Save Eco Destinations

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.

Have you asked yourself this—why people don’t care?

I  have.

Most often, I can only think that it is an issue of greed, selfishness, ignorance or—especially—outright denial (and greed).

We know that people in the South Pacific, such as the islands of Tuvalu, and other low-lying areas are living on land that is sinking (flooding really). Imagine sea water coming up to your knees, your hips…

Food can no longer grow, water is polluted, sewage systems are screwed, hygiene hazards are rampant, and ultimately people must be evacuated lest they die by drowning or other troubles. Elsewhere, droughts turn rich pasture turns into dead, barren land.

Already, 300,000 die yearly due to global warming (the vast majority of whom are women, by the way).

It is expected that millions of refugees will need places to go as global warming advances and water takes over the areas of Bangladesh, Calcutta, New York, Florida, and on and on.

So, this is enough to make people care, right? To get a Nalgene bottle and refill it daily instead of wasting myriad resources on purchasing pricy bottled water, to recycle instead of tossing cans in the garbage, to appreciate things more and be less wasteful, to become conscientious.

You’d think so.

So why isn’t it?

Language

Some people think it’s all in the language. The New York Times article claims that environmentalists worry the term “global warming” repels conservatives and others because they associate it with hippies and cutting spending.

The firm conducting the study suggested discussing “our deteriorating atmosphere” to make it, um, more universally relevant. I know, pathetic.

Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.”

Whatever. Language? If this is truly the case, it’s so funny I forgot to laugh—and chose to ram my head into the wall instead.

“We know why it’s lowest. When someone thinks of global warming, they think of a politicized, polarized argument. When you say ‘global warming,’ a certain group of Americans think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.” – ecoAmerica

Oh no! Liberals!

Plus, screw global warming—it will only affect them.

Did I mention “ram my head into the wall”?

So we can’t say global warming, energy efficiency or the environment. Are you kidding me? Ridiculous.

Listen, if your problem is that anything that sounds liberal spooks you, you’ve got more problems than one—particularly when the issue at hand is as imminent as global warming. Swallow and digest it.

Make it personal

Perhaps (and this is my opinion) the point is making the issue clearly and directly relevant to everyone.

Whether it’s threatening that your favorite Caribbean hotel where you spend your ritzy summers will shut down due to flooding or that your beloved ski resort will shut down due to a lack of snow, that is, no matter what kind of selfish jerk you are, the answer lies in making the issue relevant to you.

It makes sense. Not everyone is the underdog type who cares about others because of justice. Most people need to be directly affected by something to even blink. And it really seems that it is most people who need to be shaken up out of their catatonic state.

Changes to make to drive others to change

(FYI: My thoughts are in parentheses.)

Instead of global warming, try climate change (hey, it wasn’t my idea).

Substitute energy efficiency with the purportedly more positive saving money for a more prosperous future.

Drop the environment in favor of the air we breathe, the water our children drink—which right here is an example of making the situation directly relevant to people. Put them in the picture.

Remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology – NYT

Switch environmentalists with conservationists (ooh, that feels sleazy).

Forget scientific arguments and stress common sense. (Listen, you need both.)

Use moral arguments—people need to feel guilty to get off their asses, it’s true.

A modest example:

As a conservationist, I urge you to consider saving money for a more prosperous future by turning off the tap when you brush your teeth to conserve water, leaving more for our children and their children to drink. It is our responsibility as Americans/Germans/Brazilians/etc. Think of your family and your friends. Climate change is something we can all collaborate to control through simple common sense.

Yeah, but let me tell you why I don’t like it. Because people should already be concerned and on the go. Because “climate change” sounds less severe than “global warming” (which, already, doesn’t sound critical enough). Because our priorities should lie on mitigating global warming instead of changing our rhetoric to make asshats care.

FYI, here’s a related article I just found while browsing for pictures:  Eco-semantics

Here you go. Now go call yourself a conservationist.

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?

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 it  repeatedly to the skin, wear a hat, and wear UV-resistant clothing (e.g. Solartex and No Zone) .

Local activists have been fighting developers and winning in a little place called Puerto Morelos on the Riviera Maya, between over-developed Cancún and Playa del Carmen. Green activism is keeping a village of about 5,000 people set on the beach smelling like fish and seaweed (a good thing!).

The beach isn’t full of sunbathers, there is consequently less sunblock grease on the ocean surface, and it won’t remind you of the plastic scenery of Miami’s South Beach like Cancún can. It resembles “the real Mexico”—e.g. you won’t run into any Wal-Marts. This New York Times article describes peaceful Puerto Morelos as a green mom and pop village. Has anyone been there who could share some impressions?

But if the NYT begins to make a habit of calling attention to little-known eco sanctuaries such as Puerto Morelos, the effect may be detrimental. This article in the paper’s Travel section starts by painting readers an idyllic picture of a genuine, untainted, eco-friendly area, and before you know it, enthusiastically touts Puerto Morelos as it would any “hot spot”: by reviewing the restaurants, recommending dishes, and telling you how much you’ll save by taking advantage of the USD/MXN exchange rate in addition to the already low prices. That is, the NYT article switches to robbing it of its eco virtues and natural wonders and violently shifts perspective to reel you into the commercial possibilities, inviting you—the average, non-eco conscious, tourist—to help rape it.

It might as well read, “Come visit Puerto Morelos! Pretend that you care about the environment and come help deform this tourist spot by transforming it from an anti-corporate haven to Cancún 2.0! You’ll be the envy of all your friends at the next cocktail party.”

Of course you will find hotels and tourist shops in the area, but only a modest amount. Additional tourists means increased amounts of sewage, coral reef-damaging sunblock in the water, fishing (it’s already a fishing village), diving—all sorts of penetration and slow (or quick) destruction of nature.

Puerto Morelos might or might not speed downhill in the near future. LocoGringo.com opines that in this village, “tourism is just beginning.” At the very least, now we know we can’t count on the NYT for genuine support. Which means we must count on ourselves.

What can we do? Raise awareness through word of mouth, blogs, online communities, and by example: practice conscientious travel habits and support eco tourism.

Here is a short list of useful links – please add to the mix:

Green Travel Tips on MSNBC.com

Go Green Travel Green

Green Hotels Association

GeekAbout.com’ s 31 Tips to Save Money & Environment

IndependentTraveler.com’s tips

EcoTourDirectory

Also, see SaveEcoDestinations’s blogroll, organizations, and websites links.