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ECOCLUB.com Celebrates Earth Day with Photo Essay Competition - Launches "Tourism Without Plastic" Campaign

ATHENS, GREECE (20 March 2008)

To celebrate Earth Day 2008, ECOCLUB®, the International Ecotourism Club held its 3rd Earth Day Photo Essay Competition and officially launched its "Tourism Without Plastic" Campaign.

Following a vote by ECOCLUB Members a Photo Essay entitled "Solid waste treatment in a Tourism-Paradise backyard" by Richard Gubler from Switzerland, which illustrated dangerous practices in an island living off tourism, won the 1st prize and Euros 100 worth of ecological products!

The second prize went to a photo essay entitled "The Sun Goes Down on Plastic Waste" by Barry Murphy from Ireland which showcased Irish success with curbing the use of plastic bags, while the third prize went to Ann Moore from the UK which discussed the practicalities of plastic recycling in rural areas with her photo essay entitled "Recycling plastic bottles & bags in Thai Rice Fields".

Beyond the photo essay competition to ECOCLUB has invited its members to publicly discuss and vote on policies that can purge plastic from Tourism, in a dedicated online Forum. The "Tourism Without Plastic" Campaign will continue throughout 2008 and will also be the central theme of the annual ECOCLUB.com Ecotourism Awards which fund micro-projects initiated & implemented by ECOCLUB Members.

The winning photo essays are included below:

1st Prize

1st Prize: Richard Gubler, Switzerland
Solid waste treatment in a Tourism-Paradise backyard

The picture was taken in September 2007 away from the tourism spots, in a hidden place of Koh Pha-Ngan Island (south-east Thailand). For very few money these workers (mostly women I guess) have to do this dangerous job. They burn the solid waste of Koh Pha-Ngan, from which a relevant amount comes from tourism facilities. Nobody might have told them about the risks of dioxines and other toxics.
 

2nd Prize

2nd Prize: Barry Murphy, Ireland
The Sun Goes Down on Plastic Waste

In Ireland, the sun has gone down on the reign of the plastic bag. The Gaelic Chieftain keeps watch over the Western province, to ensure the dreaded pollutant has sunk beneath the horizon, never to raise its ugly head again. It has had its day.

In 2002, Ireland introduced a tax on plastic bags. Shoppers who want them must now pay 22 cent per bag at the till. The government ran an advertising awareness campaign. As a result, something extraordinary happened. Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 93 percent, taking 1.1 billion bags out of circulation. Within months, nearly everybody had bought reusable bags, keeping them in the back of their cars. Being seen with old style plastic shopping bags became socially unacceptable.

Thanks to a small levy, this seemingly mammoth task had been accomplished. A spectacular success indeed, of which Ireland is rightly very proud. If a little country like ours can lead the world on this issue, then everybody else can surely follow. Interestingly, money raised from the sale of plastic bags is ring-fenced for environmental projects, recycling facilities, waste management and the like.

But the Gaelic Chieftain sculpture is in itself a small example of the effect of this wonderful move. Pre 2002, you could have expected to see plastic bags at its feet, or stuck in the surrounding hedges, or floating on beautiful Lough Arrow below. Not any more.

So wherever you are or whatever you do, ban plastic bags now and lobby your local representatives to do so also – for the sake of your tourism and your community.
 

3rd Prize

3rd Prize: Ann Moore, United Kingdom
Recycling plastic bottles & bags in Thai Rice Fields

During the drought periods in Isan, north-east Thailand, the local rice farmers find that their use of bottled water increases dramatically. They are then faced with the problem of disposal! The younger generation has come up with an ingenious way of re-cycling the bottles and bags to catch fresh-water crabs, mud-skippers, frogs and prawns, which they still use to supplement their rice diet.

The youngsters go around the village with a handcart, collecting empty bottles. They then cut the neck off the bottle and invert it into the main body of the bottle, fixing it in place with a bamboo rod, and pegging it down into the bottom of the ponds in the paddy fields. Left-over food is used in the trap as bait. The desired creatures wander in to the bottle but are unable to get back out. In the evenings, the villagers tour the traps to collect the day's catch.

Past generations used to make a similar device out of rushes and bamboo but it is felt these days that ways of disposing of plastic take priority over the desire to preserve their crafts. The crafts are still used - the villagers demonstrate them to tourists and also make the products to sell to visitors from Bangkok and from the western world.
 


About the ECOCLUB.com "Tourism Without Plastic" Campaign:
This year's theme "Tourism Without Plastic" was inspired by current moves to ban plastic bags in many cities and countries around the world, and the successful completion of the Carpe Diem Travel plastic bag recycling project in Cambodia, which we funded in the context of our annual ecotourism awards. Most people may accept the need to ban, or at least curb the use of plastic, an environmental hazard, however in a sector as complex as Tourism it is not immediately clear how we should proceed.

About Earth Day: The equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the March equinox. It was first celebrated on March 21, 1970 in San Francisco, United States at the initiative of John McConnell and Mayor Joseph L. Alioto, and was endorsed the following year by the then United Nations Secretary U. Thant, when it became an official UN Day. It has become customary to celebrate the day at the United Nations by ringing the Peace Bell which was donated by Japan in 1954.

About ECOCLUB:
Founded in Athens, Greece in 2000, ECOCLUB®, the International Ecotourism Club™ is an award-winning network with Members in over 80 countries, is working for ecological change in Tourism.
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