Tourism and the Environment

Earth Day was yesterday - April 22. According to the Wikipedia, it is a special day designed to inspire and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was first celebrated in the United States (US) and was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. At that period, there is a growing concern on overpopulation in the US. Senator Nelson believed that control on population growth is an important part of environmentalism.

April 22, 1970, marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. The celebration of Earth Day is to increase awareness of the government and public on having a healthy and sustainable environment. This is a very important date on the calendar as the basic value prompting the celebration – environmental conservation and protection, transcends geography, culture, age and religion. Taking care of our environment and making sure that we use our resources wisely is everybody’s concern. It is everybody’s business.

In nature, creation and destruction is a natural cycle. Storms destroy coral reefs, natural flooding drowns plants and silt is deposited along deltas. However, human activities have been accelerating environmental destruction and degradation. For example, people have been using destructive fishing methods (dynamite fishing, trawling, cyanide fishing) to easily catch many fishes. However, destructive fishing methods do not only wipe out fishes but also corals that are the natural habitat of fishes. They also wipe out juveniles that are supposed to be the future stock. Some scientist that at the rate we are going now our fish stocks will be depleted by 2050.

The issue continues that a large population is putting a strain on the Earth. Nonetheless, I believe that it is more than the number of people here on Earth. It also concerns our behavior. We may not know it but we may be living a wasteful life - forgetting to turn off the lights, forgetting to turn off the faucet, not segregating our garbage, buying thing in plastic bags, buying things we don’t really need, etc.

Environmental protection and conservation is also important for places promoting tourism. The influx of tourist poses a threat to the environment as these people bring in additional trash to the place. Aside from that, there are instances when a place is spoiled when businesspersons put up structures to accommodate visitors. On the other hand, it provides employment for people allowing them to feed their families.

Tourism can be either a boon or bane. When we promote a place to be tourist destination, we have to make sure that at the same time the environment is protected and conserved to keep the tourists coming.