Word: verdant
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...removed from Tehran's bustling tin-roofed teashops and Isfahan's verdant pomegranate gardens, the deserts known as Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut meet at the city of Yazd, once the heart of the Persian Empire...
...plenty of cafés serving espresso and freshly baked croissants - Bali and Phuket offer vastly different real estate experiences. First off, Bali is much cheaper than Phuket. Because the Indonesian island is so much larger than its Thai counterpart, Bali offers a wider diversity in terms of topography: verdant rice paddies, soaring volcanoes and several distinctive urban centers. The Indonesian island cherishes its deep cultural roots, with traditions interwoven into daily life, not manufactured for some cheesy ethnic show at a beach resort. But because of these bountiful customs, Bali teems with taboos that can trip up even veteran...
Sorrento Pointe, Calif., does not look like the setting for the death of the American Dream. From outside the tasteful guardhouse stationed at the entrance of this gated community about 23 miles from downtown Los Angeles, all seems peaceful. The manicured lawns are a verdant oasis within the surrounding sun-scorched mountains. The only sound disturbing the quiet is the gentle swish of luxury cars - Mercedes, BMWs and Porsches - as their drivers turn homeward...
...driver of extinction is habitat loss and degradation, which affects 40% of the world's mammals. That can be seen clearly in the deforestation afflicting much of the tropical world, including Madagascar, where 90% of the country's original forest cover has been lost. Vast stretches of the once verdant island, where I traveled with Mittermeier last month, are eroded wastelands, capable of supporting few animals or people. Though the rate of deforestation has been reduced sharply in recent years, thanks in part to a greener government, Madagascar's protected areas are still threatened by new mining projects and simple...
...Antananarivo - a sprawling, diesel-soaked city that earns the adjective "teeming" - we leave by car for Andasibe, a former logging village that is now home to a burgeoning ecotourism trade. On the winding road we see the result of centuries of tavy, traditional slash-and-burn agriculture. The verdant forests that once covered much of Madagascar have been burnt or torn down, replaced by muddy rice paddies and secondary shrubs. This loss of habitat is the primary driver of extinction on Madagascar. The trees support a web of life, from the hefty indri to dazzlingly tiny frogs that...