A holiday at the end of the Earth: tourists paying to see global warming in action
After our group made a question about global waming, we were struggling to search something about global warming.
During that time I found interesting news about global warming on the Internet, which is about Global warming tourism.
Unfortunately, because of language problem, I was searching in Korean website instead of google to better understand. (This was what I used to do when I got stuck to find or don’t know about something)
It shows that one tour company really use global warming as their one of tour program.
This was really interesting research because what we discussed during past few week was ‘who is make money out of Global warming’ and it was a different kind of company we never expect from the question.
And this tour company is really making money.
US tour company,Betchart Expeditions Inc, is known as exploring not only safari expedition but also history expedition.
As their tour plan, whole program will be led by Dennis Schmitt who found out the new island in 2005 that was formed by the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
This is called Warming Island now.
The program will set out from 25th Sep. to 6th Oct this year.
The tourists will be listening the lecture in terms of effect of global warming how it affects the environment while they travel around ‘warming island’ for one day.
The idea is very likely and not too bad but my question was what is it really for?
What is the purpose of the trip?
Are they really making people aware of seriousness of global warming?
Although this tour program is quite expensive, it is already started to sell by some people.
According to Michael McCarthy,he states that ‘The author Mark Lynas, who has a strong claim to be the world’s first global-warming tourist – he wrote the first book about its effects around the world, High Tide – agrees that people are looking for such different trips that global-warming tourism will probably be an inevitable development’
“The way things are going, people want new experiences not had by 10,000 people the previous week,” he said. “But there’s no such thing as the lonely planet any more. You’re facing hundreds of other people seeking a lonely planet wherever you go, so we are getting all sorts of new tourism. It’s broadening out more thematically, becoming issue tourism.”
“The idea of global-warming tourism is full of ironies,” he said. “If enough people expend enough fossil fuels to visit one Warming Island, they will ensure that there will be many more.”
I might be interesting tour idea for people but ironically, the fact is that tourism also is a one of factor, which encourage environmental problem.
There was another reading of that fact.
That was a article about Global Warming and Travel.
In this article, Bill Maloney, executive vice president of the American Society of Travel Agents in Alexandria says
“Tourism is an industry harmed by any harm to the environment. Period,”
My opinion of this new idea,‘Global warming tourism’,is that it doesn’t regard as just new tour program.
It is more about how it understandable for people.
Reference
Michael McCarthy,A holiday at the end of the Earth: tourists paying to see global warming in action, Published in May 03 2007
from http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2504641.ece
Betchartexpeditions,A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO WARMING ISLAND, GREENLAND from http://www.betchartexpeditions.com/antarctica_warmIs.htm
Mike Tidwell,Global Warming and Travel from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2001/09/09/AR2005041402506.html
