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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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