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After the pop-up party, the pop-up garden
2011-06-06 19:50
What:
World Environment Day
When: 3-7 June 2011 (World Environment Day 5 June)
Where:
Place du Palais, Monaco
Monaco is well known for its gardens, and last month was very special. Not only was there the annual
Garden Dreams Festival on the Casino Terraces, but also the Principality scooped a gold medal on its debut at London's prestigious
Chelsea Flower Show. Now, to celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June, the Place du Palais - scene next month of the Prince's wedding to Charlene Wittstock - will become a vast acreage of greenery.
Having one of the world's greatest ecological ambassadors as its Head of State makes Monaco something of a paradox. After all, the tiny coastal principality is not only the home of blackjack and roulette but also boasts the world's priciest property. Its gourmet chefs spare no expense in satisfying the palates of celebrity customers, and the multiple lifts and subterranean passages that form the infrastructure of the steeply-sloping microstate are lined in marble.
But here, conspicuous wealth and conscientious welfare live cheek-by-jowl. On the one hand there are the screaming engines of twenty-four
Formula 1 cars powering around Monaco's narrow streets; on the other, the Prince smiles to the camera as he
unveils the latest electric smart car. Gas-guzzling superyachts throng Monaco's Port Hercule, but the quickest and cheapest way of crossing that water from one quay to the other is by solar-powered '
Bateau Bus'. Restaurants in the Principality will serve you extraordinary dishes, but are banned from serving
blue-fin tuna, in an effort to save the species. Monaco has done much to clean up its image as an ethical place to bank your money: now it is spearheading the world's drive to a greener future.
In 1906 the present Prince Albert's forebear and namesake, Prince Albert I, visited the Arctic and came back inspired to found the
Oceanographic Museum, one of the highlights for visitors to Monaco ever since. Exactly one hundred years later, his great-grandson retraced his steps in a celebrated visit to the polar regions, and in turn set up the
Prince Albert Foundation, which in its brief lifetime has already donated millions to the cause of sustainable development on an international scale.
But in Monaco itself the visitor is never far from greenery. The world's first 'ethical' fashion boutique has recently opened its doors here, doing for clothes what FairTrade did for coffee: ensuring as far as possible that prices take into account the human, social and environmental cost of production, and at the same time supporting decent incomes for workers in developing countries. '
Last Drop of Gasoline' (with its help-the-planet telephone number +377 999 999 09) is at 24, allée Lazare Sauvaigo.
Stars'n'Bars, one of the best-known and most popular restaurants and bars, has an annual
Monacology Week to educate and inform residents and visitors about current schemes to help protect the environment , and is currently advertising rentals with
MC Eco Rental, a new company offering zero-emission travel in one of six 2-seater urban electric cars rentable by the hour or for a few days or weeks. For those who want to go a bit for upmarket, and have the wallet for it, there's always the award-winning
Tesla Roadster, which has twice in succession taken the laurels in the annual Monaco Ecological Rally. They have had a showroom in Monaco since last year.
Meanwhile, sustainability is the theme of a year-long exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum, entitled
'Méditerranée- Splendide, Fragile, Vivante', which aims to show the devastating effects that mass fishing has had on the sea which Monégasques and others consider to be their second home.
And even the
Monaco Royal Wedding seems to be going down the sustainable route. Despite the fact that the it will take place at the height of summer when energy bills are lower, the decision to hold the public ceremony outdoors at least gives the right impression - as well as ensuring the sustainability of the highly environmentally-friendly Grimaldi family, of course.