Save Eco Destinations

Climate change will bring a combination of rising temperatures and increased predation that will result in biodiversity loss – and it may be worse than currently predicted, claims a study by University of British Columbia (UBC) zoologist Christopher Harley.

“Global warming is already having significant ecological impacts and it’s only going to get more dramatic,” Harley warned.

The study

Published in the current issue of the journal Science, the study examines how rocky shore barnacles and mussels react to the combined effects of warming and predation by sea stars.

Harley looked at the upper and lower temperature limits of barnacles and mussels from the cool west coast of Vancouver Island to the warm shores of the San Juan Islands, where water temperature rose from relatively cool in the 1950s to the much warmer years of 2009 and 2010.

He found that in cooler locations, mussels and rocky shore barnacles could live high on the shore and be shielded from their predators. But as temperatures rose, barnacles and mussels had to move to lower shore levels — and be exposed to predatory sea stars, whose location has not shifted.

“Sea stars are the terrors of the intertidal zone,” said Harley, Vancouver Sun reports. “As it gets hotter you would expect [species] to just move down to lower positions on the shore where they wouldn’t be out of the water for so long. But things aren’t shifting in unison.”

As daily high temperatures during the summer have jumped by almost 3.5 degrees Celsius in the last 60 years, barnacle and mussels have moved 50 cm lower on the shore. However, the effects of predators, and therefore the position of the lower limit, have thus far remained unchanged.

“That loss represents 51% of the mussel bed. Some mussels have even gone extinct locally at three of the sites I surveyed,” said Harley.

He then found that when stress from sea star predation was reduced by using exclusion cages, the sea stars were able to live in hotter sites where they usually don’t — and their population there more than doubled.

“A mussel bed is kind of like an apartment complex – it provides critical habitat for a lot of little plants and animals,” said Harley. “The mussels make the habitat cooler and wetter, providing an environment for crabs and other small crustaceans, snails, worms and seaweed.”

In contrast with many previous studies on how species ranges will change due to warming, this analysis does not assume that species will simply relocate to remain in their current temperature range.

As animals or plants are unable to change their habitat ranges, Harley told, the findings show that warming and predation together could spawn more widespread extinction than scientists currently anticipate.

“Warming is not just having direct effects on individual species,” Harley added. “This study shows that climate change can also alter interactions between species, and produce unexpected changes in where species can live, their community structure, and their diversity.”

The effect on fishers

Relatedly, UBC researchers have also determined how climate change can impact the economic viability of current fisheries practices. Fish stocks are already yielding fewer fish due to overfishing and environmental factors such as pollution.

“Climate change is likely to cause more losses unless we choose to act,” said Rashid Sumaila, principal investigator of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC and lead author of the study.

A collaboration between economists, biologists and climate-change scientists, the study gives a broad outlook of the effect of climate change on fisheries and their profitability; it was published online in the journal Nature Climate Change. It received the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts, National Geographic, the World Bank and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

As waters warm, species move to cooler waters

Warming ocean temperatures have led many species to move farther towards the poles and into deeper and cooler waters. This means that while fishers in a few regions, such as Scandinavia in the far north, may benefit because they will now have more fish to catch, many others, and particularly fishers in the tropics, will lose an important food source along with their livelihoods. (Many fishers in tropical regions are poor and fish to feed themselves and their families.)

Researchers examined regional phenomena to help them find out what could happen on a global scale. For instance, lower catches of pelagic fish (such as sardines and anchovies) in Peru resulting from warmer waters during the 1997-1998 El Niño event caused more than USD 26 million in losses.

“For example, if you think about sardines on the Pacific Coast here: Whenever the temperatures are a bit higher, we see more sardines moving from Mexico through the US to Canada,” Sumaila noted, CBC News reports.

Fish survival is compromised

William Cheung, a biologist at the UBC Fisheries Center, said changes in temperature and ocean chemistry directly and adversely affect the physiology, growth, reproduction and distribution of marine life.

“Fish in warmer waters will probably have a smaller body size, be smaller at first maturity, with higher mortality rates and be caught in different areas,” he explained.

NOAA scientist and co-author Sam Herrick is calling for ongoing studies on how climate change and related factors will shape marine ecosystems and the productivity of fish populations.

Richer fish stocks = better adaptation to change

It was found that the bigger populations are, the better fish can adjust to environmental shifts such as warming temperatures. Minimizing the combined strains from overfishing, habitat degradation, pollution runoff, land-use transformation, competing aquatic resource uses and other anthropogenic factors will also contribute to helping stocks cope with climate change.

“We have to remember that the effect of climate change on the marine environment will occur alongside the impacts on land,” said Daniel Pauly, a UBC fisheries biologist and co-author.  “It will not be easy to divert resources from one sector to help another sector. This is why a strong governance system is needed – to temper the losses on the sectors that are worst hit.”

In other words, government officials need to step up and work harder to stop overfishing and illegal fishing, reduce runoff from agriculture and other polluting sources, and fight habitat destruction, among taking other measures.

Take a small step to make a difference

In the meantime, if you eat fish, something you can do is commit to purchasing only sustainably caught seafood. Read more about how to do this here:

• Greenpeace reveals canned tuna guide
• Fish eaters beware – your “sustainable” fish may not be

Related blog posts on Save Eco Destinations:

• Marine experts spell doom for world’s oceans, Pt. 2
• Marine experts spell doom for world’s oceans, Pt. 1

 

 

(This is part two of a two-part series on a report regarding the dismal state of our oceans. Part 1 of the series discusses the report’s findings and the primary ocean stressors currently involved.)

Entire marine ecosystems could disappear within a generation — a phenomenon that would take a devastating toll on humans, not just marine animals, according to the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) report discussed in part one of this series.

You might be surprised to hear that shellfish and other marine animals comprise 15 per cent of animal protein for 3 billion people throughout the world, and another 1 billion people rely on fish stocks for their main source of protein. It’s important to remember that we need to preserve marine ecosystems, not only because they’re pretty to look at and something to explore when we’re taking a decadent beach vacation, but also because much of humanity’s food security is at stake here.

In fact, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) last December released a report called “Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification: A Threat to Food Security,” noting that burgeoning greenhouse gas emissions may have more widespread and complex effects on ocean health than previously anticipated, and that the chemistry of the globe’s oceans is being altered at a rate unseen for 65 million years.

The report confirms worries that corals, shellfish and other organisms may have an increasingly difficult time surviving due to weakening skeletons, and demonstrates that ocean acidification combined with ocean warming would lower the range of temperatures in which crabs and other animals can thrive.

This could powerfully affect, among other factors, catches of shellfish; species reliant on coral reefs and those such as salmon that feed on shell-building organisms lower down the food chain. – FIS

What’s more, climate change is predicted to cause big dents in coastal fisheries resources in the Pacific Islands region, potentially slashing production by as much as 50 per cent by 2100, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Heads of Fisheries communicated in March. It is forecasted that higher sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and loss of important habitats like coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves will dramatically affect the inshore resources that provide myriad coastal communities in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and other impoverished countries with food and a livelihood. And let’s not forget that people who live off fisheries in various ways populate most countries on Earth, from the United States and Malta to Argentina and Pakistan.

Some 55 million years ago, 2.2 gigatonnes of CO2 were released annually for thousands of years and numerous species died out. Today, it is estimated that 2.2. gigatonnes of CO2 are shot into the atmosphere every year by deforestation alone.

“The rate of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere and the rate of change in the oceans is extraordinary — there is a very urgent need to get that under control,” stressed Alex Rogers, a professor of conservation biology at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study.

And now, the most important part of this series:

What YOU can do

To address the findings, the IPSO report gives several recommendations, such as the creation of “a global body empowered to ensure compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea” and steps to improve the fish stock sustainability.

Rogers suggested that anything from choosing the right kind of fish to eat to lobbying politicians helps.

I suggest that fish eaters scan Greenpeace’s canned tuna guide to make sure they are choosing sustainably caught tuna whose harvesting is not wiping out turtles, dolphins, or other species. Also, California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium has a seafood guide that’s really nifty (available as pocket or mobile, too) and the website is rich with information on related issues. Check out their recommendations!

Support green organizations like Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Greenpeace, who work to both spread awareness about vital issues and fight the “bad guys” (in this case, Sea Shepherd – very courageously – goes after poachers hands-on, while Greenpeace targets harvesters of destructively caught fish and the companies that sell them, fights companies that pollute egregiously, and so on).

Attend clean-up days at your local beach or park. Go to Hands Across the Sand each year. Consider volunteering and donating whatever resources you have to anyone working toward a worthy cause.

Whenever a petition appears that could help ocean health, sign it. Visit sites like Care2 and Change.org and sign up for their newsletters to stay informed on new developments, learn how to help, and to find likeminded friends.

Together, we will make a difference.

“If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” – Mother Theresa

(This is part one of a two-part series on a report regarding the dismal state of our oceans. Part two of the series tackles the situation’s repercussions on humans and what we can do to help our oceans recover.)

A team of marine experts announced this week a new summary report arguing that climate change and other man-made factors will spur colossal levels of extinction in the world’s oceans. The catastrophe is forecasted to be “unprecedented in human history.”

The proverbial excrement, it seems, is about to hit the fan.

Not surprisingly, it appears that changes in our atmosphere, ecosystems, and habitats across the planet are accelerating too quickly for many species to adapt and be able to survive.

“The speed of change, particularly related to climate change, is so great there simply isn’t time for marine life to adapt to these new conditions,” said Alex Rogers, a professor of conservation biology at the University of Oxford.

He explained that mass extinctions have been tied to considerable changes in the oceans’ carbon systems in the past.

“That’s what we’re bringing about through our own actions today,” he noted, reports ABC News.

Rogers and a team of 26 other researchers from various countries met earlier this year for a three-day workshop in England to study ocean stressors. Their full report is set to be published in the near future.

Ocean stressors at play

Ocean acidification is one key factor. Here’s what it’s about: carbon dioxide (CO2) (along with methane and other gasses) plays a huge role in heating up our planet and thereby causing climate change, which includes melting polar ice caps and rising ocean levels. Okay. What you might not know is that one-third of the planet’s CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, and that the more CO2 the ocean absorbs, the greater the waters’ acidity. This phenomenon is called ocean acidification and it’s noxious to our planet for many reasons. For example, rising acidity levels in our oceans have been found to:

• Impair fish hearing and smell, putting their survival in danger
• Kill off endangered species such as northern abalone
• Threaten the survival of krill, itself the basic food source of nearly all animals in the ocean

Apart from ocean acidification, rising water temperatures, overfishing, pollution, and even tourism are all exacerbating the rapid decline of species such as reef-forming coral. (Go here, here, and here for more on the state of coral reefs.)

Sharks and other species may be next, warned Rogers, lead author of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) report.

Further, he said that, in many cases, the impacts of ocean stressors were found to have a greater overall effect than any single effect when taken together. For example, the decline of coral reef ecosystems due to overfishing and reef bleaching, plus the acidification that causes bleaching, will eradicate “the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet.”

Chilling.

“As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean, the implications became far worse than we had individually realized,” Rogers said. “This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level.”

Stay tuned for part two of this 2-part series.

It’s summer and once again Hands Across the Sand is coming to your beach or city so you can gather with likeminded, environmentally oriented folk and peacefully show your opposition against offshore oil drilling and your support of clean energy solutions for a sustainable Earth. This Saturday will be the second annual Hands Across the Sand event held across the globe.

It goes like this: on June 25^th at 11am, wherever you are, go to the beach for 1 hour (rain or shine). Stand and hold hands with others while forming lines in the sand against oil drilling in your coastal waters. Remember to wear eco-friendly sunblock :)

According to the website, the movement is not about politics; instead, it is a push toward protecting coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, and fisheries from the menace of expanded offshore drilling and the accidents that can come with it, such as last year’s massively catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, whose calamitous effects are expected to be felt for decades to come.

More you can do:

• Florida residents can sign a petition to ban oil drilling (you have to download, print, sign, and mail it to officials in Tallahassee, FL).
• Donate $5 or more by clicking on the “donate” buttons on the website.
• Follow the movement on Facebook and Twitter.
• Spread the word.

See photos from last year’s event.

The history of Hands Across the Sand

Florida surfer and restaurateur Dave Rauschkolb founded the even in October 2009 after a bill was passed in the Florida House of Representatives to end the ban on nearshore drilling. Rauschkolb got the support of sponsor organizations and rallied over 10,000 Floridians to join hands on February 13, 2010 along the state’s coastlines, to show the extent of Floridians’ opposition to nearshore drilling.

Hands Across The Sand enjoys the support of national (U.S.) and international environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Oceana, Environment America, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Alaska Wilderness League, Ocean Conservancy, Friends of the Earth, 350, Center for Biological Diversity, Audubon, and CleanEnergy.org.

Many companies tout their hotels as eco, but – as one might, unfortunately, expect – many companies also lie.

So how do you know if the place you’re thinking of staying at during your next vacation is really an eco hotel?

A great resource is EcoHotelology, a blog written by Holly Worton, who has 11 years of experience in the eco hotel industry. Although her blog’s main purpose is to help hoteliers learn how they can green their business (and home and office), Worton’s posts are helpful for anyone interested in expanding her or his knowledge about eco hotels and greening one’s lifestyle.

13 tell-tale signs that you’re dealing with an eco hotel:

• The rooms have a door-key-card-controlled electricity system that allows guests to turn off the electricity to their room by removing their card when they exit it
• Having green options offered to you, such as foregoing daily housekeeping
• Recycling services
• Low flow or dual flush toilets and low flow showerheads in the bathrooms
• Vegetarian meal options (and I don’t just mean spaghetti and salad. Give me something I can use!)
• The food is grown or produced locally, perhaps grown in an organic garden located on the premises
• Mindful ecotours/safaris – this means hummers are not used to drive guests around, nor ATVs; people are not allowed to speak or photograph in the presence of wildlife, and so on. Otherwise, it’s just a regular, nature-unfriendly tour/safari, and nature has enough hostility to deal with from us as it is.
• Only pasture-raised animal products are offered in its restaurants
• Only native plants are used in the landscaping
• Organic massage oils and all-natural products are used in the spa
• Wall dispensers provide shampoo, etc., instead of individual bottles and individually wrapped soaps
• The eco hotel uses renewable energy (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, etc.)
• Hybrid cars are used to transport guests and you can rent bicycles to get around the area

If you can rent bikes to get around, you may be in good hands.

5 signs that your eco hotel isn’t:

• The hotel contains a golf course
• The hotel endorses fishing, dolphin swims, visits to zoos, the use of jet skis and other personal water crafts, bonfires, hunting, etc.
• You see foie gras on the menu
• Food or drinks are brought to you in disposable containers and/or you get aluminum foil, plastic wrap, Styrofoam coffee cups or plastic utensils with your order
• You get mineral water in plastic bottles

Make sure to speak up and let the manager, etc., know you aren’t happy with their false advertising or any unsustainable aspects of the so-called eco hotel. And if the place is truly an eco hotel, feel free to inform them how glad you are about their eco-friendly services!

And always remember to do your part to travel green. We are all responsible for taking care of our planet!

Bikes aplenty in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Apart from the ubiquitous bikers spotted across the city, Amsterdam may not appear to be one of the greenest cities of tomorrow (or today). But it is quickly becoming increasingly energy-efficient.

Dutch energy company Nuon, IBM and Cisco last year jointly launched a pioneering energy management scheme in 500 households that is reducing their energy usage by 14% and CO2 emissions considerably.

Thus far, also, certain Dutch banks have given money to some 700 household to purchase energy-saving appliances ranging from light bulbs to roof insulation. The city plans to lower its CO2 emissions by a hefty 40% by 2025.

Another factor making Amsterdam one of the greenest cities of tomorrow is its intent to install several hundred power hookups within the next few years to allow electric car drivers to recharge their vehicles, and to set up solar panels on townhouses. EUR 100 million will be spent each year during the next 6 years to upgrade the electric networks to smart grids that will cut energy use.

Victoria Harbor, BC, Canada

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Victoria is boosting its efforts toward green public transport and building, energy-cutting developments, recycling and decreasing overall waste. It has also set a goal to go carbon neutral by 2012! Swift action’s where it’s at—don’t give me 2025, folks, because 15 years isn’t nearly soon enough…

Insofar as city planning, it supports the creation of a Civic Green Building Policy, which will mandate that the building of all new civic facilities meet the LEED Silver standard. In other words, they must lower energy use by 31% and water use by 22%.

In terms of waste reduction, Victoria has been implementing a program for several years destined to lower and recycle organic materials on a mass scale.

More reasons why Victoria is one of the greenest cities of tomorrow:  it has introduced the first hybrid double-decker buses in all of North America. Plus, the city is covered with so many bike routes it has become known as the “Cycling Capital of Canada.”

More: Victoria’s traffic lights are now energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the lighting in its buildings now feature more energy efficient lights.

Other greenest cities of tomorrow:

Malmö, Sweden
Gothenberg, Sweden
Vancouver, Canada
Reykjavík, Iceland
Portland, OR, USA

MAYAB Holistic Center and Educational Retreat, opening this month, educates its guests “about critical environmental issues facing the coastal ecosystems of the Sian Ka’an [Biosphere Reserve] and surrounding area.”

Eco education

This is crucial, and something I wish all eco hotels did. Think about it: what if someone wants to help the environment and so chooses to vacation at an eco hotel, but then wears regular sunscreen while checking out coral reefs? What if a couple celebrates their wedding on the coast of Quintana Roo, where so many severely endangered sea turtles go to nest? Or if people with good intentions visit bird sanctuaries and fail to keep their mouths shut? Noooooooo!

Disaster!

Violating the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve

However, Mayab was built just north of Tulum in the Yucatán Peninsula within the Sian Ka’an Biosphere, a 1.3 million-acre nature reserve that also hosts Mayan ruins. I know what you’re thinking: this does not sound ecologically auspicious, sustainable and green as Mayab may tout itself to be. I absolutely agree.

Building a hotel – eco or otherwise – within a natural reserve is egregiously intrusive and atrocious.

(I’m not even going to go into the accommodations set up by the Sian Ka’an reserve itself!)

Sure, founder Delainia Haug means well, but placing her premises within a UNESCO World Heritage Site sounds like more of a marketing move than an environmentally magnanimous one.

As the eco hotel’s website says, “Approximately 36,000 tourists entered the reserve in the year 2000, and those numbers are expected to increase significantly each year.” And don’t forget “The increase in tourism and overdevelopment are threatening this fragile habitat.”

Oh, and “In the summer three species of endangered sea turtles come ashore to build their nests here.” I don’t think tourists should be trusted to respect nesting sites, no matter how ostensibly ecologically mindful they may be. Staying at a hotel placed right by these sites – not to mention being responsible for it – is decidedly irresponsible, to say the least.

How, then, could building a hotel within the Sian Ka’an Biosphere be ecologically responsible?

The good stuff

Apart from educating its guests, Mayab filters its grey and black water, turning the latter into organic matter. It is also developing a solar generated power system, composts, and recycles.

Also, retreats and programs are held to increase awareness about environmental issues.

What do you think?

Is its presence within a reserve ecologically laudable or destructive?

Leave a comment here and contact Delainia to voice your thoughts!

Carbon Fund’s slogan is “reduce what you can, offset what you can’t.”

Sounds good, right?

But what about those people (most people?) who opt for carbon offsets merely to ease their guilt because they have never lifted a finger to reduce their ecologically destructive footprint?

Or – even worse – what if people buy carbon offsets so they can feel good about polluting more?  “I’m gone all day but I like to leave the AC on so it’s cool when I get back in the evening. Don’t worry – I offset my carbon footprint.” Or, “Honey, let’s each drive both our cars to the store even though we could carpool, just because we both enjoy driving so much!” You get the idea.

Entire companies are perniciously profiting from carbon offsets. Some don’t even follow through with their promises! Shameful.

And certain companies with laudable intentions are picking up on this:

In 2002 Responsible Travel became one of the first travel companies to offer customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter the planet-warming emissions generated by their airline flights.

But last month Responsible Travel canceled the program, saying that while it might help travelers feel virtuous, it was not helping to reduce global emissions. In fact, company officials said, it might even encourage some people to travel or consume more.

Examples of ecologically irresponsible behavior that irk me:

• Leaving the water on while washing dishes or brushing one’s teeth
• Turning the AC on but leaving the windows open
• Opening the fridge and keeping the door open for 5 minutes while deciding on what to eat
• Printing documents for no good reason
• Taking 20-minute showers
• Setting the AC at ludicrously low temperatures in the summer (or, in places like South Florida, almost all year long)
• Foregoing recycling because it’s time-consuming or inconvenient
• Foregoing reusing because new things are “nicer,” the latest trend, or debatably less work to just purchase new items
• Using the dishwasher, washer, or dryer when nearly empty

And wouldn’t you be much more likely to keep these habits up if you were offsetting your carbon footprint? And wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to offset and modify your absolutely changeable habits?

At the same time…

Back to Carbon Fund’s slogan – “reduce what you can, offset what you can’t” – it is completely possible, or even likely, that many people will choose to reduce, reuse, recycle, and offset.

But, really, how many individuals do you know who are that devoted? Who are already making significant efforts to greenify (it’s a word!) their lifestyle? Are you?

Greenifying ourselves will require changing what we:

• Eat (going vegan and buying locally)
• Wear (no more leather, suede, vinyl, and so on; giving up clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and more manufactured with toxic chemicals; using biodegradable sunscreen at the beach; etc.)
• Buy (opting for biodegradable cleaning products and paint, furniture, boycotting everything disposable and manufactured abroad, etc.)
• How we travel (bike, walk, jog, carpool, travel less, vacation closer to home, etc.)

And, naturally, many more aspects of our lives.

It won’t be easy – but isn’t it our only choice?

Read more about the downside of carbon offsets here and here.

P.S. Find other companies that offer carbon offsets here and here.

Do you enjoy organic farming and other activities that further sustainability?

There are organic farms all over the globe that you can volunteer at in exchange for free lodging and free meals, plus learning about organic farming and related lifestyles. Some farms have just a couple of hosts while others have entire families or small communities you would stay and hang out with.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) was founded in 1971 in the UK. The organizations involved with this project connect people who wish to volunteer, aka “WWOOFers” (awesome), with those who wish to receive help and impart their knowledge and skills to others. You can usually even do it if you don’t speak the local language! These hosts are cool folk, apparently.

WWOOFing in Australia with alpacas

Volunteers: What you need to know

On the WWOOF website you can find lists of organic farms, smallholdings, and gardeners. Some of them only request/accept help during certain months or seasons, while others are open all year long. Additionally, tasks vary per farm and, of course, geographical location.

You can visit the list of farms/hosts, choose the ones you’d like to visit, and contact them directly to make arrangements. WWOOFers usually live as part of the family, so the environment tends to be cozy and friendly (I assume, as I’ve never volunteered for WWOOF).

If you volunteer, you will not have to pay (and you won’t get paid) except for a “small fee” to WWOOF, which hosts must pay also. The fee helps maintain and grow the project.

The hosts

All hosts grow their food organically, are in conversion, or use environmentally friendly techniques on their farms and so on. Volunteers get hands-on experience growing organic crops and, where possible, by performing other tasks, such as feeding cattle.

There are WWOOF farms you can volunteer at in all five continents. The countries include the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, the European Union, Turkey, Israel, Cameroon, Uganda, South Africa, Australia, India, Japan, and others (keep checking the website).

Conclusion, so to speak

This sounds like a totally sweet deal for the adventurous, outdoorsy types who also want to make our world a better place (corny but true, huh? That’s okay.). Also, those of you free enough to get around, of course (the especially lucky among us!).

If you have experience with WWOOF, please share your thoughts and impressions! It sounds great, but there are always two sides to every story (at least).

 

This is a double post! (Are you excited? Woooo, you should be!)

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter. This is one of those times. Whether you consider yourself an eco expert or a newbie, skim this list in case there’s something new in there for you! And please feel free to add to it in the comments section.

• Stick to the rules that ask you to refrain from tresspassing into spots such as sea turtle nesting areas. The ruins in Tulum, for example, display a few signs with this message.
• Go ahead and pick up some trash and toss it in the garbage bin when other people have been inconsiderate. Help undo the harm with your kindness and compassion for life and the environment.
• Bring your own aluminum bottle to refill rather than wasting money and resource to buy and toss glass and plastic drinking bottles and cans (even if you can afterward recycle them, it’s better to reduce your use of resources to begin with :)). Why aluminum? Because plastic is toxic – and its carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, chemicals leech into water and food and enter your body (here is a plastic buying guide). Stay safe by recycling your water and nalgene bottles and switching to aluminum. Be sure to check whether the tap water in your area is safe to drink! The water in Tulum, for example, is not.
• Rent and ride a bike/walk/rollerblade/etc rather than drive when possible.
• Remain quiet in biodiversity areas – even the beach! And especially at night, when many animals venture out to nest, spawn, feed, and so on. Even whispering and small amounts of light have been found to disrupt the mating and normal behavior of wild birds and other animals.
• Do not feed birds, reptiles, and other wild animals.
• Be kind to the stray dogs that dot the areas where you’re spending your time – they’ve done nothing wrong. Consider buying them some food, at least giving them your leftovers, and setting out a bowl with water for them, particularly in hot weather. We all just want love and have the same basic needs, including food and water.
• Do not remove coral, rock, etc. when diving, snorkeling, and so on. Any removals can upset ecosystem balance – no matter how much you want that object as a souvenir!
• Support eco establishments and products!
• And speaking of eco products… remember that all toiletries and cleaners can be toxic (and usually are). For example, sodium laureth sulfate, which is in everything, has been found to cause cancer. Look it up here. Try switching to mindful brands for your body and the planet. Yes – they can be expensive. Cheap alternatives include using baking soda as shampoo and toothpaste, baking soda or cornstarch as deodorant, coconut oil to style your hair and as personal lubricant,honey or organic cold-pressed oils to cleanse your skin (this is excellent even for acne-prone skin), and so on. Find a deodorant recipe here plus more ideas here and here.

This planet is yours, mine, and everyone else’s – this includes non-human animals. It is not anyone’s to tras. It is our home. Let’s humbly bow and thank our Mother Earth for sustaining us, and offer our efforts to be sustainable in return. Join in the cycle of life, not destruction.