精读材料

For personal use only in study and research; not for commercial useTHE POLITICS OF TRAVEL IS TOURISM

仅供个人参考 For personal use only in study and research; not for commercial use THE POLITICS OF TRAVEL IS TOURISM JUST COLONIALISM IN ANOTHER GUISE? DAVID NICHOLSON-LORD by Tourism has seriously damaged fragile ecosystems like the Alps, the winter skiing playground of Europe, and the trekking areas of the Himalayas. Worldwide, it poses a serious threat to coastal habitats like dunes, mangrove forests and coral reefs. It fuels abooming and usually illegal trade in the products of threatened wildlife, from tortoiseshell and coral to ivory. Its "consumers" inevitably bring their habits and expectations with them--whether it's hot showers and flush toilets or well-watered greens for golfers. In the Himalayas, showers for trekkers often mean firewood, which means deforestation. In Hawaii and Barbados, it was found that each tourist used between six and ten times as much water and electricity as alocal. In Goa villagers forced to walk to wells for their water had to watch as apipeline to anew luxury hotel was built through their land. Over the past decade golf, because of its appetite for land, water and herbicides, has emerged as one of the biggest culprits, so much so that "golf wars" have broken out in parts of Southeast Asia; campaigners in Japan, one of the chief exponents of golf tourism, have launched an annual World No Golf Day. This is not to say tourism can't do some good--but the cost-benefit equation is complex. Historic monuments, houses and gardens thrive on visitors. Throughout much of the world, but notably in southern and eastern Africa, tourism underpins the survival of wildlife. Why else would small farmers put up with elephants trampling their crops? Whale watching is now abigger business than whaling. In the uplands of Rwanda, known to Gorillas in the Mist millions through the film ,the mountain gorilla's salvation lies partly in the income and interest generated by tourists visiting in small groups. In Kenya a lion's worth is estimated at $7,000 ayear in tourist income--for an elephant herd the figure is $610,000. And if large animals, with large ranges, are protected, then so are their habitats--the national parks. Yet none of these gains are unqualified. To get to see your whales and your gorillas, for example, you have to travel, by car, coach or plane. Each time you do so you're effectively setting fire to asmall reservoir of gasoline--and releasing several roomfuls of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Transport is the world's fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions; leisure travel accounts for half of all transport; and Americans, the most peripatetic of the planet's residents, are responsible for puffing more than five tons of carbon each into the atmosphere every year. That's nearly 107.4 times the rate of the stay-at-home Bangladeshis. The cumulative result of such activity is one of the biggest disruptions in the Earth's history--global warming, climate change and rising seas. And it's the low-lying Bangladeshis who will suffer most from it. And then there are those "pristine" habitats--the national parks. In many cases, parks remain pristine because the people who used to live there have been thrown out--the Masai in Kenya are perhaps the best-known example, but there are many more, 不得用于商业用途