"Why don't you review Iceland?" a Nordic-looking woman asked from a sea of hundreds sitting in attendance at the Los Angeles Times Travel and Adventure Show.
"It's not a money-maker," Mr. Steves' responded.
When European tour guide, PBS TV host, and guide book entrepreneur, Rick Steves' answered, I thought: This is at the heart of unsustainable travel.
Let me explain.
Due to my memory I will paraphrase Mr. Steves': Norway is my least popular tourist destination. It's not a money-maker, therefore, I surmise Iceland wouldn't be either. He also alluded to Iceland being off the beaten track. (I personally think off the beaten track is a good thing.)
Rick Steves went on to say that if you plan well, plane travel is cheap, really, really cheap throughout Europe. Many students get as low as $50 round-trip tickets between countries! (As if this were a good thing.) Infrastructure of roads is on the increase. (And I'm thinking, pollution. Air pollution! Increasing smog, asthma, allergies.)
I was raised with the notion that European travel was the travel to aspire to. The place of Western Civilization. History. Culture. Wars. Devastation. The Holocaust. Oh no! I'm sounding like civilization isn't civilized.
I do like many aspects of civilization: dance, symphony, community, the Apple Store.
But I've learned I feel most alive in remote wildnerness.
Trees give off oxygen. Fresh air opens my cells and lungs. Life feels better in clean open space.
Why aren't people going off the beaten path more often? I'd go to Iceland. Except for the fact, it's very far. If I want to be more sustainable, it's smarter to stay closer to home. So I'm thrilled British Columbia is near.
Wild. Spacious. Sacred.
Which brings me to the sacred headwaters of the Skeena River, one of the longest rivers in Canada.
An important river that must be preserved.
But it's under threat of destruction and we must stop that from happening.
Today, I listened to Wade Davis on a TEDxWhistler webcast talk about how Shell is planning to drill for methane gas and ruin Skeena River and its sacred headwaters--for all time.
Davis also mentioned Imperial Metals wants to blast rock out of the ground into the rivers.
People we really must get out to nature more. Get off the beaten path. Not all at once. (According to Rick Steves' you won't be and my audience will likely remain a tight niche) Let the parks regulate how often people can tread.
But go.
Canoe. Kayak. Float. Paddle.
And then gauge how much better you feel. And then take care of the earth, and lobby against industry from ruining it.
Stop Royal Dutch Shell from ruining the Skeena River.
According to Skeena Watershed Conservation Group,
"Royal Dutch Shell wants to exploit the Sacred Headwaters for coalbed methane gas. Such a development would see the wild landscape of the Sacred Headwaters turned into an industrial maze of wellheads, roads and pipelines."
Get ideas on how to help preserve this sacred river, by clicking here.
Photographer of Skeena River: Brian Huntington
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