a limited number of stations, Better Place will have some 50,000 to 100,000 spots to charge electric cars in Hawaii by 2011. The company will also buy renewable energy from Hawaii’s largest electricity company.

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On Monday, Nasheed told The Guardian that he would start setting aside some cash to buy a new homeland if he loses his to global warming. The money would come from the country’s tourism industry, which brings in a billion dollars annually, and would go into a sovereign wealth fund, reports Australia’s Age.com.

Australia is on the shortlist of possible real estate. So is India and Sri Lanka because they are like the Maldives culturally.

While out there, this may be the only reasonable idea for the island country that doesn’t have the political backing to have much say in international global warming policy. The other option, according to the old Maldives president, is to build a wall around the island. But apparently that’s more expensive than relocating an entire country.

This is most definitely an adaptation strategy - the Maldives are looking beyond merely stopping carbon emissions. But small countries may not have any choice anymore.

Is it time for drastic action like this? Or will this drastic action put a stop to mitigation techniques because politicians will just look for the easy way out (if moving a homeland can be considered the easy way!)?

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Photo Credit: naxief at Flickr under a Creative Commons License

Solar System Powers Donggwang Green Village on Semi-Tropical Jeju Island

Donggwang is on the western half of Jeju-do, the largest of South Korea’s semi-tropical southern islands. Near the village, Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea, rises from the island’s center amidst a patchwork of small farms.

Donggwang has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.

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