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CUM GRUNO SALIS
(with a pinch of salt)
"Raise your hand" "In
early February, at the start of an American Airlines
cross-country flight, from Los Angeles to New York, the pilot
asked Christian passengers to identify themselves by raising
their hands. He then suggested that those did not raise their
hands use the flight time to query those who did. Some of the
passengers were so shocked by the pilot's comments they
reached for their mobile phones or on-flight phone. Gerard J.
Arpey, president and CEO of American's parent company, AMR
Corp., later apologised for the pilot's actions in a letter to
the Anti-Defamation League.
Source: CNN |
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Disclaimer:
Any views
expressed in this newspaper belong to their respective
authors and are not necessarily those of
ECOCLUB S.A. Although we try to check all facts, we accept no
liability for
inaccuracies - which means you should not take any travel or
other decisions
based only on what you read here... Use of this newspaper is
covered by the Terms & Conditions
of the ECOCLUB.com
Website and by your uncommon sense and
good humour.
Copyright © 1999-2004 ECOCLUB
S.A. All rights reserved.
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 EDITORIAL:
finding the balance
 As
I write these lines it is the last day of Carnival, and I would rather
be out, or even better in Rio, Salvador de Bahia, New Orleans, Goa or
Trinidad. Still, the Athenian cold office afternoon, focuses the mind
and while trying to wrap up the content for this issue, I realised
some interesting parallels between Ecotourism, the Carnival and
Certification. How? On a first reading, Carnival involves recreation,
but is also a break with convention, it is emancipating, egalitarian,
subversive. On the other hand it requires some conformity, organising
committees, hierarchies, competing groups, the observance of precise
codes of behaviour, dress, place and time, as most revellers can not
sustain a constant carnival mode, much as urban types could not spend
a second week in some of Ecotourism's most rudimentary
destinations.
Throughout
history Carnival has been a revolutionary and moderating influence at
the same time, a revolution, a pilot / a social experiment / a
communion within bounds. Many (from the Inquisition to Hitler) tried,
unsuccessfully to ban it, or to alter its meaning and appearance - to
sanitise it (in the same way that the destinations become
"resorts", and nature becomes a park). Few revellers (or
ecotourists) realise the deep implications of their recreation,
contrary to theorists, like Mikhail Bakthin, whose famous theory of
Carnival eventually led him to a Siberian "resort".
According to Bakhtin, the aspiration of Carnival is to mock the
hegemony of any ideology that seeks to have the final word about the
world. Telling then, that Carnival, has still survived in many places,
in equal rowdy and pagan form as it once was in mother Africa,
travelling as some interesting if afrocentric theory has it, via
ancient Egypt (Osiris) to Ancient Greece (Dionysus), then over to
Imperial Rome, then Christian Rome and then through the Spanish &
French to the new world, where it fused back with the enslaved
African's tradition. Whatever the case, most societies have carnivals
or similar, either to celebrate the harvest, or the beginning of a new
season, an important date, the defeat of an enemy, a heroes / saint's
sacrifice. In perpetual rebirth / recycling, pagan feasts and deities,
were masked and revamped in new religions, Saturnalia became
Christmas, Isis became Madonna, Apollo Helios became Prophet Elias,
"Carne levare" (meat avoidance) became vegetarianism and so
on. And who knows how todays' meta-religions such as Ecology (where
re-birth has become re-cycling) will be called in 200 years.
Certification,
too, its proponents argue, derives from "Freedom", freedom
to excel, freedom from the tyranny of state law, of micromanagement of
business by bureaucrats, it represents an alternative avenue through
voluntary compliance, it removes pressure from the law-makers. On the
other hand it also requires codes of behaviour, conduct, verification,
allegiances, and strong visible symbols. If it goes wrong, if there
are few competing teams, it may also lead to micromanagement, and
macromanagement, concentration of power and economic influence, which
can ultimately require the intervention of government, in much the
same way as a carnival which fails to control itself will ultimately
be controlled by the police, dressed for the occasion too!. But then
again who would go to a boring, sanitised Carnival.
Beyond
theoretical speculation however, in this issue we have the great
pleasure of hearing how it really is, first hand, from arguably the
world-leaders in Sustainable Tourism Certification, Green Globe, in an
interview with Green Globe 21 CEO, Ms. Cathy Parsons Antonis
B. Petropoulos, ECOCLUB Editor
| Members
News
Starting with Thursday the 26th of February,
we will be organising a monthly open ECOCLUB.com Live Chat,
for all Members & Friends. Monthly chats can be preceded
by presentations on ecotourism topics, so any Member
interested in making such a presentation please email
editor@ecoclub.com . This month the featured speaker is Mr.
Ron Mader who will be presenting " Rural Tourism: an
Innovative Approach from Oaxaca" .The time is Thursday 26
February, at 15:00 UTC.
 Details
Zakynthos, GREECE: Zante Feast
Discovery Holidays (Greece) has become a new Sponsor Member of
ECOCLUB.com: Zante Feast organise week-long programmes aimed
at introducing visitors to the Greek island of Zakynthos
Island, its traditional foods and cooking, sustainable
agriculture, wine making, and to the sanctuary of the Caretta,
the globally-endangered leatherback turtle. Zante Feast offer
their guests direct contact with local cooks, bakers, wine
makers, olive producers and currant farmers. Visitors are
lodged in a cluster of stone houses situated in centuries old
olive groves. The first programmes of the season organised by
Zante Feast take place June 6 and 13, 2004 on Zakynthos. The
focus is on traditional cooking with wild greens & the
return of the Caretta sea turtle to its mating grounds.
Details
HAWAII, US: Ms JoLoyce Kaia, of
Ecolodge Members Hana Maui Botanical Gardens & A'alani
Volcano Heart reports for ECOCLUB: "As Chair for Hana,
and V.P. for Maui, I attended the National Association of
Conservation Districts meeting held at the Hilton Waikaloa
Resort on the Big Island, Feb. 1 to Feb. 4th. joining 1,500
people from all over the United States involved in Soil and
Water Conservation Districts. Also, people who are involved
with the (Federal) National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)
under which our districts are connected. The Hawaii
Association of Conservation Districts was the host and Maui
Island hosted a Conservation tour held on Feb. 5th. The
convention examined different ways and means and partnerships
to keep up with environmental needs. They delegates also got
to tour a pineapple plantation in Lahaina and taste the sweet,
new specially grown pineapples."
Details
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SABA, Netherlands Antilles:
Angelika & Oliver Hartleib of Ecolodge Members El Momo,
are pleased to report new improvements at El Momo Cottages:
Two Cottages got spiced up with eco-funky bathroom buildings.
Both provide views to Mount Scenery and blue ocean during
showering. They are hand made of wood, painted in Saban
traditional colours and tiled with Saban Stone floors. Both
have a composting toilet and solar showers. The Turtle Cottage
also received a cosy kitchen and now has the standard of the
popular Eco Cottage "in the sky".
Details
Cape Coast, GHANA: Mr Emil Fiasorgbor
, a Sustainable Tourism specialist, has joined ECOCLUB.com as
a new Expert Member. Mr. Fiasorgbor, among other things, has
assisted in the establishment of over 200 tourism and related
businesses in 10 rural communities in the central region of
Ghana. Emil also provided leadership in the establishment of
the world-class KAKUM NATIONAL PARK in the Central Region of
Ghana (a USAID ecotourism development project) which has won
several international awards including the British Airways
Tourism for Tomorrow Award,1999.
Details
SANTA FE, NM, USA: Mr. Douglas Trent
(Expert Member, US / Brazil) and founder of Focus Conservation
Fund (FCF), a US-registered nonprofit organisation, announces
the launch of the International Community Ecotourism NGO
Network (ICENN). The ICENN has as its goals biodiversity
preservation and to support community-based ecotourism. ICENN
aims to find nonprofits in both destination countries as well
as the countries where travellers come from. Tour operators
that are concerned with conservation and aware of
community-based ecotourism projects can join the network. They
can then tell their clients who wish to make a donation to a
project to donate through a nonprofit ICENN member in their
home country. ICENN nonprofits must agree to take a maximum of
10% and a minimum of US$10 of each donation, to process the
funds, and then send them either to the destination country
project, an ICENN destination country member, or the tour
operator. The ICENN already has four nonprofit members in
Tanzania. The Focus Conservation Fund administers the ICENN,
and works to find members in tourist's home countries.
Details
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Letters
(& photos!) to the Editor
Our good friends and Members Ms Elena Pappas
and Mr. Ron Mader met in Oaxaca, Mexico for the local tourism
fair that Ron organised. The picture is
from Teotitlan del Valle, or "place of the Gods", a
Zapotec community famous for the production of colourful wood
rugs, made by some 150 families. Teotitlan's weaving tradition
is at least 2,500 years old!
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