The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Chasing the DNC Flame by Fonda Berosini

TakePart at Slow Food Nation by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

State Fair Having Trouble Keeping It Green

TOMS Wrap Boot: Shoe Addicts Saving Lives

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Andy Kondrat:

Mexican Gov Spends $16M to Save Endangered Porpoise

Wilco Offers Section on Website for Carpooling to Shows

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Jon Popham:

Portland Gym Utilizes Human Energy

Angkor Wat Threatened by Tourism Boom

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Gina Telaroli:

10 Powerful Women Using Their Power for Good

10 A+ Worthy Movie and TV Teachers

The ruins of Angkor Wat are being threatened by the enormous number of tourists traveling to visit the breathtaking site in Cambodia.   Built in the 12th Century by King Suryavarman II to serve as his state temple and capital city, Angkor Wat has survived countless wars and unthinkable pestilence, persevering as one of the masterpieces of world architecture to this day.   But success has come with a price.   The stunning towers and remarkable setting with its unworldly sunset views over the temples have made this national symbol of Cambodia - it appears on the Southeast Asian nation’s flag - a highly trafficked tourist destination, and the massive attention it’s commanded is bringing enormous wear and tear along with it.

For starters, the structures at Angkor Wat are built primarily out of sandstone, which the huge amount of foot traffic around the site is steadily eroding.   Secondly the large number of hotels that have sprung up around the ruins to lodge visitors have put a great strain on the local water supply.   This water drain is actually causing the ruins to slowly sink into the ground.

A decade ago 300,000 people visited Angkor Wat per year.   Today that number is up to one million annually, with the government, eager for the tourist revenue, hoping to push that number up to 3 million per year by 2010.  The problem is one faced by magnificent ancient monuments the world over.   Angkor Wat is an amazing site, something practically anyone would want to visit in their lifetime - including this writer.   But the affects of mass tourism on such archaeological treasures can have such devastating consequences that keeping unrestricted access to the monuments eventually becomes untenable.

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Aspiring filmmakers and hometown aficionados listen-up - Good Magazine’s Project this go around might be right up your alley.   The good folks at Good are asking:

you to serve as a tourist bureau for your neighborhood. What is it that would make someone want to travel to where you are? Tell us about your favorite local spot, or better yet, take us on a video tour of it

Sounds like a great way to not only sharpen those video making skills but also to get in touch with where you live. In today’s busy world I know that’s something most people could stand to spend some more time doing.

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The Government of Dubai has detained 79 beachgoers for offenses ranging from topless sunbathing, full on nudity, and alleged sexy-time over the past two weeks. Newly planted undercover officers have been strolling the Emirate’s beaches while new guard towers survey the sands to enforce local indecency laws in the Islamic City-State. The government says they began the campaign after a British couple were caught allegedly having sex on a Dubai beach earlier this month.

Since then a total of 79 people have been detained by the government for activities “disturbing families enjoying the beach” according to a spokesman for Dubai’s Criminal Investigation Department. First time offenders may be issued a warning, but if there is a repeat offense the person could be sent to a public prosecutor for possible criminal charges.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Necklacing Returns to South Africa, Tutu Calls for Peace, and History Repeats Itself

Ted Kennedy’s Malignant Brain Tumor: Sad News, But the Work Goes On

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Nicole Hughes:

Bush’s Food Aid Package Promotes Use of GMOs

Gas Prices Exceed Those of 1973 Oil Crisis

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Andy Kondrat:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Cost US 38 Trillion Annually

USDA Budget Squeeze Forces Agency to Stop Tracking Pesticide Use

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Jon Popham:

Brooklyn Bridge Birthday Celebration!

Smokey the Bear: Environmental Icon

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Giulia Rozzi:

Suicide Tourism in New York City

Kristin Davis and Her Solar Powered Home

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Gina Telaroli:

Media That Matters Film Festival Premieres on May 28th

Top 10 Ways Indiana Jones Saved the World: Part #1

I read a really interesting article in New York Magazine last week about  how the same things that attract millions of tourists to New York City (the glamour, the skyline, the anonymity) also attracts visitors to come specifically to the city to kill themselves.

…researchers stumbled on a striking fact about suicides in New York: A surprising number of people who kill themselves in the city come here from out of town, and many appear to come expressly to take their own lives. In a report published last fall called Suicide Tourism in Manhattan, New York City, 1990–2004, researchers at the New York Academy of Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College found that of the 7,634 people who committed suicide in New York City between 1990 and 2004, 407 of them, or 5.3 percent, were nonresidents. More strikingly, nonresidents accounted for 274, or 10.8 percent, of the 2,272 suicides in Manhattan during that time (the numbers did not include college students, who were considered residents for the purposes of the study). The researchers didn’t look at comparable data from other cities, but, says the study’s lead author, Charles Gross, One in ten people that commit suicide in Manhattan don’t live here. That’s a big chunk. [NY Magazine]

and visit http://www.save.org/ for ways you can help prevent suicide.

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Here comes the sun! It was a sultry 45 degrees in my hometown of New York City today, which means spring is on its way, with summer fast on its heels! The turn in temperature and extra daylight has probably got you planning (or at least considering) your next vacation spot. Why not kick start your warm weather travel plans by checking out some of these eco-friendly, green travel trends?

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China’s plans to build a highway to the top of Mount Everest as part of their overall preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics have raised an overflow of environmental concerns. The highway, which will consist of a tarmac route complete with guardrails, will extend from the base camp to the top of the mountain (approx 17,000 ft) and will cost the Chinese government a reported 20 million dollars.

The purpose of the highway is to create easier access to the top of Mount Everest for the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic torch, as well as to pave the way for increased tourism to the remote location:

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