Categories: Global Health | Sustainable | Tourism The World Tourism Organization (WTO) is the United Nations’ specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable, and universally accessible tourism. With an estimated 3 million people traveling by air each year, the WTO and others look to find sustainable and efficient ways to continue travel as climate change takes headlines covering our planet's health. To create sustainable living, we must first focus on meeting the needs of the present day without destroying possibilities of meeting those needs in the future. To do this we must focus on economic, environmental, and social factors. The largest contributor to climate change is heat and electricity, as it comprised 25 percent of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions with the burning of coal, natural gases, and oil. As you probably guessed, companies most responsible for climate change are heat and electric based businesses including ExxonMobil, BP, and Gazprom. Every person has an ecological carbon footprint, which is the demand an individual has on nature to meet their daily needs. You can calculate yours by clicking on the button below! I took it and my results opened my eyes to how much larger my footprint was than I had expected. My personal Earth Overshoot Day is listed as April 11th. This means that if everyone lived with an identical footprint to mine, we as a species would have used as much from nature as Earth can renew in the entire year in exactly 100 days. In 2020, Earth Overshoot Day for humanity was August 22. This year it is set to be July 29, each year we lose more time to get it right. In just one year we lost 24 days to turn it around. So if everyone lived like me, we would need 3.6 Earths to make it through the year. Take the quiz and see how you compare to other countries' averages, after we will review how we can do better to save our planet. After seeing your impact on the world, you may be asking yourself how you can cut down and be a more sustainable and responsible tourist. Responsible tourism is all about making better places for others to live and visit. This requires the action of many to make tourism sustainable. Responsible tourists should take into full consideration the impact they have on current and future economic, social, & environmental factors. How Can I Be a Sustainable Tourist? National Geographic lists 6 ways individuals can be more sustainable the next time they travel: Avoid the Plane, Take the Train Engaging in “slow travel” will take you to fewer places with the benefit of being able to spend more time in each. You will experience a deeper sense of place as you decrease your carbon footprint. Give, the Right Way. Many well intentioned travelers bring items to hand out to children and locals in developing countries. This unfortunately can actually create a culture of dependency and further halt development. The best way to give is through money, businesses, and services. Donate to charities that can help in the right way, and buy local. Say NO to Plastic. There is already a Great Pacific Garbage Patch swirling across thousands of miles of the ocean as there is an estimated 1.15 to 2.41 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year from rivers. Be a part of the solution by opting for recyclables, reusables, and decomposables as it will also reduce your carbon footprint. Research your Tour Operators. Before exploring, always ask these 3 questions before signing on:
Support the Real Local Economy. Locally made crafts and souvenirs are not always cheaper, but purchasing them ensures your contribution to the economy will have a more direct and positive impact. Never Buy Wildlife Products—Period. Though shells, sea glass, sand capsules, and other wildlife may serve as beautiful souvenirs, the purchase of them hurts the environment. These purchases are inadvertently helping to support a growing marketplace for trafficking rare and endangered wildlife products for quick change. Just say no! In 2015, the United Nations made history when 193 member states unanimously adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The 17 goals are: The three I want to continue to focus on, especially to answer the question of how we as individuals can help are the clean water goals (6), sustainable community goals (11), and climate change goals (13). Clean water and sanitation can be supported by travelers through donations to charities such as the World Vision Clean Water Fund. Foundations like these can be accessed both while traveling in the comfort of your home. Through World Vision, they work to bring clean water, sanitation, & hygiene to communities. Their list of funds to donate include clean water for families, deep wells, and safe school latrines. Clean and accessible water is one of the many things that will help to build sustainable cities and communities. A great way to help can be through voluntourism, which is a combination of volunteering and tourism, voluntourism is a popular form of international travel. You use your time and energy to help others while exploring a different country and culture. Programs such as International Volunteers HQ can connect you with where you want to travel or how you can help based on your abilities. If we are unable to reduce the amount of pollution we produce we will continue to see a sharp decline within climate change. Jobs such as ship breaking are taking a huge toll on the health of workers and the environment, as ship breaking is a highly polluting industry. Ship-breaking is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of vessels for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction of raw materials, chiefly scrap. This leads to large amounts of carcinogens and toxic substances that not only are toxic to workers, but are also dumped into the soil and coastal waters. Everyone is responsible for bettering the world and lowering our carbon footprint, before we run out of time to do so. Relatable Movie Picks:![]() Gringo Trails "Raises urgent questions about one of the most powerful global industries of our time: tourism. With stunning footage from Bolivia, Thailand, Mali, and Bhutan, the film follows the well-worn 'Gringo Trail' travel route in Latin America and beyond, revealing a complex web of relationships between cultures that collide yet need one another: Host countries looking for financial security and the tourists who provide it in their quest for authentic experiences. Travelers, transformed by new landscapes and beliefs, also have unforeseeable, sometimes catastrophic, effects on the places they visit. Through the life-changing stories of travelers and locals, Gringo Trails explores the dramatic impact of tourism around the world over the past three decades and gives examples of sustainable alternatives.” -Summarized by Anonymous on IMDB ![]() Vendemmia "In today's modern world, when almost everything is done with the touch of a button, the citizens of the Cinque Terre of Italy ... welcome over three million tourists annually into their homes, restaurants, and shops, something their ancestors could have never foreseen. A modern-day fight for sustainable tourism, cultural preservation, and environmental balance teeters on the edge of survival as the villages face uncertainty. Vendemmia documents the present day challenges of the Cinque Terre through both the eyes of its extraordinary residents and also those standing on the outside, anxiously observing the area's rapid fire transformation, and asks the essential question - Is it possible to preserve the future without sacrificing the past?" -Summarized by Sharon Boeckle & Krista Weller on IMDB Sources UsedChrist, Costas. 6 Ways to Be a More Sustainable Traveler, National Geographic, 10 July 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/sustainable-travel-tips
Give Clean Water, World Vision, 2021, https://donate.worldvision.org/gift-catalog/clean-water?campaign=400050292&&msclkid=685a0f2931fc10c1d0886e1688183121&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing_Search_NB_NSP_Gift%20Catalog_Clean%20Water_Trust_MBR&utm_term=%2Bcharity%20%2Bclean%20%2Bwater&utm_content=Clean%20Water%20-%20Tier%201&gclid=685a0f2931fc10c1d0886e1688183121&gclsrc=3p.ds. Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 27 July 2021, www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data. Goodwin, Harold. What is Responsible Tourism?, Responsible Tourism, 24 Sept. 2014, responsibletourismpartnership.org/what-is-responsible-tourism/. Grant, Mitchell. Sustainability, Investopedia, 12 Oct. 2020, www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sustainability.asp. Gupta, Atula. The 90 companies responsible for two-thirds of historical greenhouse gas emissions, Stacker, 5 Oct. 2020, stacker.com/stories/3971/90-companies-responsible-two-thirds-historical-greenhouse-gas-emissions How Many People Travel Each Year?, Reference, 28 Mar. 2020, www.reference.com/world-view/many-people-travel-year-e644f08d024ae72c. IMDB. Gringo Trails, IMDB, 2013, www.imdb.com/title/tt2458912/plotsummary. Make a Difference Abroad, International Volunteer HQ, 2021, www.volunteerhq.org/?mkwid=s-dc_pcrid__pkw_%2Bvolunteer%20%2Bprograms%20%2Baround%20the%20%2Bworld_pmt_p_&pgrid=1229254224163076&ptaid=kwd-76828569523085:loc-4103&msclkid=48d9e909b8a61816d0498. Ship-Breaking: A Hazardous Work, International Labor Organization, 2021, www.ilo.org/safework/areasofwork/hazardous-work/WCMS_110335/lang--en/index.htm#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20taking%20a,the%20soil%20and%20coastal%20waters Sustainable Development, United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2021, www.unwto.org/sustainable-development. Vendemmia, IMDB, 2012, www.imdb.com/title/tt1932760/plotsummary. Voluntourism Opportunities, Projects Abroad, 2021, www.projects-abroad.org/voluntourism/. What is your ecological footprint?, Global Footprint Network, 2021, www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
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Sydney BrzezinskiSenior undergraduate student at Grand Valley State University studying Business Management, Hospitality & Tourism, and Meeting & Events Management. Through my enrollment in HTM 202 International Tourism, I have maintained this blog as a portion of my required class work from September to December 2021. - Sydney Brzezinski
Oxford & Allendale, MI |