Religious Tourism

Hey urban nomads! In the previous posts, we talked about ecotourism (discussing both its opportunities as well as potential pitfalls). In this post, we will learn more about religious tourism and its pollution to the environment.

Religiously or spiritually motivated travel has gained popularity due to advancement in transportation system. It is estimated that approximately 240 million people annually go on pilgrimages, with the majority being Christians, Muslims and Hindus (Marle, 2011). In the interest of this post, we will focus on the Hindus.

Many of the sacred places visited by pilgrims and tourists are located near the rivers and the influx of people especially during peak season and cultural events have led to many environmental problems – water pollution (Marle, 2011).

One of such example is the Kumbh Mela festival which takes place at confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. The Kumbh Mela festival in India is the largest mass gathering in the world which attracted an estimate of 100 million visitors in 2013 (Sridhar, Gautret, Brouqui, 2015). The Hindus believe that taking a bath there will cleanse sins and help bring redemption. This festival stretches over 55 days and the environmental pollution is compounded by the fact that this event happens once every 12 years which makes it even more significant and sacred (Tripathi, 2013).

Kumbh Mela festival with 8 million devotees taking a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna on 14 January

Water Pollution

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measure of the level of organic pollution in the water and on 14 January 2013, the BOD increased to 7.4mg per litre up from 4.4mg per litre just a day before (Tripathi, 2013). The recommended level of BOD should not be more than 2mg per litre (Tripathi, 2013). This huge increase in BOD within a day proves that organic pollution has increased due to mass bathing, floral offerings and urination which increase the concentration of chloride and nitrate in the water (Bhatnagar, Devi, & George, 2016). Taking bath in the holy water of these rivers thus increases the spread of cholera – a water-borne disease due to poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water (World Health Organisation, 2016).

Air Pollution

Also, the Hindus believe that dead bodies should be cremated by burning firewood in an open ground and ash scattered in the river. 50 to 60 million trees are burned every year during cremations (Kermeliotis, 2011). The process of cremation generates harmful air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and heavy metals (Xue et al., 2018). Also, many of the wood are obtained by illegal means in a bid to earn more profits. Given that trees have the ability to act as a sink to store carbon, the cutting down of trees and subsequent burning of it not only prevents the trees from taking up CO₂but also release the stored carbon back into the atmosphere – worsening the issue of air pollution (Ryan, Birdsey, Hines, 2012).

Isn’t it ironic that the holy water that Hindus go to to cleanse their sins isn’t that ‘clean’ afterall due to the pollution that these religious events bring about? However, it seems like many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganges has the ability to clean and purify itself which continues to attract an influx of pilgrims, causing more environmental pollution. Also, this environmental pollution problem is a case of a tragedy of commons – individuals act according to their self-interest and the cumulative effect is detrimental as the well-being of the society is neglected.

References:

Kermeliotis, T. (2011, September 17). India’s burning issue with emissions from Hindu funeral pyres. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/12/world/asia/india-funeral-pyres-emissions/index.html

Marle, S.M. (2011). Assessment of pilgrimage impact on river water quality and health along river indrayani district Pune India.

Ryan, M.G.; Birdsey, R.A.; Hines, S.J. (October 2012). Forests and Carbon Storage. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Climate Change Resource Center. www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/forests-carbon

Sridhar, S., Gautret, P., & Brouqui, P. (2015). A comprehensive review of the Kumbh Mela: Identifying risks for spread of infectious diseases. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 21(2), 128-133. doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2014.11.021

Tripathi, R. (2013, January 24). India Kumbh Mela dip ‘raised Ganges river pollution’. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-21175890

World Health Organisation. (2016). Water-related Diseases. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases-risks/diseases/cholera/en/

Xue, Y., Cheng, L., Chen, X., Zhai, X., Wang, W., Zhang, W., . . . Wei, T. (2018). Emission characteristics of harmful air pollutants from cremators in Beijing, China. PLoS One, 13(5), e0194226-e0194226. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0194226

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