The stresses of daily life are growing increasingly pervasive and it seems harder and harder to find time for yourself and your family. Doesn't a week-long trip to the tropics sound refreshing? I'll say! Unfortunately, vacation traveling is a major contributor to global warming because it is very energy-intensive (read: it burns a lot of fossil fuel). The Main Problem With The Hospitality Industry Is It Encourages People To Travel By Burning Fossil Fuels Most people have, at some level, an innate desire for adventure. By creating an allure of locations that are often far-off, the hospitality industry capitalizes on that feature of your psyche. Indeed, the hotel industry in the US alone posted a profit of $16.7 billion in 2004 according to Smith Travel Research. For mother earth, the downside of this manipulation is that getting to these enticing locales in the speed and comfort expected by most Americans requires the burning of fossil fuels on a tremendous magnitude. The Main Issue Isn't the Hospitality Industry, It Is Fossil Fuel-Based Travel With the recent renewed interest in global warming and heightened concern for environmental degradation and social justice, many people have started to pay attention to the impact of the hospitality industry on the environment and on local peoples. As a result there has emerged a new sector of the hospitality industry known as "eco tourism" or "green travel". Eco-tourism is defined by the Global Development Research Center as "responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and sustains the livelihood of local people". While ecotourism may look like a positive step, what this approach fails to address is what many scientists consider the biggest challenge modern humanity will face: global warming. Beginning around the 1850s, humans began using copious amounts of fossil fuels, adding an abundance of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the result of which has been a steady increase in the average temperatures of the earth's surface. Eco-tourism fails to address the issue of global warming because it focuses on changing the hospitality industry, without addressing the more significant issue of the fossil fuel based travel which the hospitality industry depends upon. If You Want To Help Prevent Global Warming I Suggest You Stop Focusing On The Hospitality Industry And Turn Your Attention To Vacationing Without Burning Fossil Fuels! The earth's atmosphere is a complex entity that influences a great number of other systems on this planet. Since it's hard to observe changes in the atmosphere with the naked eye, you wouldn't be likely to connect the act of taking a long vacation with the occurrence of a natural disaster. However, the events are linked through the exorbitant amounts of C02 emitted from the plane. In fact, numerous consequences are expected as a result of the global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels, a few of which include: more extreme hurricanes, greater flooding (which may cause desertification), landslides, loss of habitat and species extinction, water scarcity, and the spread of disease. Furthermore, some of the effects of global warming will contribute to further climate change, in what is known as a positive feedback cycle. When framed in this light, you may begin to change how you feel about burning fossil fuels for amusement. Don't despair though! It is possible to have a pleasurable vacation while still helping to stop global warming. How you ask? It's easy - the next time you're planning a vacation, make it a priority to reduce the total miles you travel. However, even if you focus on reducing the distance you travel, going on a vacation will most likely involve traveling some distance away from your home. To address this you can travel using methods that contribute less to global warming. For example, you can take a train instead of a plane since train travel uses far less fossil fuel to transport you the same distance. If you choose to drive, read up on improving your fuel economy by chancing your driving behavior and see if you can exceed the vehicle manufacturer's fuel economy rating. You can also go a step further and pick locations to which you can bike so that you burn no fossil fuels getting to your vacation destination. Don't let this seemingly insurmountable global problem paralyze you-it is possible to make conscious decisions that are consistent with your desire to help stop global warming. This is important because in so doing, you can inspire others to follow your example.
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