Sustaining Nature Through Ecotourism
An important leisure activity is recreation. It has a rejuvenating effect on one’s body and mind. This is important for healthy living amidst the stressful modern life. Some of the recreational activities that are popular these days are skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping, sky diving, hang gliding, canyoning, rock climbing, adventure tourism, backpacking, ecotourism and motor sport. Traveling to the pristine, but fragile, areas is ecotourism. There are two ways ecotourism is practiced. Appreciating nature and learning from its varied life forms as well as the cultures that are embedded in nature is one kind of ecotourism. This requires a deep sensitivity and social consciousness. Reflection on the ecological impact of human activities on nature while appreciating nature is central to it. That is why this is also called responsible ecotourism. The second type of ecotourism has commercial interest at its heart where nature preserves is just another commodity for profit making. Unfortunately, ecotourism continues to be dominated by this category of enterprise.
Ecotourism that does not have ecology and local cultures as its central concern is indiscriminate in the way they conduct themselves. Ecology is nothing but a tool for them to market in order to attract tourists. The rich natural habitat becomes the location for constructing modern luxurious hotels, lodges and resorts with all the trappings of the modern wasteful lifestyle. Neither respect nor conservation for nature is in their agenda. The result is the fast deterioration of the surrounding ecology and degradation of the nature. Better infrastructure and more tourists mean more waste generation and pollution. Nature gets trampled in the process. Neither are the tourists mainly concerned about the impact of the luxury they enjoy on the surrounding ecology. And all this happens in the name of ecotourism.
In contrast to this type of tourism is the responsible ecotourism which is typically carried out singly or in small groups. They carry with them as little as possible and only just their survival needs. These include first aid kit, flashlight, utensils, personal care products and map amongst others. The most important is the camping tent and the sleeping bag. Camping tents come in different sizes suited for different seasons. There are camping tents manufactured by many companies such as MSR Hubba Hubba Tent and Marmot Aeros Tent, and many more designs from Black Diamond, Eureka, Kelty and Sierra.
As camping has very little impacts on ecology, it is generally considered responsible tourism. It pays attention to recycling and energy efficiency. There is much attention paid to their visit benefiting local communities.