Oftentimes mankind is incapable of putting others before themselves even over their littlest comfort. This is especially true when their help brings no immediate changes or directly influences their community. Unfortunately, such ignorant and selfish acts have not only victimized their own kinds but also the world they exist in: the Earth. One of many ways that the human race has devastated the planet is through tourism. In their perspective this may be a means of entertainment acquired through sacrificing a fraction of their wealth, but in actuality they are sacrificing their own natural resources such as water, air and land.
One might wonder how groups of sightseers on a tour can devastate one of the biggest natural resources, water. In truth, when a mass of population gathers at a single place it is inevitable for their garbage and the necessary accommodations to follow, which will, in turn, ruin the earth’s water supply. These accommodations include transportation. Apart from the amount of human waste sent into the sea that will increase with the number of tourists, transportation such as colossal cruise ships or tour ferries will add to the filth. Ships not only discard human waste but also toxic lubricants. In fact, the topic of water pollution caused by Antarctica tour ships is still an issue at hand. In 2007, because of the Antarctica’s peculiar icy climate, a cruise ship, the MS Explorer, crashed into an ice berg and sank. Inside the Explorer there were about 56,000 gallons of pollutants all together. This not only left the body of water in danger but also the 2,500 penguins who habitats the area. In the case of Antarctica, there were only penguins, but in the cases of thousands of already polluted beaches it is the people who will have to face the consequences. As tourism continues to grow more popular among people, water will no longer be safe or be available for the future generations.
Another natural resource in a dire situation is the air that people breathe in. Not surprisingly, many tourists prefer airplanes as their means of travel, since they are the fastest transportation available to the public. However, as planes burn fuels to fly, carbon dioxide is continuously emitted into the air, which is known to be the main catalyst for the Greenhouse Gas effect, which is regarded to be the cause of the many bizarre climate changes occurring around the world. In fact, the International Civil Aviation Organization stated that the number of international travelers is predicted to rise to 1.6 billion by 2020. In addition, planes are not the only transportation that tourists utilize. They also tend to take cars and buses to journey through cities and clusters of countries. In fact, according to Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 70 percent of all tourists use cars as transportation, while 40 percent of tourists use airlines. Thus, if such air-polluting tendency in tourism continues without an eco-friendly alternative, the atmosphere will only persist to become polluted along with shortening the life span of the blue planet.
With the downfall of water and air through tourism, the mother earth is also at jeopardy. First of all, in order to create more space for hotels and resorts or to support the growing number of population in the area, many forests are eradicated. Regrettably, as many are aware, vegetation not only plays a vital role in purifying the air but they also hold the soil together, preventing them from drying up and blowing away. However, once the hold is gone the soil is ruined and with a bit of rain or a quake, a natural disaster like a landslide can easily happen. Additionally, a healthy empty terrain can turn into a landfill overnight due to the growing number of populations; and the garbage at the site will take at least 100 years to decompose. Notably, Jeju Island, with its increasing popularity among tourists, it now has 10 landfills to match the incoming waste. In this regard, it is necessary to understand that the toxic waste from the dump locations can easily seep out into the ocean or even into the underground water that people use every day. In other words, the earth spoiled by tourism will eventually lead to influencing other natural resources mentioned previously. This is unavoidable for they are all part of the earth’s eco-system.
At the beginning, it was mentioned that tourists are not just sacrificing their money but also the natural resources – water, air and land. However, it is important to conclude from the points stated above that by being ignorant for the sake of pleasure, mankind is not sacrificing something else but, in fact, themselves. The environment may wind up with scars but it will be the human race that faces its own end. It is as the English author David Mitchell has said - “in an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.”
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