Climate change has caused a widespread personal change in the way people live as the planet earth continues to rotate and revolve. Because of the degradation of the Mother Nature, the consequences and the sums proved to be unbearable to mortal human beings. This is because human beings are forever on the mercy of the planet and its natural course.
In recent years, the world has witnessed to many great tragedies and natural disasters that had been unbeknownst some generations ago. Category five typhoons became a natural occurrence rather than a phenomenon. Destructive and torrential rains causing massive flooding around the world became a part of the year. Moreover, they have been expected like part of the original seasons of nature.
These disasters are argued to be by products of climate change or a shift in the way natural occurring seasons and weather phenomena happen. And where did the rapid change in climate originate? Most experts say from the lack of care to earth’s caretakers- human beings.
Massive portions of the earth’s rainforests have already been depleted not because of tornadoes but rather with logging in order to furnish a country house with a beautiful coffee table or a lovely cupboard. By logging, the Mother Nature cries, “A multi-million dollar, multinational, multigenerational industry that has already killed a huge number of her children.”
As if the depletion of the rainforests has not been enough, rivers are covered with earth in order to build subdivisions or housing settlements to cope up with a growing population. All of these reasons pile up on top of each other and produce an imbalance in the once stable ecosystem. Mother Nature can only stretch her forgiving prowess and when she says foul, it is enough. It is either human beings respect her being the nurturer of the nature or suffer her wrath for disrespecting her territory.
The world today struggles to cope up with the climate change or it can never again be reversed. All sectors of society whether politics and business, or the institutional sectors such as the schools and media, and even in families and individuals, they now understand the need for caring for the environment and be more aware and conscious of their impact on earth. This is the main theme for changing the way people live, eat, work, study, consume, and even in travel.
The old maxim of, “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time,” becomes a very relevant principle to live by when it comes to tourism or travel. The tourism and travel sector of most societies have taken these adage to heart and commits to inculcate this to the heart of any tourist or traveller.
Eco travel or eco-tourism has been around the business for a relatively short time, maybe less than a decade old. This packaging of the travel industry aims to teach travellers or tourists that tourism can backfire and work to the disadvantage if the unwritten code of respect for Mother Nature will be violated. Eco travel is built on the principle that travelling is both a recreation and a responsibility built on a mutual respecting relationship between the earth and the traveller. Whatever one does will certainly affect the other.
The old adage mentioned above is very true to be the general principle of eco travel. Upon this main principle are the rules both written and not revolve.
The “Take Nothing but Photos” statement is a plea to acquire memories from a certain place and not anything that does not belong to the traveller. Any member of the Mother Nature’s family is not meant to be taken from its original place to be put on a zip lock then stored in the office shelf. The shells belong to the see. The sand does sleep in the shores. The trees are planted deep in the ground to indicate their strong resistance to be moved. Taking them will destroy their balance. What a human being gets from a resort in the Carribean will be felt a thousand miles in the small island-nation of Nauru in the Pacific. This principle of eco travel asks that photos be the best form of souvenir to be taken as a tangible memory.
The “Leave Nothing but Footprints” simply means that Mother Nature does not need any souvenirs or proof from the traveller! She has more than enough family members who are all irreplaceable by non-biodegradable grocery plastic bags or a bottle of the sun tan lotion. Mother Nature does not need decorations to hang on her trees or additional swimmers in the ocean. This principle translates to leave the place as it is without any trace that the traveller has been there except for a good set of footprints.
Lastly, the “Kill Nothing but Time” principle loosely translates to “hands-off my children” mentioned by its Mother. As travellers, the itinerary of a premeditated murder of a coral reef or a bird is a crime against all nature. The punishment, in its capital form is the vengeance of a tumultuous disaster and bearing the brunt of the Mother’s anger. Travelling does not permit human beings to take the life of a beautiful butterfly for its wings to be dried out and be of use as a bookmark of the book on tourism. Time is the only element that can be killed by enjoying what mother earth has in store for humans to see, adore, explore, and love.
The principles of eco travel can be easily carried out. Any traveller can understand them easily, without having to memorize articles and sections of the law of the ecosystem. These principles are meant to be taken into the very core of the heart where respect for nature should reside.
Eco travel is more than just a business or a fad in the tourism industry. It is the direct contribution of this culture in the way that it can help protect and save the main thing that it exists- Mother Nature.