TreeHugging in Turkey: A look back

For the past four years, I've been blogging for TreeHugger.com about environmental issues, primarily in Turkey and the region, but also elsewhere in the world, following my interests in art, food, travel, urban planning, and other topics.

What passes for 'nature' in much of Istanbul.

In the main, the environmental news from Turkey has been distressing to follow: continual construction of destructive dams, stubborn plans to build a nuclear power plant in the face of earthquake threats, the tragic deaths of coal miners, and preventable flooding disasters, to name just a few.

Not that there haven't been some fun moments too (a cute little baby bear in a box! ice cream delivery by bike! translating Tarkan lyrics and calling it work!).

Most heartening, and rewarding, however, has been getting to know some of the people who are bucking the tide of unsustainable growth -- people developing eco-tourism options, helping others shop more responsibly, empowering consumers to learn about their food, designing green buildings, engaging in creative recycling, and planting permaculture gardens in the middle of the city.

In addition to providing an excuse to contact and meet all sorts of fascinating people, blogging for TreeHugger has also given me the opportunity to cover events such as the 5th World Water Forum and the London School of Economics' Urban Age conference; and the chance to raise the profile of places I care about – Istanbul, of course, but also Beirut, which I fell in love with on a 2010 visit, and Lake Urmia in Iran, where my grandfather originated and where I hope to travel someday. (It also let me occasionally indulge my nostalgia for San Francisco and baseball.) One of my posts got picked up by the popular tech site Boing Boing, while another led to an assignment for BBC Wildlife magazine.

Now, 656 blog posts later, my tenure as a TreeHugger correspondent is over due to changes at the site, though not my interest in covering these issues, of course. To mark the end of a little era, here's a baker's dozen worth of links to some of my favorite TreeHugger posts that I wrote about Turkey:

• A Green Bazaar for Istanbul (Oct. 18, 2008)
• Life Abroad, A Different Shade of Green (Dec. 14, 2008)
• Istanbul's Green-Design Innovators (March 7, 2009)
• Slideshow: A Year of Green, Seasonal Eating in Istanbul (July 24, 2009)
• Istanbul Chefs, Diners, and Fishermen Unite to Save Iconic Species from Extinction (May 9, 2010)
• Interview: Turkey's Scientist of the Year on Butterflies, Banding Birds, and Eco Tourism (Jan. 19, 2011)
• Clever Mobile Gardens for City with Too Little Green (Feb. 9, 2011)
• 'A Few Brave People' Fight to Protect Turkey's Black Sea Region from Destructive Dams (March 2, 2011)
• Remembering a Turkish Environmental Pioneer (March 4, 2011)
• In Turkey, Planting Trees In the Path of a Dam's Destruction (March 20, 2011)
• Istanbul: A City Growing in 'Overdrive' (April 16, 2011)
• Turkish Photographers Capture Climate Change (Nov. 12, 2011)
• Seeking Real Sustainability at Istanbul Film Festival (Dec. 2, 2011)

You can find my full archive of TreeHugger posts (for now, at least) on my contributor page.