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Brian Tokar: "The fundamental problem with tourism today is that it transforms communities and important natural areas toward serving the desires and perceived needs of more affluent people who come to visit from other parts of the world"![]() Director, Institute for Social Ecology
He is the author of The Green Alternative (1987, revised 1992) and Earth for Sale (1997), and edited "Redesigning Life?", an international collection on the politics and implications of biotechnology, (Zed Books, 2001), as well as Gene Traders: Biotechnology, World Trade and the Globalization of Hunger (Toward Freedom, 2004). Brian has lectured throughout the United States as well as internationally and his articles on environmental issues and emerging ecological movements appear in Z Magazine and other publications, as well as on websites such as Counterpunch, Toward Freedom, ZNet, Truthout, and WW4Report.
(The Interview follows:)
Brian Tokar: Social ecology offers a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and environmental problems, as well as a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society. We view environmental problems as fundamentally social and political, and seek systemic, long-term solutions, in contrast to the incremental policy adjustments generally advocated by the large NGOs. We advocate fundamental changes in political, economic and social systems, envisioning an outlook that reharmonizes human communities with the natural world, while celebrating diversity, creativity and freedom within human communities.
Brian Tokar: Several of our students over the years have sought to
address the problems of tourism and eco-tourism from a social ecology
perspective. The fundamental problem with tourism today is that it transforms
communities and important natural areas toward serving the desires and perceived
needs of more affluent people who come to visit from other parts of the world.
Brian Tokar: We are especially skeptical of carbon offsetting for travel. Offsets may help absolve individuals' personal guilt for their excess carbon emissions, but the actual benefits to the climate are often difficult to measure. For countries that aim to meaningfully cap their emissions, offsetting emissions through investments in projects elsewhere in the world represents a "hole in the cap" with results that are difficult to monitor and verify. Authors such as Larry Lohmann from the UK have demonstrated that many carbon offset projects ultimately do more harm than good. I am new to the concept of 'voluntourism;' as I've outlined above, it all depends on how it is carried out, and how genuinely it meets the needs of the host community.
Brian Tokar: After 30 years of virtually uninterrupted right wing hegemony in the US, most progressive-minded people are hopeful about the 'change' that Obama represents. However his policies have a long way to go in living up to his promises for change. The escalation of US military activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the very slow withdrawal from Iraq reflect more continuity with past policies than meaningful change. In environmental policy, Obama's top appointees are consistent in acknowledging the need for effective science-based responses to problems such as the potentially catastrophic global climate disruptions that we are facing. On the other hand, they appear quite wedded to status-quo false "solutions" to global warming, including the potential expansion of nuclear power, trading of carbon dioxide emissions permits, and the myths of "clean coal" and "advanced" biofuels. We may be seeing as much change as is possible within the constraints of the current structures of political power in the US, but this is clearly not enough in the face of mounting ecological and economic disruptions.
Brian Tokar: Short term solutions are inherently limited, but necessary. Crises, both economic and ecological, disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people, while the most affluent are best able to shield themselves from the most serious consequences. It is the responsibility of any society that believes in justice to compensate for these short-term effects and allow everyone to participate in the recreation of a social order that fully meets the needs of the people and the planet. Short term solutions should not become ends in themselves, nor allow us to become complacent, but rather help set the stage for the much bigger changes that are necessary.
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