ECOCLUB Blogs™

At the North American Ecotourism Conference in Madison, Wisconsin participants were invited to take a tour of local tourism operators who are going green. Attendance was dismal, but the tour was great. There were some great examples showing how tourism operators can reduce their environmental impact. The International Crane Foundation (www.savingcranes.org) has set up solar energy to provide 50-75% of their hot water needs. It has a ‘Kil a Watt’ program to identify and unplug those insidious drains on energy bills like clock on a microwave or a ‘sleeping’ computer.Another stop on the tour was the Aldo Leopald Foundation’s Legacy Centre. This new building is aiming for the highest rating awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council and it looks like they may succeed. Their solar, geothermal and wood heat produce more energy than the building consumes, creating a “net zero” energy budget. To learn more visit www.aldoleopold.org.

BBC has today acquired Lonely Planet. I always have a feeling of sadness when founders feel inclined to sell, invariably recognising that it is for the common good, that they are certain that their ideals will be respected etc etc. This is rarely so of course, and a few sales down the road (a bought company rarely stays in the hands of the buyer) you are dealing with a wholly different beast. This of course may not be the case here, as travel guides carry sociopolitical & geopolitical clout, and at the hands of a state-owned agency they can work 'miracles'...A look into the ownership of other major travel guides would surely reveal interesting things.

maximum respect to the Japanese video journalist, who while mortally wounded was still taking pictures of his killers, the Myanmar junta soldiers. Humanity is always stronger and smarter than inhumanity.

Photography can be a great revenue generator for ecotourism organizations. To learn more about Doug Adams, a tourism operator who has successfully diversified his business using photography check out my fall newsletter at http://www.kalahari-online.com/aut07.pdf. The experience he has gained can benefit many other organizations. Carol

It took over a quarter of a century, but the Siksika community in southern Alberta has opened their world-class tourism attraction, the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park. An interpretative centre designed by Rod Goodfellow rises out of the short grass prairie to greet visitors. People can listen to recorded video of Blackfoot elders sharing their stories and read the much discussed Indian Act. This unique exhibit gives non-aboriginals a chance to learn more about the contractual relationship shared between the First Nations people and the Canadian government. It can be an eye-opener!I met one of the Siksika representatives, Doug Bearhat many years ago when he took an ecotourism workshop I was teaching at the Banff Centre. He spoke with great eloquence of the band’s vision for a sustainable tourism attraction that would showcase their culture and history and create economic activity and jobs. It is wonderful to see the vision come to life with a vacation experience that will educate and entertain people from around the world. To learn more visit www.blackfootcrossing.ca.

The Survival International Announcement said "Indigenous peoples around the world are today celebrating the UN General Assembly's approval of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. " I wonder of course if anyone saw any indigenous people actually CELEBRATING. My guess is that they have stopped celebrating about such things long ago, fed up with the weasel words of the international community. And their victories are usually moral, and posthumous...The vote was far from unanimous, it would take a unanimous vote to at least psychologically, begin to ameliorate centuries of injustice. As expected countries built through the usurpation of indigenous lands, would oppose any move to recognise rights over vast, resource-rich territories...And we are not talking about any poor, underdeveloped nations, but some who claim to enjoy the highest standards of living, human development indices and the like, of course only as far as their non-indigenous population is concerned. Thus, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States voted against the declaration, while 143 countries voted for (and 11 abstained.)

Anita Roddick, a pioneer of eco products and fair trade, died yesterday at the young age of 64. From the humble & mischievous beginnings of 'The Body Shop' right next to an undertaker - who complained - to the sale of its 2,000+ stores to still-testing-on-animals L'Oreal, Dame Anita Perella Roddick, both outspoken and active in favour of environmental and social justice, and consequently against the Iraq war - never failed to spark controversy and annoy the powerful. To the rest of us, she proved that nothing is impossible if brains are combined with imagination and noble ideas. In recent years, she was also an enthusiastic patron of responsible tourism. A very eco journey to her!Read her very last blog posts at: http://www.anitaroddick.comAlso read tribute by responsibletravel.com's Justin Francis at http://responsibletravel.blogspot.com/2007...ta-roddick.html

I received a tremendous honor recently when I was invited to join the distinguished Panel of Conservation Fellows of Kinabatangan region http://www.sukau.com/public/con_per.asp.The Panel was established by Sukau Rainforest Lodge to recognize contributions of people who have played a significant role in the conservation of the Kinabatangan region of Malaysian Borneo and includes having a room named after them.Telling customers that you are active in conservation activities is a good move for any Lodge and helps to distinguish an ecolodge from its competition. I find many tourism operators to be extremely humble people. Unfortunately this virtue is often overlooked by consumers who are busy comparing prices and looking at glossy travel photos. Show your customers how you help conservation efforts; they will be more inclined to bring you business.

If you want self- guided ecotourists to stay longer in your community you need to educate them on your special features. What do you do if you don’t have the budget to hire real people to provide interpretation services or you find that your visitors’ schedules don’t match your planned activities? Writing on The Stone Provincial Park in western Canada (http://gateway.cd.gov.ab.ca/siteinformation.asp?id=177) has a great self-guided interpretative hike that could be adapted by almost any community. A dozen numbered signs are posted along the trail. At the trailhead there is a mailbox with a paper booklet offering interpretive information that corresponds to the sign numbers. Come around the corner and find some unusual brown matter in the rocks? Open the interpretative booklet and find out that you are looking at the middens of the nocturnal wood rats! It’s like having an interpreter in your backpack. Using this interpretative tool turned a 30 minute walk for me into a 2 hour voyage of discovery. For a relatively modest cost, self-guided tools such as this can keep visitors in the area longer and create stories that get shared among visitors. This is a formula many communities can copy with success! 

A lot of museum exhibits can seem rather static to visitors. One facility has come up with a great way to get their visitors involved. The Titanic exhibition at the Royal B.C. Museum http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/temporary_e...ts/titanic.aspx has come up with a fresh idea to improve interaction with their visitors and it doesn't cost a fortune.As people enter the exhibit they are given a boarding pass with the name of an actual passenger that was on the Titanic. The last exhibit the visitor sees is a list of the names of survivors and those who were not so fortunate. Seeing whether the name of the person on the random ticket you received 'made it' is sobering. By giving people a personal connection to the exhibit, the Museum has come up with a way to bring their story alive. I wonder if other tourism attractions could use similar techniques to generate interest in their static exhibits?Carol