Hello everyone!

In our previous post, we briefly introduced ourselves and shared a little about the inspiration for this blog – in essence, it was the way in which COVID-19 has made us reflect on our pollutive ways as tourists to other countries.

However, before we go into the heavier topics in the coming weeks (and months), this post will serve as a starting point in terms of laying the groundwork and easing us into the links between pollution and tourism.

P-o-l-l-u-t-i-o-n

Here, we introduce our working definition of “pollution”, as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):

“[The presence of any substances in water, soil, or air that degrade the natural quality of the environment, offend the senses of sight, taste, or smell, or cause a health hazard. The usefulness of the natural resource is usually impaired […]” (US EPA, n.d.) 

To put it in relatable terms, just think of the litter we mindlessly discard on beaches, exhaust fumes that our vehicles give off, and even the artificially bright lights from skyscrapers in our cities.

Now that we have an idea of what pollution is, how does a world without pollution look like to you? Specifically, how does a world – with places we are so used to seeing polluted when we travel – look like, unpolluted?

In recent months, COVID-19 gave us some real, tangible answers in the form of clearer canals in Venice (as mentioned in the previous post) as well as wildlife returning to touristy parks like the Yosemite in the United States of America.

Deers grazing in Yosemite National Park (Cole, 2020) 

If only… 

If only the world could stay this way, with the environment flourishing the way it should and us humans ceasing our interference with nature.

Yet, the overarching reality is otherwise – a Nature journal article reported on the temporary nature of lowered carbon emissions around the world due to halted economic activities around the world arising from COVID-19, while reports of carbon emissions and air pollution levels rebounding after cities and countries restarted their economies have been making their rounds in news outlets.

While these reports on pollution and economic activity have been made in a very general sense, the concept of “going back to our old ways” is hardly tangential to the pollution issues posed by tourism. Judging from current socio-economic behaviour, to say that we are extremely likely to return to our pollutive ways when we resume travel once more would be a fair extrapolation to make.

Yet, all is not lost – it remains an undeniable fact that COVID-19 has provided the environment with a brief respite, and us a chance at an industry reset to better preserve the world that we live in.

What’s so special about tourism, you may ask… Stay tuned for our next post!

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References

BBC 2020, Coronavirus: Venice canals clearer after lockdown, viewed 26 August 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-51943104

Carrington, D & Kommenda, N 2020, ‘Air pollution in China back to pre-Covid levels and Europe may follow’, The Guardian, viewed 26 August 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/03/air-pollution-in-china-back-to-pre-covid-levels-and-europe-may-follow

Cole, C 2020, Deer feed in Yosemite valley, online image, viewed 26 August 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-13/yosemite-national-park-closed-wildlife-waterfalls-muir

Le Quéré et al.  2020, ‘Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement’. Nature Climate Change, vol. 10, pp. 647–653.

Newburger, E. 2020, ‘Carbon emissions sharply rebound as countries lift coronavirus restrictions’, CNBC, viewed 26 August 2020, http://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/18/coronavirus-carbon-emissions-rebound-sharply-as-countries-states-open.html

Rust, S 2020, ‘Coyotes, bobcats and bears: Wildlife is reclaiming Yosemite National Park’, Los Angeles Times, viewed 26 August 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-13/yosemite-national-park-closed-wildlife-waterfalls-muir

US EPA n.d., ‘Pollution’, Vocabulary Catalog, viewed 26 August 2020, https://ofmpub.epa.gov/sor_internet/registry/termreg/searchandretrieve/glossariesandkeywordlists/search.do;jsessionid=jjwqEBDUZqOtGvmlIa_gIcRr54T1FzWILPvpAQ__N_nK30yAcP7l!-1853934568?details=&vocabName=Environmental%20Issues%20Glossary&filterTerm=pollution&checkedAcronym=false&checkedTerm=false&hasDefinitions=false&filterTerm=pollution&filterMatchCriteria=Contains