[MD] travelling vs tourism

[ian glendinning]

Hi Gav,

Tourist - guilty as charged - just did the Beartooth highway today
(between Laurel / Red Lodge and Yellowstone / Gardiner) ...
breathtaking - awesome even, on so many levels. Most of the vehicles
(even the motorcycles, of the thousands we met) had bigger
environmental footprints than the one we drive.

Carbon footprint, or whatever you measure, surely there can be a
balance between the exploitation / damage and the need to experience
and understand.

Interesting you talk about custodianship and nurture, whereas a couple
of weeks ago you were ranting about the presumption that humans could
control or manage the eco-environment at all. I can't see any
substitute for experience and well-informed balance (and hope as David
says).

Ian

On 8/7/07, David M <davidint at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Gav
>
> Funny you should say that, I was wondering today why
> we seem to make such a hell out of this life when there
> is no necessity to do so.
>
> Thanks for the post.
> David M
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "gav" <gav_gc at yahoo.com.au>
> To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 12:04 AM
> Subject: [MD] travelling vs tourism
>
>
> > end tourism now!!!!!!!!
> >
> > tourism is corporate travel: the mobile spectacle.
> > comfort and convenience are paramount. tourism is for
> > wieners.
> >
> > i just spent 5 days on fraser island, walking and
> > camping. i ran into 10 other walkers, all cool,
> > friendly people from all over the world: germany, US,
> > slovenia, australia. they all were totally rapt in the
> > environment, were part of it and knew that to despoil
> > it was out of the question: like masturbating in front
> > of your mum.
> >
> > the tourists come in their droves in buses and cars
> > into a world heritage jewel and they shit on it and
> > they whoop and holler and display their retardedness
> > for all to see. again the whole world is represented
> > but it is the yanks and brits that are the most
> > obnoxious.
> >
> > lake mckenzie is a pristine freshwater lake that is
> > dazzling to the eye. pure white silica sand fringing
> > the perfectly clear water that contains the azure blue
> > of the cloudless sky above. thick forest encircles the
> > whole and creates what must be a shining eye to the
> > birds above. on this pure white fine fine sand are
> > flung dozens and dozens of cigarette butts. five years
> > ag - my last trip - i would have had to search hard
> > for one, but now the tourists are here in droves and
> > their mindless destruction follows them, the shadow of
> > their conflicted, twisted selves. this is sacrilege!
> > this is blasphemy! this is so abhorrent, so wrong.
> >
> > it is hard not to look upon tourists as dross when you
> > are a traveller. you must always keep the heart open
> > but this means that it flows outward in its pain and
> > frustration also. the word 'tourist' is pejorative
> > around the world and this is an example why.
> >
> > and yes i have been both. i have been both tourist and
> > traveller and perhaps all travellers start as
> > tourists. it is important to remember this, i tell
> > myself. the traveller is an individual; the tourist is
> > part of the herd. the traveller is guided
> > intellectually, aesthetically; the tourist socially.
> > the tourist IS a lower form of life and this is why it
> > seems so.
> >
> > but i should end with my own experience because it was
> > very special. i spent the time with an ex-girlfriend
> > whom some of you know. our time together was a ritual,
> > a transformation. one relationship ended and two began
> > on that trip and we are both different people than a
> > week ago.
> >
> > to be literally alone - noone around for 10 or 20
> > kms; to be in ancient beautiful forest. to begin to
> > feel the power, to begin to see the energy, to begin
> > to get the 'aha!s' when your mind makes the connection
> > between aboriginal art patterns and the subtle
> > energies of these truly wild places. to be silent and
> > still and have the forest come to you and envelop you
> > and absorb you and to begin to give gratitude and to
> > begin to feel it coming back. the power spots of this
> > world are the wild spots and they are in danger. the
> > reason is always the same: the giant fears that which
> > it can't understand; and it then destroys what it
> > fears.
> >
> > i want to live in a world where nature and i are
> > entwined lovingly to the point of no distinction.
> > i want to live in a world where life is cultivated not
> > detsroyed, for that is our unique power as humans: we
> > can be custodians who nurture and protect the entirety
> > of the planet. we could create paradises beyond our
> > dreams, instead, as a species, we are manifesting hell
> > on earth. i guess thoreau saw it coming.
> >
> >
> >
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