Let's Protect the Earth

        Through my study in the past few weeks, I deeply have a feeling that humans are destroying the environment and they don’t even know about it. The resources in our planet are limited, and if we don’t protect them, they will be used up in one day. Some natural environments are the important scenic spots in tourism, but the area of nature is getting less and less. They are damaged and polluted because of human’s actions. Some firms discharge the toxic waste and the pollutant into the sea, some people hunt and kill the wildlife, and some tourists throw garbage everywhere during visiting the natural environment. If we don’t improve our behavior and ethic, we not only damage the environment, but also destroy ourselves.

        As we know, something really bad happened in Japan in this week. When I saw the video about the tsunami and the nuclear explosion, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought that seems more like a movie, and it was not what happen in the real world. After the tsunami, a large area in Japan was destroyed and lots of people died. Many Japanese lost their home and families. The worse thing happened to them was the nuclear explosion. The nuclear explosion caused damage to the whole Japan because of the nuclear radiation. Now people in Japan don’t have enough food to eat, and children don’t have milk to drink, because most of food and animals are polluted.

        The disaster that happened in Japan is act of God, people can’t avoid and have to face it. What we can do is to behave ourselves and try our best to protect our lovely planet. We should avoid the waste of resource and the pollution to the natural environment. Earth is the only planet for humans, how can we make damage to it?

Tourism Pollution in Himalayas

        Himalayas is now a famous destination for tourists. The geography and climate in Himalayas provide the tourists a chance to enjoy the panoramic views and do some adventure sports. But as the Himalayas becomes the most popular destination, the polluted problem is getting worse and worse. According to the measure by the state government, the major factor that leads to this serious pollution is made by the tourists. The tourism development in Himalayas brings a considerable incomes to the government and also the business opportunity to the locals, but in long term, the damages to the environment are uncorrectable.



Himalayas in Summer



Himalayas in Winter

        Himalayas is a place that gathers various culture, and it is also an impoortant place for pilgrimages to visit. These pilgrimages have brought in the major pollution. Vandana Chaudhary said :"The Ganges and Yamuna and their tributaries, have been reeling under high levels of pollution, during their course in Himalayas even before they reach plains." Eco-tourism is the most sustainable way to protect the environment, because it does not bring a impact to the eco-system. It does not only create economic opportunities for conservation of natural resources and wildlife, but also spreads awareness among people to protect the nature in order to remain a balanced eco-system. 

Mount Everest and the Nepali Himalayas have become the highest junkyard in the world

        As we know, the human's behavior can directly effect the pollution to the environment. Visiting this majestic destination is good, but please don't pollute it. Ecology and biodiversity conservation in Himalayas have tried to reduce and control the pollution in some areas, but the biggest challenge is to avoid the pollution caused by tourists. This can be achieved by education and increasing the ethics of humans. 

Resource: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13456606/Tourism-PollutionA-Great-Concern-for-Himalayas-in-India

Pollution and Tourism in Mediterranean Sea

         Mediterranean sea is the most popular tourism destination in the world. It includes many famous islands such as Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, Corsica and so on. Mediterranean sea has good climate, beautiful seaview, rich history and diverse culture.

        On the other side, Mediterranean sea is heavily polluted by heavy metals and persistant organic pollutants. Some factories discharges thousands of tonnes of toxic waste into the sea. How can the  Mediterranean sea keep the original style and features of the natural landscape? These human damages to the natural environment are shameful. Besides, most of the shipping routes are contained in Mediterranean sea, the effluent of oily waste becomes a serious problem. Although the shipping businees brings an important income to the Mediterranean sea, but I think the government should set a limit of quantity, and strictly gives licences to the high standard shipping company. We should try our best to reduce the pollution.

        Tourism is another important source of income to Mediterranean sea. The government provides lots of supports to the tourism industry. They are bent on building of infrastructure and attracting tourist, but the rapid development brings the Mediterranean sea serious ersion and pollution problems. Many species are effected by these threats. What a pity if people ruin this wonderful place! We have to protect the Mediterranean sea. Although it is important for the government to set the policy to avoid the damage, people should have self ethical priciple. I think setting a serious punishment to the factories that discharge pollutants into the sea is most important. The damages to the natural environment is always made by humans, so I think the education and avoidance are much better than remedial measure.

Resources: http://www.greenpeace.org/mediterranean/mediterranean-marine-reserves/threats/pollution-and-tourism

Air Pollution in Hong Kong

        Tourism is one of the most important factor of economy growth in Hong Kong. Mention to Hong Kong, lots of people think of shopping, attraction and crowd (the dense population). Hong Kong is not a big city, but its population is 7.03 million, and the record of tourists in one years is around 22 million. In these few years, more and more tourists complain that the air pollution in Hong Kong makes them choke. The Air pollution is already become a serious problem in Hong Kong. It is hard to maintain the balance between the lucrative tourism business and the environmental protection.

        According to this situation, the  Hong Kong government has to take action, making the policies to relevant pollution source. First of all, the government tries to reduce the use of diesel. It carries out the voluntary schemes to reduce the diesel vehicles, but this policy doesn't work efficiently. Secondly, it aims to decrease the harmful pollutants to improve energy savings and efficiency in all public and private place in Hong Kong. Thirdly, the government takes a strong action in the tobacco control. All the tobacco retailers have to apply for licenes, and all people have to pay high taxes for buying tobacco in Hong Kong. In 2006, the government force that smoking is no longer allowed in public indoor areas.

        Hong Kong is a really beautiful city, but the serious air pollution makes people not like it any more. Does anyboby think about what leads this beautiful city become like that? Is that true you have nothing to do with this situation? Lots of people always regret what they have done, but why not to spend some time in thinking before you do? The environment will not get better if we don't protect it, and the air will not be clean if we do nothing.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Hong_Kong

                http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Hong_Kong_Pollution_Leaves_Tourists_Choking.html

 

Human Impacts in Antarctic Landscape

        Since the frirst tourists visits Antarctic landscape in 1958, Antarctic had attracted more than 10000 tourists to visit. At that time, there was not any policy about how to protect this natural environment. Human damage and pollution were hard to avoid. Tourists universally visited  Antarctic by ship, it brought in problems about the exploitation of energy resources and pollution. The protocol of environment protection was not carried out until 1998. It formulated different policies about the conservation of flora and fauna, the prevention of marine pollution and so on. The policies alleviated the waste of resources and pollution in Antarctic.

        Besides, the whaling was polular in Antarctic. Norwegian C. A. Larsen established a whaling station and  held the seasonal whale kill. Only in the first season, 195 whales were killed. Some tourists went to Antarctic just for seeing the whaling by their own eyes.This was not fun. Human's selfishness seriously broke the ecosphere.

        As the technology is developed, people can travel wherever they want. At the same time, they may be making damages to the environment unconsciously. People should pay more attention to the environment, and their care can save the world.

Link of resource: http://www.antarctica.org.nz/06-human_impact/index.html

Can you imagine?

Human Damage in the Rainforest

        As the rainforest is developed as a tourist attraction, the environmental issue becomes more seriously. Tourism brings positive impact to this area, but also makes negative effects to the rainforest and its residents. As more and more peoplel are going to visit, the demand of accommodation is growing. Building new hotel needs lots of woods as the materials. The primary resource they have got is from the rainforest. The disafforestation is happening consquentially. This does not only affect the plant in the rainforest, but also effects the wildlives there.

        Many people make money by tourism, and they only count how much money they can earn. The man-made damage in the environment is always being ignored. When people finally realize how bad the man-made damage effects the environment, that will be too late to remedy. The rainforest is a case that the damage has already happened. Both of the environment and the tradition are forgotten. People should find a way to develop the tourism and protect the environment at the same time, so that the tourism can bring them the long term benefits.

Link of the resource:http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0813.htm

Introduction

        In this blog, I will post all my studies about the man-made damage in tourism.