Danhostel Ribe

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Archive for category Sustainable Tourism

Danhostel Ribe strives for a greener community

6 July 2011 6:04 PM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Sustainable Tourism | 1 Comment

This article was published for all Hi Hostel owners and staff in the world and brought in a shorter version on HI News on Hi Hostel‘s homepage and mentioned on HI-Sustainability (HI Hostel’s green Facebook) – we think you should also have the possibility to read all of it :

Danhostel Ribe in Denmark is working with its neighbours and the surrounding community on a proposed solar energy project, ‘RIBE SOL’. If the project is approved by parliament, it will significantly reduce their CO2 emissions and be much more cost-effective in the long term, helping their town become greener.

The hostel is already certified with the Green Key label and is working on the ‘RIBE SOL’ project with its neighbour, Rio (Ribe Jernindustri), which is a huge factory that produces radiators. Both the hostel and Rio have land in the Wadden Sea National Park nearby and it’s great to see a manufacturing company and a hostel working together to help make the town greener.

Danhostel Ribe, RIO (Ribe Jernindustri) and part of the Wadden Sea National Park seen from top of the Cathedral

Danhostel Ribe, RIO (Ribe Jernindustri) and part of the Wadden Sea National Park seen from top of the Cathedral

Recently a small delegation went to the Danish parliament to have a meeting with its Energy Committee about the proposed project. The meeting had been suggested by one of the 2 local members of parliament, who fully support the project.

The ‘RIBE SOL’ project has received some great publicity so far to help the cause. Michael Boel, the Director of Rio, was interviewed by the town’s biggest local radio station following the meeting and the project was also mentioned on other radio stations too.

Here are some facts about the project: 

  • Size: 28000 m2 of the roof on Rio 
  • 10000 m2 solar panels (5000 m2 solar collectors for heating and 5000 m2 solar cells for electricity) 
  • Investment: 30.000.000 d.kr. (3.529.478,22 £) 

If the project does go ahead, it will produce 55% of the heat and 20% of the electricity for Rio and Danhostel Ribe, reducing their CO2 emissions by 870 tonnes every year. This is the equivalent of 360 cars (Ford Ka) driving 20,000 km a year or a car going around the earth 180 times! Ribe seen from the road around town. On the left Danhostel Ribe and Rio

Aalborg University in Esbjerg is also involved in the project. Their aim is to create a big research programme to collect more information on solar energy, which will in turn help the development of solar technology. This is important research, which will help gain further knowledge on the amount of PV solar cells used for bigger industries.

‘RIBE SOL’ is a unique project, which would significantly help the development of green energy. If you have any questions about it, please contact the Danhostel Ribe Hostel Manager, Jens Philipsen at ribe@danhostel.dk.

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Wadden Sea National Park. One of 100 places to go before they disappear

24 April 2011 6:55 PM

Posted by admin in Sustainable Tourism, Wadden Sea National Park | No Comments

Wadden Sea National Park, Ribe, DenmarkBoth Yahoo! News and Danhostel Ribe celebrated Earth Day by mentioning the Wadden Sea National Park in Denmark – though we did it in different ways.

At Danhostel Ribe we celebrated it by giving free bicycle rent and a map of the Wadden Sea National Park to all our facebook friends that visited us on the 22th – Earth Day. We had just bought 30 new bicycles, so we thought this was a fine way to celebrate both the day and the bikes – and at the same time let our guests experience this fantastic nature just outside our door.

 

Yahoo! News  celebrated Earth Day by interviewing Gaute Hogh, publisher of the book 100 Places to Go Before They Disappear.
The Wadden Sea in Denmark was the first place that came to Hogh’s mind of the 100 places to go before they disseapear. The Wadden Sea is a low-lying coastal zone in Denmark where visitors can “walk on water” to see varied landscapes and migratory birds. Hogh fears what the rising sea levels will do to this place and its dynamic ecosystem.

 
At the hostel and in Ribe we know about this fear. We have seen the water level rise and the meadow outside the hostel being flooded. We have experienced the water level being almost at the top of the dikes at the Wadden Sea Coast in 1999 – and the only reason that we were not flooded was that the storm surge came by low tide. Had it come a few hours later by high tides our town – not only the meadow but also the streets and houses in Ribe town had been flooded.
So YES come and see the Wadden Sea before it disappears, but better: Listen to Gaute Hogh’s message so that we can enjoy this beautiful place also in the future:
“The whole purpose of this book was to show my children the effects of climate change,” Hogh says. “People usually show someone suffering and I wanted to show the positive side of it: If we don’t do anything, we’ll lose some of these beautiful 100 places.”Danhostel Ribe when the meadow is flooded
“One of my missions with the book is to show teenagers, if you don’t turn off the water or turn down the heat, these places will disappear,” Hogh says.  “They may say, ‘Why should I do this?’ But if I show them these pictures, they start to see it another way.”

At Danhostel Ribe we were happy to notice that the interview sent a lot of people to our article about the Wadden Sea the last couple of days. We hope to see some of them at the hostel :-)
The photo left shows the hostel when the meadow is flooded.

The blog travelandleisure mentions some of the 100 places and ask for more ways to celebrate Earth Day – but you could also comment on this article.

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Earth Hour 2011 at Danhostel Ribe in Denmark

14 March 2011 12:12 PM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Ribe, Sustainable Tourism | No Comments

earth_hour_2011_ribeFor the 4th year in a row Danhostel Ribe turns out the lights on Earth Hour the 26th of March from 8.30pm-9.30pm.
Also the streets in Ribe, the oldest town In Denmark will be dark.
Earth Hour is the world’s largest  environmental event.
This year we will serve free coffee, tea and homemade cookies at Danhostel Ribe. The tea is our new “Danhostel Ribe’s Green Tea” made especially for the hostel in 2011 by the famous Danish tea house “Carstensens Tehandel” in Aabenraa.  The coffee will be organic and traceable from the farmer to your cup.
As an EnergyMetropolis – Municipality of Esbjerg will off course also take part in Earth Hour. 65% of all wind mills produced in Denmark is shipped out of the harbour in Esbjerg. On Earth Hour the Municipality turns out the lights in Ribe town from 8.30pm-9.30pm.
Both guests and locals are welcome to visit us and you can enjoy your tea or coffee in candle light – you can also have a chat with us about the hostel’s eco label “Green Key” and how we work to make sustainable tourism a part of our hostel.
 At the hostel a big part of our energy comes from Ribe biogas plant, which received liquid manure from farmers in the area of production and from the remains from the wood production at Ribe stamping mill that produce pallets. We are working on an even better solution.
The terrible nuclear catastrophe in Japan reminds us, that nuclear is not the way to solve the threat of global warming. Other solutions must be used.

At the hostel we are aware that we are probably not reducing CO2 emissions by taking part in this action and that we don’t save the earth by turning out the lights for one hour, but we think it is a nice way  to raise awareness about climate change together with people all around the world. In Denmark Earth Hour is arranged by WWF Denmark (World Wildlife Fund )

 

REFERAT PÅ DANSK:
For 4. år i træk deltager Danhostel Ribe i Earth Hour (Sluk lyset Danmark) arrangeret i Danmark af WWF (Verdensnaturfonden) I år er det d. 26. marts kl. 20.30 til 21.30. Esbjerg by slukker samtidig lyset i Ribe by. På vandrehjemmet serverer vi gratis te, kaffe og hjemmebagte småkager for både lokale og vandrerhjemmets gæster i stearinlysets skær. Teen er vores nye grønne ”Danhostel Ribe te”, netop udviklet af “Carstensens Tehandel” i Aabenraa og kaffen er økologisk Good Origin Coffee (sporbar fra bonde til kop) og kan til daglig trækkes i vores kaffeautomat for en 10’er.
Har man lyst til en snak om Danhostel Ribes miljømærkning ”Green Key” og hvordan vi arbejder med miljøet, så er vi samtidig klar til at fortælle og diskutere, hvordan vi gør vores vandrehjem grønnere hele tiden.
Den forfærdelige atomkraft ulykke i Japan minder os om, at atomkraft ikke er vejen til at løse den globale opvarmning. Andre løsninger må bruges.
Vi er klar over at denne aktion med at slukke lyset en time og tænde stearinlysene i stedet formodentlig ikke reducerer CO² udledningerne, men vi synes det er en god måde at minde hinanden om at vi alle bør arbejde videre med dette problem
På www.facebook.com/earthhourdk kan du se hvilke kommuner og firmaer, der deltager i Earth Hour i Danmark 2011. Vi har naturligvis også omtalt eventen på Danhostel Ribes facebook

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Eco-friendly hostel instead of hotel? Environmental policy at hostels and hostels

12 October 2010 11:09 AM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Ribe, Sustainable Tourism, Wadden Sea National Park | 1 Comment

Danhostel Ribe is Eco-labeled with Green Key and mentioned among Best Green Hotels

Danhostel Ribe is Eco-labeled with Green Key and mentioned among Best Green Hotels

Danhostel Ribe congratulates The Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers for having been named the greenest hotel in the world by the travel and tourist organization Skaal International.

The more green accommodation we get in Denmark the better. And the more focus we get on sustainable accommodation the better. At Danhostel Ribe we can learn from Crowne Plaza –  can they also learn from us? Maybe there are things we just should do different because Crowne Plaza is a hotel and Danhostel Ribe a hostel?

 

 But if you as a tourist would prefer to:

  • get sustainable accommodation in Denmark’s oldest and best preserved town in the middle of the Wadden Sea National Park instead of in the middle of the busy city Copenhagen
  • get cheap green accommodation because you travel on a low budget
  • stay at a environmentally friendly hostel instead of a hotel
  • get accommodation on the West Coast instead of the east coast of Denmark

Well, then you have the possibility to stay at Danhostel Ribe. You can read all Danhostel Ribe’s environmental policy on this link: Environmental policy at Danhostel Ribe.  Danhostel Ribe is Eco-labeled with Green Key and mentioned among Best Green Hotels. Danhostel Ribe cooperates with INNOTOUR  for education, research and business development in tourism. It is dedicated to innovation.

 

HRH Prince Joachim inaugurates the Wadden Sea National Park  Friday 16th October 2010

AND if you come to Ribe this Friday, you can participate in the inauguration of the Wadden Sea National Park just outside the hostel at 12 o’clock. The Wadden Sea National Park is Denmark’s third, biggest and wettest national park. HRH Prince Joachim will inaugurate the National Park and also Karen Ellemann, the Danish minister of Environment will be there. From 10.30am to 2.30pm it´s possible to join different activities and study local wadden sea products, enjoy Rod Sinclair quintet play the new National Park Song, watch the shepherd and his dog work, listen to the local stories about storm surges and pirates - and much more. Welcome.

Eco-labeled Danhostel Ribe, National Park, and Ribe Old town

Eco-labeled Danhostel Ribe, National Park, and Ribe Old town

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Official Wadden Sea National Park opening outside the hostel’s windows on October 16th.

1 October 2010 1:36 PM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Ribe, Sustainable Tourism, Wadden Sea National Park | 1 Comment

view-ribe-danhostel
His Royal Highness Prince Joachim and the Danish minister of the Environment Karen Ellemann will open Denmark’s third and biggest national park, the Wadden Sea National Park on October 16th. 2010.

The official opening will take place on the meadow – Hovedengen – outside the hostel. Hovedengen is part of the national park, and Ribe is situated in the middle of this big new national park, that in Denmark goes from the German border to Ho Bay. All ready now we know it will be a big celebration.

Of course this means now that Danhostel Ribe can boast of this fantastic situation right at the very heart of the national park – and with a panoramic view of both the national park and Denmark’s oldest and best preserved town: Ribe.
And at the same time we are the only ecolabeled accommodation you can get in Ribe and its surroundings, since we have received the Green Key and furthermore been mentioned in Environmentally Friendly Hotel´s list of “Best Green Hotels”.
ribe-og-nationalpark-2

Another day I will tell you the story of how Hovedengen got it’s strange name “Meadow of the Heads”

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Is this a hostel breakfast?

5 September 2010 5:45 PM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Ribe, Sustainable Tourism | No Comments

Yes, this is the breakfast buffet at Danhostel Ribe, Denmark. This little video takes you around the table. OK you might miss some unhealthy hot sausages or bacon, but instead you get quality products as air dried ham, homemade bread, the hostel’s famous homemade muesli, freshly baked breakfast rolls picked up every day from Ribe’s best bakery (I know that because the locals queue up every weekend morning – and they DON’T do it because the rolls are cheap), several cheeses to choose among, yoghurt, fresh fruit, etc. In summer time you can even eat the famous Danish Pickled Herring. This hostel is eco-labeled and don’t worry you can eat and drink as much as you want for only 65,- d.kr (half price for children with parents). SO can you live without hot sausages, beans and bacon, don’t miss the breakfast buffet at the hostel.

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Photos from Earth Hour 2010, Ribe, Denmark

28 March 2010 9:50 AM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Ribe, Sustainable Tourism | No Comments

Earth Hour - A historical walk in the dark Ribe with Ribe's night wachmen from Danhostel Ribe

Earth Hour - A historical walk in the dark Ribe with Ribe's night watchmen from Danhostel Ribe

Henrik Ravn tells about beheaded pirats on the meadow outside Danhostel Ribe

Henrik Ravn tells about beheaded medieval pirats on the meadow outside Danhostel Ribe. Not a nice sight for people on boats sailing to Ribe

Ribe's watchman Hans Peters has just told his group about the medieval night wacthman in Ribe who drank too much and fell asleep on duty when the town was flooded in an storm surge and the rich merchant's animals drowned. The night watchman lost his job, and as Hans Peters told us, Ribe found a new watchman who didn't drink and also was a better singer

Ribe's watchman Hans Peters has just told his group about the medieval night wacthman in Ribe who drank too much and fell asleep on duty when the town was flooded in an storm surge and the rich merchant's animals drowned. The night watchman lost his job and Ribe found a new watchman who didn't drink and also was a better singer

In Ribe's harbour, Skibbroen, The night watchman has told about storm surges through out history

In Ribe's harbour, Skibbroen, The night watchman has told about storm surges throughout history

The historical walk on Earth Hour 2010 in Ribe is over. We are back at the hostel and Hans Peters, one of Ribe's night watchmen tell's the last good story.

The historical walk on Earth Hour 2010 in Ribe is over. We are back at the hostel and Hans Peters, one of Ribe's night watchmen tell's the last good story.

Some of the hostels guests staid at the hostel to wach the big X-factor final on TV

Some of the guests at Danhostel Ribe staid at the hostel in candle light to watch the big X-factor final on TV. At the time we came back only Tine and Thomas were back in the final

 

Read about Earth Hour in Ribe: Earth Hour 2010 brings us back to Ribe’s medieval roots: a bishop killed by wild Vikings, witches burned,captured beheaded pirates, the death story of Denmark’s beloved queen Dagmar, fatal floods, and fires.

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Earth Hour 2010 brings us back to Ribe’s medieval roots: a bishop killed by wild Vikings, witches burned,

22 March 2010 10:00 AM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Ribe, Sustainable Tourism | No Comments

Ribe's night watch man ready for historical walk on Earth Hour 2010

Ribe's night watch man ready for historical walk from Danhostel Ribe, Earth Hour 2010

captured beheaded pirates, the death story of Denmark’s beloved queen Dagmar, fatal floods, and fires. Not imagination but a journey through the fantastic and true history of Ribe, Denmark’s and Scandinavia’s oldest town, that this year celebrates its 1300 anniversary.

At 8.30pm. on the 27th March when Ribe’s street lamps are turned off because of Earth Hour 2010, we invite you to meet us outside the dark hostel, Danhostel Ribe. From here Ribe’s night watch men will guide us safely with their lanterns and spiked maces as protection through Ribe town.
Ribe’s medieval night town watchmen had several duties like to prevent carelessness with fire, lookout for floods, follow drunken Ribe citizens home to bed, and separate street fighters. Every hour they would sing a verse of the watchman’s tune to mark the hours and keep themselves awake, but on the 27th March they will just guide us and tell us some of the fantastic 1300 year history of Ribe.

Nowadays Ribe’s watch men can be followed on their route through the old, winding and cobblestoned streets of Ribe every evening from 1st of May until 15th of September, but Ribe’s hostel (Danhostel Ribe), and Gammelt Præg (Ribe  Town Preservation Organization), think this is a great way to mark Ribe’s 1300 year anniversary and Earth Hour, since also Esbjerg municipality has decided  to raise awareness about climate change, and therefore has decided to turn out the street lights in  Ribe this hour, which will give the historical town walk its finishing touch.
Everyone is welcome and it is free of charge. If you want to sleep at the hostel of course we have a very good offer for this evening and the rest of the Easter holidays. Look Here:

Earth Hour and Easter offer at Danhostel Ribe

P.S. also the sunset will be “dark” in Ribe – since we have the most beautiful “Black Sun” at the time (migration starlings dancing air ballet in the sunset), and it is possible to go on tour with the rangers from Vadehavscentret before you go with the night watchmen.

Earth Hour is a global event organized by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) to raise awareness about threat of global warming.
Danhostel Ribe has for many years been labeled as an eco-friendly hostel and worked with sustainable tourism in many ways. At the hostel we are aware that we are probably not reducing CO2 emissions by taking part in this action and that we don’t save the earth by turning out the lights for one hour, but we think it is a nice way  to raise awareness about climate change together with people all around the world.

WWF Denmark (World Wildlife Fund – Verdensnaturfonden i Danmark) and TrygFonden recommends the event in Ribe on this link and in news mails, and press releases. You can also register your own climate event on Earth Hour evening if you follow the link.
If you don’t visit us or join or arrange an event in your own town – we hope you will remember to turn out the light yourself in your home.

Earth Hour 2010
Earth Hour started in Australia in 2007. More than 2.2 million people in Sydney turned off the light. All ready in 2008 Earth Hour became global and 370 towns in 35 countries turned off the light and made it the biggest climate campaign ever. Danhostel Ribe and Esbjerg municipality have participated since 2008.

Here you can see a short documentary on Earth Hour from 2007 up to 2010:

Find out more about Earth Hour, sign up, etc : Panda.org

Danhostel Ribe on INNOTOUR

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Danhostel Ribe and INNOTOUR – a case of sustainable tourism best practice

14 March 2010 5:47 PM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Sustainable Tourism | No Comments

INNOTOUR - innovation in tourism businesses

INNOTOUR - innovation in tourism businesses

Danhostel Ribe participates now in INNOTOUR started by University of Southern Denmark, Centre for Tourism, and Innovation and Communication (TIC) .
INNOTOUR is a web-based open platform showing examples of best practices in tourism development to create more innovation in our Wadden Sea region and it has received support from EU structural funds, the National IT and Telecom Agency under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and from the University of Southern Denmark.

 
Danhostel Ribe – sustainable tourism best practice
We participate as an example for sustainable tourism best practice and we hope that researchers, tourism educators, students and businesses committed to furthering the development and dissemination of knowledge in the field of sustainable tourism and innovation will “visit” our case, read it and comment on it
Comments that will bring us further without big expenses and which we are able to implement at once are very welcome, but we also welcome long-sighted more difficult innovative ideas.
We accept challenges – all though we are aware they are big some of them.

 
As a hostel our guests expect the cheapest prices but they don’t accept much less comfort, quality and service than they can get in hotels. We just have to work more and run faster.
Our rooms are not very big , they don’t have minibar and TV - BUT we have Ribe’s most unique location, many common rooms (-also with TV), sports hall, morning buffet with higher quality and lower price than many hotels, free wireless network, guest’s own kitchen, lots of tourist information, bicycle rentals, etc.
But though we have had a green certification since 1997 not many of our guests mention this as a reason to stay at the hostel – we have a very big percentage of repeat-visitors among tourists and groups but very few mention the green initiatives instead they repeat their visit because of the atmosphere, service and unique location in Denmark’s oldest town with a panoramic view of old Ribe, the river and the Wadden Sea National Park.

 
We would like to point out that the challenges are big in our area. Living in the middle of the new National Park Wadden Sea and its fantastic nature adventures and furthermore in Denmark’s oldest and best preserved town, tourists will not be less in the future, when the world finds out what a beauty we have kept almost for ourselves for many years.  
If tourism is practiced with great responsibility and in harmony with the environment, Ribe and the Wadden Sea area will keep their outstanding authenticity and their rich biological and cultural diversity – in other words: it will still be the town and the nature that we – who live here – are so proud of, love  and enjoy every day.
You are welcome to comment on and discuss this – either here on this blog or on our INNOTOUR case
If you want to know more about Danhostel Ribe’s environmental consciousness, read here:
 
Danhostel Ribe Green Key -  Green Key  - Hotlist of THE Best Green Hotels  – Environmentally friendly hotels

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HOPEnhagen became NOPEnhagen – but at least Danish tourism took a big green step

26 December 2009 11:49 PM

Posted by admin in Hostel, Sustainable Tourism | No Comments

green-keyThe COP15 has finished and HOPEnhagen became NOPEnhagen. The politicians have nothing to be proud of.  They know they have to act quickly to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but they allowed themselves not to take the necessary action.
One of the first consequences of the disappointing UN climate change summit in Copenhagen is that the CO2 quotes have fallen in price. Pollution has become cheaper:

High price of disappointment
The price per metric ton of permits to spew carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere fell by $3.30 on the European Climate Exchange between the first day of the climate summit in Copenhagen and the day after its disappointing conclusion as traders reacted to… Full Article at Barre Montpelier Times-Argus

An eye-opener for Danish Tourism
When the politicians disclaim for responsibility it demands a lot from the rest of us. The climate chance summit in Copenhagen was an eye-opener for Danish Tourism. Especially in Copenhagen where the summit took place.  In December 2009 51 % (5.988) of all hotel rooms in Copenhagen were classified green with Green Key (Den Grønne Nøgle), The flower (Blomsten) or The Swan (Svanen). In 2008 it was only 8 %. (wonderfulcopenhagen.dk)

During 2009 29 hotels in Denmark were certified with Green Key – an increase in Green Key Hotels from 41 to 70. Furthermore 3 conference places (one of them the Bella Centre where the summit took place), 2 Danhostels (Family-and Youth Hostels), 6 sports halls, and 2 camp grounds got the Green Key. Only 2 hotels left the Green Key during 2009. (Green Key news)

At Danhostel Ribe we welcome all the newcomers. We look forward to even closer cooperation especially with our neighbor hostel in Esbjerg which is now also a green hostel. At Danhostel Ribe we all ready had the Green Key 13 years ago, at a time when almost nobody noticed or cared. A few years ago we were also rated among the greenest overnight accommodation at Environmentally Friendly Hotels list Best Green Hotels (More than 3000 environmentally friendly hotels, bed and breakfasts, resorts, motels, lodges, and inns listed). Of course we are proud of that, but we are still not good enough, and can get much better. Danhostel Ribe’s green profile has recently been mentioned here:
Adventure travelling info (November 14, 2009)
International Wadden Sea School
Green Traveling Around the World Series-World Beauties
Economicallysound.com

 

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