UNVS 196DClimate Solutions InitiativeResearch PaperGreen Traveler GuidebookMaking Tourism a Sustainable ActivityFaculty Advisor: Dr. Ranjan BandyopadhyayStudent Project Members:Reuben ThibodeauRobert TompkinsTracy DoanHo Chung Yeung1Defining the ProblemIn 2006, a record 842 million international tourism arrivals were documented worldwide(United Nations World Trade Organization 2007). Tourism is one of the most important forcesshaping our world today. Economically, tourism is of increasing importance to many nations as itis an important provider of foreign exchange and employment (World Tourism Organization,2007). However, several scholars have commented on tourism’s notoriety for its potential todisturb, or do damage to natural habitats and local communities (Stronza 2008). In rurallocations, tourism has been criticized for causing a surge of social, ecological, and economicchanges (Belsky 1999). Although scholars have well documented the effects of tourism on thehuman condition (economic, cultural and social), they have ignored the relationship betweentourism and the environment. However “the ways that humans regard the environment, the waysin which they use and abuse it, and the ways in which they try to protect it are continuouslychanging over space as well as time” (Butler and Boyd 2000). Still, research on the relationshipbetween tourism and environment is sparse. As Butler (2000) lamented:“In North America the bulk of research on human impacts on the environment has been undertaken by agencies such as the US Forest Service, which has a history of over 30 years of detailed studies on this subject, and the National Parks authorities of the US and Canada. Much of this research has focused on the recreational use of wilderness and backcountry areas, places visited by relatively few people compared to numbers visiting major tourist destinations, and places which are under relatively strict management controls compared to most tourist destinations.” Recently, several important studies (see Butler 1999; Collins 1999; Farrell & Twining-Ward2004; Hunter 1997; Nepal 2008; Wall 1997) have enhanced our understanding of the complexand intertwined relationship of tourism and the environment. According to Butler (2000), theprocesses by which tourism can affect the natural environment are no different from the ways inwhich other human processes have environmental effects, namely are pollution (litter, human2waste, fuel waste), consumption (collecting, hunting, fishing), and trampling (soil and vegetationcompaction). Researchers from a number of disciplines have conducted work in avariety of cultures on the social impacts of tourism, for example, problems ofcultural change and social stress in host communities (Hall and Page 1996;Mathieson and Wall 1982; Weaver 1998). Also, ecologists, biologists, other physicalscientists and social science researchers have long studied the ways in which humans affect theirnatural environment. However, they have not paid attention to those effects resulting specificallyfrom tourism-related activities compared to other activities. Instead, they have been moreinterested in the processes and results from the environmental perspective rather than from ahuman or user perspective. Therefore, to attend to this significant lacuna, this research created agreen traveler guidebook for tourists. This guidebook includes green travel tips for the world’sgrowing number of international tourists to educate them to be more careful in their encounterswith communities and ecosystems. Individual choices are the major factors in influencing globalemissions from tourism. Therefore, for each one of us, as a tourist, there is a responsibility toreduce our carbon footprint by making informed choices and changing our habits. Whose Problem Is It? World human population doubled in less than a half century, from three billion in 1960 tosix billion by the year 2000. Estimations indicate seven billion by 2010 and over eight billionwithin the next 15 years (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). The combination of rapidly increasingpopulation, rising average incomes in developed nations, and easily accessible transportationmethods, directly correlates with the rapid growth of the tourism industry. According to the3World Trade Organization in 2007, tourism is one of the fastest growing and biggest industries inthe world and accounts for over 10 percent of the global GDP. International arrivals peakedaround 846 million in 2006 and each traveler, as a direct contributor, must hold someresponsibility for the problems created by the tourism industry in which they participated. Theother seven million people are less cut and dry.Very few locations, only the unreachable and undesirable, remain free from the effects ofexpanding tourism; even Antarctica is threatened by the increasing mobility, volume, andfrequency of human travelers. This expansion is undoubtedly attributed to the actions of theMore Developed Countries (MDC) and their exploitation and consumption of fossil fuels. Everyperson, regardless of travel habits, who has benefited from the advances in technology andindustrialized society is responsible and must act to repair the systems which yielded the presentstate problems and to prevent further damage in the future. Furthermore many living in LessDeveloped Countries (LDC) do not have the opportunity for travel and less attractive parts ofthese countries do not attract tourism income. Even if there is little or no responsibility for thecurrent problems, especially environmental, the long term effects of climate change due to thisindustry will be experienced worldwide. Everyone on Earth must make environmentalprotection and reducing climate change a priority. The problems created by tourism root deeplyin the societies we have created and those in fortunate positions must use their advantage to helpthe most while those less fortunate must help in any way they can. Impacts of TourismIn 2003 the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), supported by theworld’s most powerful tourism corporations, convened for the 1st International Conference on4Climate Change and Tourism in Djerba, Tunisia. Climate change was deemed a top priority dueto the economic threat it posed and those in attendance agreed that, “Not only is tourism