Save Eco Destinations

Imagine going on vacation somewhere with azure waters. You decide to go snorkeling, check out the local underwater fauna and flora and head toward the local coral reefs. You wonder if your goggles are dirty-the corals look black! (Who knew they could turn a color different from white?) Very unfortunately, the corals are black, so forget rubbing your goggles clean (if only it were that easy!).

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On the (somewhat) bright side, this phenomenon is currently limited to Taiwan’s southeast coast. The corals turned black from disease. The culprit is probably untreated sewage. Can you believe this?

Damn, I can.

For a long time, people had suspected this would be a problem-black corals-that more reefs were turning black, and so on. People only suspected because there was no available information to look at on this situation, no research had been done on it, and nobody knew enough about it to speak up or call for action.

Finally, Chen Chao-Iun, a researcher from Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, said that the problem is worst in areas of waters up to 5 m. (16.4 ft.) deep and 300 m. offshore from a couple of Taiwan’s outlying islands.

Chao-Iun seems mostly concerned about the effects this will have on tourism: “If you snorkel, you’ll see it’s black. If it’s all black, there won’t be too many tourists,” he told Reuters.

The Taiwanese researchers have communicated their findings to the government. Next, they will check other offshore areas where coral reefs are found for damage.

Andrew Baker holds coral he wants to coax into teaming up with more heat-resistant algae

Remember all those awful news about coral reefs being on their way out? Here’s another thought: heat-tolerant algae might save them by helping coral adapt to climate change.

As we know, coral reefs are very fragile creatures. Tourism, sunscreen, and myriad other factors contribute to the reefs’ bleaching and death all over the globe. Global warming is largely thought to be, basically, a death sentence for coral everywhere.

But wait! Andrew Baker, a scientist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, disagrees. He says that (1) corals can inherently adapt to rising temperatures and (2) we can help! (Let me explain the exclamation mark – I am excited about this!)

This year Baker set up a project to research the relationship between reef-building coral polyps (a relative of jellyfish) and their symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae. The algae seek shelter in the reefs, and in return, the algae feed the corals sugar, which corals turn into energy. The problem with higher temperatures is that they can destroy this give-and-take relationship between the algae and the corals: they make algae leave the corals, depriving the reefs of the sugar they need to remain healthy. Without this source of energy, the corals become very weak, and often die.

What Baker wants to do to prevent these coral deaths is inoculate corals, or make them immune, with the help of a different kind of algae that can resist heat better. Once these algae are administered, so to speak, to the corals, the reefs adapt and can live in higher-temperature waters.

Apparently, some corals have always attracted algae more tolerant to heat than the typical zooxanthellae and therefore became more heat-resistant themselves and resisted bleaching, e.g. in the Persian Gulf. Sometimes corals switch from zooxanthellae to heat-resistant algae during hotter seasons. That’s pretty neat.

The downside – humans have been tinkering with nature for, hmm, ever. And most usually the results are catastrophic. Some people think Baker’s idea, thus, shouldn’t be taken seriously out of fear that it may harm corals instead of help them.

But Baker says, screw it, it’s worth a try. I think I agree. After all, the plan is to introduce corals to a more heat-resistant type of algae, not to inoculate them with pharmaceutical drugs (a plan that, unfortunately, wouldn’t surprise me).

Read the whole, detailed article at the Christian Science Monitor.

Rape has been used as a weapon of war in both the First Congo War and Second Congo War. (Picture by USAID/Leah Werchick, 2001)

In the ecotourism microcosm and the green world in general, we speak a lot of green transportation, greener choices, polluting less, and so on. Switch to a hybrid, offset the carbon footprint of your flights when going on vacation, and so on and so forth.

We’re lazy.

Honestly, some of the best things you can do are:

(a)    Stay home!

(b)   Walk

(c)    Ride a bike, rollerblade, skateboard, and so on

(d)   Swim-and always leave the motorboats and jet skis in the store (think of the coral reefs, sea turtles, etc., whose populations are diminished yearly by these machines)

(e)    Did I mention stay home?

Think of what would happen if we actually stuck to these principles. Because, you know, it’s we who are polluting and ruining the planet. We-privileged, middle-to-upper class people with access to the internet and enough education and spare time to inform and educate ourselves about ecological issues. We are the ones with enough money to travel and the resources that allow us to choose how and when we will do it.

Not indigenous tribes in Venezuela, in the Amazon Forest, the sort of people who coexist harmoniously with their green surroundings. And we can’t ask the poor women in South Jordan to switch to energy-saving light bulbs, the raped women refugees in eastern Congo to implement low-flush toilets, or those left homeless in Tartagal to incorporate solar panels into their homes when if they get to rebuild them.

But we can ask our friends to be more conscientious in their choices-because they have choices-when they shop, travel, use electricity, eat, discard, and even when they vote if we spread the word about key bills and laws and work together to support or protest against them.

Pick up trash if you see it in the street and take it home to recycle or at least toss it in a trash can. Reuse containers instead of throwing them away and buying new ones. Cut down and eventually abolish meat and animal products from your diet. Get your lighting fixtures taken care of if they don’t take energy-saving bulbs. Stop buying Cif and bleach and switch to vinegar, baking soda, and alcohol for all your home cleaning needs. Turn off and unplug all appliances when not in use.

And on and on.

If you, who gets to choose and make changes, don’t, then you can’t complain when, several years from now, you find yourself having to move out of Florida and into a home farther from the coast and higher and higher than sea level. And don’t even start about how first class has gotten more expensive-focus on what’s important. Green travel is no travel unless it’s on foot, bike, or by other ecological means.

Let’s help people walk the talk.

Your life will be cleaner, greener, simpler, cheaper, healthier, and better.

Read a compelling article about this at Worldchanging.

What tips do you have?

What do YOU think?

Learning economics by diving

My Google Alerts caught something that made me smile: the story of DePauw economics professor Gary Lemon, who takes his winter term students on diving trips to Cozumel, Tulum, and Chichen Itza every year.

The article mentions that trips to such destinations comprise economics lessons in and of themselves for the students (I don’t buy it). But, whatever the reason, it’s nice to read that his most frequently uttered words during those trips are always the caveat, “If I see you grabbing on to the coral, you better have one heck of a reason.”

Professor Lemon goes out of his way-as he should-to instruct his students on how to be ecologically responsible and make their activities eco-friendly. (No information is given as to where they stay, whether they wear biodegradable sunscreen to keep corals safe, or whether they offset the carbon footprint from their flights and so on in any way, however. And I am curious.)

If these ridiculously lucky students don’t fly home to DePauw in Indiana with an acute understanding of the region’s economic underpinnings, they do return with a (likely newfound) appreciation for the beauty and frailty of the underwater world. After their experiences going scuba diving, some students have even switched academic specialties, e.g. from physics to marine biology, and as a second semester junior! That’s gotta be considerable work. But hey, the harder the work, the more we know these future marine biologists are working for the good guys and gals. Good job, Prof. Lemon!

I find this issue fascinating, so I wanted to delve into it deeper. Here we go –

Corals:

Scientific studies ascertained a relationship between the approximately 4,000 to 6,000 tons of sunscreen melting off swimmers’ skins and the quickly increasing decline in corals. It turns out that four common sunscreen ingredients (octinoxate, oxybenzone 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, and the preservative butylparaben) activate dormant viruses in corals, which go on to destroy algae—what corals feed on, and without which corals turn white and die.

About 60% of reefs around the world are currently in danger of dying due to global warming, excess UV radiation, and human activity—whether because anchors and boats tear through them, we pollute them with our garbage, or we drown them in our skincare products.

According to the European Commission, the chemicals in sunscreen and other skincare products are so harmful that areas such as marine eco-parks in Mexico straight-out ban them. These chemicals “can accumulate in aquatic animals, have an estrogen-like effect and biodegrade into toxic by-products.”

When they added low quantities of sunscreen to water around coral reefs, they found that “large amounts of coral mucous … was (sic) released within 18-48 hours. Within 96 hours, complete bleaching of corals had occurred.” Previously dormant viruses residing within the corals came alive and triggered widespread infections, effects also caused by pesticides and other pollutants.It only takes 20 minutes in the water for 25% of the harmful ingredients in your sunscreen to be released into the water.

Fish:

All the way back in 2006, the University of Applied Sciences in Basil, Switzerland, found endocrine disruptors (UV filters) in fish—male fish with not only sperm, but also female eggs. Read more here.

Humans:

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) conducted research on 1,031 common brands of sunscreen last year. They found that:

• 4 out of 5 do not offer adequate protection from the sun’s harmful rays
• many include ingredients that may be unsafe
• best-selling sunscreens (e.g. Coppertone, Banana Boat, and Neutrogena) proved to be the worst offenders. Here is the best and worst list: Find your sunscreen.
• many sunscreens only protect against UVB radiations (which cause sunburns), and not UVA radiations (which cause skin damage, aging, immune system problems, and skin cancer)
• 46% of sunscreens contain ingredients that break down under UV rays within minutes or hours, letting UV rays damage your skin
• sunscreens in the form of powder and spray make it easier for toxic nano-scale ingredients to get into your body than lotion sunscreens containing the same ingredients
• some sunscreens—and their toxic ingredients (namely, oxybenzone and other UV filters)—enter the bloodstream. These ingredients may exude free radicals in the sunlight, disrupt the endocrine system, cause allergies, and build up in the body
• the FDA is not currently taking care of these issues, so you must do so for yourself

Read more here.

SOLUTION: wear biodegradable sunscreens without questionable ingredients, apply the sunscreen repeatedly to the skin, wear a hat, and wear UV-resistant clothing (e.g. Solartex and No Zone).

Paul Sánchez-Navarro

Paul Sánchez-Navarro is executive director of the Centro Ecológico Akumal, an organization that works to supervise and diminish the pernicious impact of unsustainable hotels on the reefs off Quintana Roo. He explains that the recent exponential boosts in tourism on the Maya Riviera have augmented the following issues:

• More workers and construction to accommodate for rising demand
• A consequent fresh water shortage
• Waste (mis)management – many resorts dump their sewage deep into the ground, so that it ends up in aquifers and underground rivers and eventually makes its way to the ocean and its vulnerable ecosystem. Alarming amounts of nitrates and phosphates, particularly from urine, have been found in the area’s aquifers, Sánchez-Navarro told CNN.
• Higher levels of general pollution – leftover bottles, batteries, etc.

Monetary profit trumps environmental activism for most—mais oui!—so that finding solutions to these problems becomes a tougher endeavor for us. Many hotels oh-so-selflessly contribute money to the Mexican government, meaning hotels are not subject to stringent regulations. Global warming is a constant soldier gunning down the corals as well, although some storms are actually beneficial, allowing the corals to spread.

But never fear, we green activists are everywhere, and ever louder making our voices heard! Sánchez-Navarro, who believes unsustainable hotels are the main offenders, says that the answer lies in collaborating with “multiple levels of government, the private business sector,” and mainstream society in order to raise awareness and spark interest and involvement, to hopefully offset global warming’s effects in addition to that of unsustainable developments. Sánchez-Navarro works with environmental policy frameworks in Mexico and within the United Nations system, in addition to other endeavors.

Also getting his hands dirty is an industrial mineralogist from Ohio’s Miami University, Mark Krekeler, who is now in Akumal researching sustainable waste management with his research group. Krekeler is looking to improve the workings of constructed wastelands (of which Akumal currently has 50) to remove harmful bacteria, phosphates, and nitrates from sewage. Another option for filtering sewage is clay, fortunately ubiquitous in the Yucatán Peninsula. Both projects are ongoing.

It is certainly uplifting to learn about active efforts to restore life and dignity to the earth’s ecosystems. When we look after the environment, we look after ourselves.

Coral reef off the Egyptian coast

All over the planet—from the Caribbean to Australia’s coasts—coral reefs are withering from the stress swimmers and tourism-related chemicals impose on them. According to WarmIslands.com, during the last 10 years alone the Caribbean’s reefs have been under strenuous attack.

The culprits:

• Snorkeling and diving – swimmers astonished by the reefs’ beauty touch the fragile corals, causing serious damage. SOLUTION: stay away from those reefs! And if for whatever reason you find yourself down there, hands off, kids!
• Sunscreen – chemicals in the sunscreen dissolving off swimmers’ skins intensifies the decline of coral populations. SOLUTION: choose biodegradable sunscreen or wear a t-shirt.
• Disturbed sediment – unnaturally strong currents (caused by swimmers, yachts, motorboats, and so on) can alter sediment and provoke the diaspora of animal life as the animals lose their home. Another consequence is sand settling onto coral formations. SOLUTION: stay off those boats!
• Anchors of motorboats, yachts, etc. – these can destroy corals and thereby their entire ecosystem, which results in animals losing their homes. SOLUTION: just say no!
• The collection of specimens – despite the seemingly infinite abundance of marine life, the removal of species is not only detrimental to the ecosystem, but may also result in the accidental removal of rare and endangered species. SOLUTION: refrain from collecting any specimens and do your best to discourage others from doing so.
• Increase in sedimentation – as tourism grows, so does the construction of hotels and other developments used to accommodate travelers. With construction comes pollution in the form of noise, contaminated air and water, and copious sedimentation both natural and synthetic. Higher amounts of sedimentation close to the shore encourage ocean species to move farther offshore, where lower levels of nutrients are available for their consumption and they are more vulnerable to the pernicious attacks of motorboats, etc. SOLUTION: consider going somewhere else for the holidays, or remain strictly green and encourage others to follow your lead – which should be a perpetual tactic for us eco travelers anyway!
• Waste – more people equals more waste. While proper waste disposal methods are usually available, many tourists are ignorant of environmentally friendly ways to dispose of their waste. Another problem is the myriad tourists who just don’t care about the environment enough to change their destructive habits. Their garbage then winds up floating on the water and sticking to coral reefs. SOLUTION: speak up when you see someone littering and kindly point them in the right direction.
• Pollution – While some vacation spots aren’t located within industrialized areas, it is usually inevitable that pollutants will be released into the air, land, and water in the forms of fuel, oil, paint, sewage, and so on. SOLUTION: go green or don’t go at all!

It is imperative that we continue to raise awareness about green tourism to inspire respect for our precious planet. As we continue to devise new ways to mitigate humans’ effects on our planet, we owe it to ourselves to compassionately educate those around us.