Eco-tourism

In class on Monday we talked about eco-tourism. Eco-tourism is the responsible travel to areas with the intent to conserve the environment and sustain the local culture and welfare of the native people there. Thanks to a comment on my blog earlier I was given a link to Conservation International, which has an entire eco-tourism website. Eco-tourism sounds like a great idea, but just exactly what does it mean? How do you know where to go and what to see? Just what do you do on an eco-tourism vacation? Luckily, Conservation International has resources on these topics of eco-tourism. They provide articles and news, popular destinations, and tips and tricks to make your own vacation more eco friendly.

I think this is a great concept and something I can relate to. I'm from Wyoming, most famous for being the home of Yellowstone. I'm also a kayaker. I enjoy being outdoors and camping and I've seen firsthand just how destructive people can be when I'm out and about paddling down a river or hiking in a forest. One person might not make that much of a difference but bring in thousands, millions in the case of Yellowstone, and it adds up very quickly. Multiply that by the ineptitude of some towards the environment and suddenly there are serious problems. Everyone likes to take vacations. But the truth is, some vacations aren't so great for the environment. Many of the amazing places in the world are slowly but surely being affected and aren't as pristine as they once were. Add to that the environmental impact of flying, driving, hiking and everything else that goes into them, and soon enough, vacations don't seem like such a great idea. Which is why eco-tourism is so promising.

Things I'm doing

This journal project has really gotten me to think differently and make some drastic changes in my life. I have decided to make a list of the things I am doing to reduce my impact on this planet. It helps me to see what I am doing and the benefits that I have realized because of them. I don't think being green is any good if it doesn't benefit you. Most of these things are easy to do but they take a complete paradigm shift from where I once was. I have to break old habits and constantly remind myself to do them. My efforts are being rewarded however. I have seen results. Here are a few of the things I am doing and some of the benefits I've realized.

Items in bold are the specific actions I am taking. Italicized items are the benefits I have realized and things in regular type are just extra info or thoughts on the item.

Riding my bike exercise and not using gas
Walking more exercise, more time to think, and not using gas
Driving less save money on gas
Taking shorter showers. 7 minutes currently down from 15. Less energy used. Lower gas bill.
Unplugging unused appliances Especially my cell phone charger and my old unused desktop PC. Go MacBook. Lower electric bill.
Turning off lights Lower electric bill.
Having meal nights. My roommate and I have certain nights of the week where we cook meals for each other. This helps to spread the cost of food and gives each of us a break from having to keep up our own food cabinet and time to cook everyday.
Keeping the thermostat on 60 degrees Fahrenheit (or off) Lower gas bill.
Keeping a recycling bin: paper, plastic milk jugs, and metal. This was hard to start doing because throwing stuff away was so easy. I have to constantly remind myself before I throw something away to look at it's recyclability.
Being more conscience of what I buy. I now look for items with very little packaging or material that I can recycle more easily.
Saving plastic grocery bags for other uses


I used to spend around $50 a month on fuel for my car. I now only spend $25 or less.
The gas bill was $16.84 last month. It now is $10.43.
The electric bill was $26.31. It is now $21.67.
I am saving approximately $36 a month. With that money I am donating $10 every month to my Christian organization on campus called the Navigators and saving the rest.


If you have any other ideas let me know.

Wide open

The road out to Snowy Range mountains. Wyoming is full of wide open spaces. I've been out east and you don't get to see such expanses of land. Being out here makes me really appreciate the power of mother nature.

With the world population increasing places like these will be hard to find. As I stood there taking this picture, I felt incredibly small. The earth is much more powerful than me. Yet 7 billion+ people on our planet have been able to plow down mountains and change the course of rivers.

"Green" yard?

This is from the yard next door to the house with the private property signs. Not my favorite shot but the rest were blurry.

I'm not sure how "natural organic" and ' low water" this yard really is. I mean, if it was truly natural it would be brown weeds and red dirt. I think this guy is just lazy but kudos to not having to mow the lawn.

Mike-and-ike

Litter. Mike and ike and lots of packaging peanuts. Seeing nonsense like this really makes me mad. I want to smear that person's face into this mess.

Hot air

I did laundry today and realized what a waste it is in many ways. First, it takes quite a lot of time to do. I have to drive over to the laundry-mat, then spend and hour washing and 20-40 minutes drying. It costs $2.25 to wash one load and $.25 cents to dry for 8 minutes (no joke). I waste an incredible amount of time, money, gas, water, detergent, and electricity all in the pursuit to smell good.

Just what can I do to counter this... Well, some suggest to not dry your clothes and instead put them out to dry on a clothes line. The problem is I don't have a clothes line and even if I did, Wyoming is extremely windy. I don't want to be chasing down my shorts. I've tried in the past to dry my clothes by hanging them up around my apartment but that definitely did not work. I wasn't trying to be eco-friendly, I just didn't want to pay to dry my clothes. The problem was my clothes hung up forever and they were still damp and wet for many days. I'll just have to continue going to a laundry mat.

Ride em

A student waits to cross the street on his bike.

Global Warming?

For class on Monday I read an article entitled 450 ways to decrease global warming by Bill McKibben.


This guy is an idiot.

I don't necessarily believe in the theory of global warming. It's still a theory. I think we should be concerned about it. We need to be aware of it so that we can take necessary steps to prevent it but when I read articles like this that are just full of irrelevant and misguided information, it really makes me mad. This writer uses scare tactic after scare tactic to fool unknowledgeable readers. He skews data to fit his view and then makes ill conceited arguments of completely unrelated things. Don't take everything you read at face-value.

McKibben begins by writing, "Everyone without a severe ideological kink knows by now that global warming is a looming problem."

Hmmm really? There must be some serious ideological kinky scientists at NASA then because they have data that shows that ocean temperatures have actually been steadily decreasing the past ten years. Oceans are the great regulator of earth's temperatures. If data is showing that they are cooling then obviously global warming is not such a looming problem. I am actually more concerned for global cooling because that affects crop yield and food production. That is a scarier prospect than global warming. People that come up with data that shows the earth is warming are taking surface readings where concrete and buildings reflect and retain more heat giving them false readings. This is most obvious in places like Dallas, Texas. Look at surface temperatures there from 100 years ago when Dallas was much smaller compared to those of today. Could it be that concrete is giving us false readings and not CO2? Hmm....

Then he goes on to say, "Even in the United States, two decades of energy industry disinformation is finally wearing off: Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Gore have finally blown most doubt away."

This is completely erroneous. I cannot believe anyone would write this. First of all, hurricanes have been happening for many many thousands of years. Hurricans are natural and have have occurred before the industrial revolution. The reason Katrina was so bad has nothing to do with CO2 increases. Katrina was bad because it happened to strike New Orleans dead on, a city below sea level. This is a scare tactic and he has no basis to make such claims. Katrina has NOTHING to do with the theory of global warming.

Now on to him skewing data to fit his argument. McKibben states, "Before
the Industrial Revolution, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was roughly 280 parts per million."

Do you know what parts per million means? It sounds really big. It sounds horrible. I even was caught up in its deceptive nature until I looked up what it actually represents. Parts per million refers to the percentage of gas in the atmosphere. So 280 parts per million really means 0.0280%. A part per million means you shift the decimal point over six spots. Putting that number in perspective now doesn't sound so impressive does it? Earth's atmosphere is roughly 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 1% argon, and carbon dioxide makes up 360 parts per million or 0.036% of our atmosphere currently. Helium, methane and the other random gases make up the rest.

McKibben then states that, "CO2, by virtue of its molecular structure, regulates how much of the sun’s energy stays trapped in our narrow envelope of atmosphere—Mars, which has very little, is cold; Venus, with a lot, is hellish."

His argument about Mars and Venus, also totally irrelevant. The average temperature of Mars is -80 degrees Farenheit. That includes the extreme cold temperatures at the poles (-200) and the warm temperatures at the equator (+80). Venus's average temperature is 850 degrees Farenheit. Mars and Venus have such drastic differences in temperature because of their distances from the sun, not because of their carbon dioxide make-up. Mars is colder because it is further from the sun and Venus is extremely hot because it is closer to the sun. For example just look at Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. It has very little atmosphere and is just as hot as Venus. The atmospheric make-up has some part to do with retaining heat but is no way the sole cause.

I write all of this because I cannot stand people writing irrelevant and biased information, passing it off as scientific proof. My journal to reduce my carbon footprint is my personal effort to reduce my impact but also to point out others misconceptions and failings. Global warming is still just a theory. Just as bad (and more of a concern) however, is global cooling. There is more data that shows that earth goes in natural cycles of glacial periods. Humans may have an impact but as of yet it is all theory. Don't get fooled by articles that throw information at you. Look up that information and understand what is being said.

Here is a great article by Edmund Contoski, an environmental consultant, that explains my stand on global warming and includes scientific data unlike McKibben's article.

A stroll

Today was such a beautiful day that I decided to walk to class. The leaves are all turning a bright yellow color and it was very peaceful. It is days like today that make me appreciate the wonderful world that we live in. It also made me think of Genesis 1:26 - And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

We have dominion over plants and animals but with such power we must also protect it.

Things that "litter"

This tree is littering the ground with it's waste. Yet, there is a difference between the litter that we throw on the ground and these leaves. Nature's "litter" is part of a cycle. It is part of a system that is reused. It's a closed system. These leaves break down after only a few months into new top soil for future growth. Our paper, metal, and plastic waste takes years and years to break down. It is part of linear cycle of resource to product to waste.

Footprints

I saw these footprints all over a black stage. I thought it was interesting but also relates to my journal. Every person on earth is making an impact on the environment. Some steps are more noticeable than others, but each and everyone one of us has an impact.

Butts

Outside of my apartment is this disgusting area. Cigarette butts litter everywhere. Someone tried to alleviate the problem once by placing an old coffee can but most people have just ignored it.

It's sad how just a few people can ruin the environment for us all. Their disgusting neglect for our world is an attest to our need to change people's attitudes. Smoking not only ruins the environment with the waste it produces but also from all of the resources that go in to make a cigarette that could be used for something more productive. Not to mention that it destroys the health of the smoker. I don't smoke. I cannot stand people that smoke and when I saw this gross negligent dump of butts, I had to take a picture. Horrible.