Global Environmental Issues

Protecting the environment is now one of the most talked-about and hotly-debated topics across the globe. Many companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to create products or make their products environmentally friendly. An example is the electric car that is being looked at as a viable option to that of the present gasoline powered car. In 2009 world leaders met in Copenhagen to discuss ways in which they can prevent global warming and reduce on the effects of climate change, in effect protecting the environment. The travel industry too has not been left out of this issue. In an industry where the number of people engaged in international travel has been predicted to reach the billion mark in 2010, there is concern about its contribution to the damage done to the environment. Also like every other industry the travel industry needs to be concerned about ways of doing business that are environmentally friendly. Outlined below are some of the environmental issues affecting the travel industry which stakeholders need to address and in some cases seek out long term solutions.

1. Aviation which ferries hundreds of thousands of tourists across the globe is of great concern to those seeking to protect the environment. A major concern for the industry is greenhouse gas emissions and their implication for climate change. Aviation produces at least two percent of emissions. One way the aviation industry is working on this problem is by rolling out newer planes that have fuel efficient engines which means less carbon emissions. However not all airlines especially in the poorer countries can afford buying new aircraft.

2. Mass tourism. With the cost of travel becoming cheaper and more and more people venturing further away from their countries to places that were previously inaccessible but can now be reached because of air transport, areas of environmental and historical significance are becoming crowded. This is putting pressure on ecosystems within these areas and threatening the flora and fauna. Also climate change is going to mean that certain places will not favour visitors because of weather conditions becoming extreme which will lead to overcrowding in other places with more favourable weather conditions. Again this presents a danger to the ecosystems in the overcrowded areas and to the tourism of the area.

3. Deforestation. In spite of the worldwide call to protect the environment there are still areas where massive logging is taking place. This is also contributing to destruction of flora and fauna and is a threat to the tourism in those areas.

4. With the call to go green affecting all industries across the globe the tourism industry has not been left out. There is pressure on those who are in the industry to find methods of doing business that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. For example can the hotel industry build hotels that are more environmentally friendly? What methods can they use to conserve energy and reduce on chemicals that are used in the dry cleaning of tons of laundry used in the industry?

5. Human encroachment. With populations continuing to grow worldwide there is now competition between man and animals for space. Humans are now encroaching on areas like National Parks that are protected and marked for wildlife. This has led to reports of people and their livestock being killed by wild animals which in turn leads to people hunting and killing these animals that are considered to be a threat. This is a threat to the tourism of the area. Human encroachment is also forcing animals to move away from their habitat to other areas where they cannot survive leading to the extinction of certain species.

As an industrialized nation Japan must deal with tough environmental issues. Japan is the world’s leading importer of exhaustible energy resources and the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It is a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol and also the country which hosted the conference in 1997. Under the Kyoto Protocol treaty Japan is obligated to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions to a level 6% lower than its 1990 levels. In addition, Japan must take other steps to curb global climate change.

Nuclear power provides about 35% of Japan’s electricity. There are currently 63 nuclear power plants operating in Japan making it the second largest user of nuclear power in the world. All of these power plants produce waste which much be dealt with. Especially dangerous is HLW, or high-level radioactive waste. To address this issue the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant was built in Ibaraki, Japan. There are many opponents to the opening of the plant, including Greenpeace, which feel the plant poses danger to surrounding residents. The opponents also feel Japan should be investing money in cleaner and safer renewable energy sources.

Japan is one of the world’s largest consumers of fish. However, due to depleting ocean stocks the annual catch has been rapidly decreasing. Japan is the world’s third largest consumer of fish, following China and Peru. Numbers of the prized bluefin tuna, known as the diamond of the sea in Japan, are dwindling causing fishing quotas to be reduced. Japan has been facing international pressure from environmentalists to curb its consumption of bluefin tuna.

Japan’s whaling for “research purposes” has also attracted a great deal of negative international attention. The whale meat harvested from the research campaigns is sold in supermarkets and restaurants in Japan. Many people feel the Japanese JARPA research program is just an obvious cover for commercial whaling. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, lead by Captain Paul Watson, uses controversial tactics to stop Japanese whaling vessels in the Antarctic. Two common methods used by Sea Shepherd are throwing rotten butter and powerful stink bombs at the Japanese whaling vessels.

Renewable energy accounts for only 1.3% of Japan’s total energy production. Despite being technologically advanced and heavily dependent on oil imports, the country has set an unambitious goal of 1.6% by 2014. Currently Japan ranks 14th in the world for wind-power installations. With a lack of government policies to promote the use of renewable energies it is unlikely Japan will become a global leader in this area as many once thought.

Sydney, Australia is a fantastic city. There are water views everywhere thanks to a harbor that folds its way for more than 40km inland from its ocean entrance. The beaches, all 62 of them, are fabulous and the water is warm most of the year. And if you tire of the beach there is a world heritage forest wilderness an hour away in the Blue Mountains.

Not surprisingly there are roughly 4 million Sydney residents. Most live in suburbs spread across a metropolitan area of 12,145 km2, leaving plenty of space between and in the dwellings, and open areas to enjoy. Almost everyone is within walking distance of a park. Add some sun, those infamous beaches and you have the ideal city.

Visitors also like Sydney. Each year the city plays host to close to 10 million tourists, 3 million of them from overseas.

The place is so popular that in the last decade around half a million people have decided to become Sydneysiders, the local name for residents. This is roughly 1,000 new inhabitants per week, a growth rate of 15%, a little higher than the rate of increase in the overall population of Australia over the same period.

In addition to the arrivals social trends have seen families become smaller, splitting faster than they are merging. And whilst youngsters are staying at home longer, they eventually want to move out.

Over the coming decades Sydney will need to supply 640,000 new homes just to keep up with projected demand.

Whilst developers may be smiling, this number has had planners in state and local government waving their hands in the air. Even in a place with so much space, such a sustained influx places huge pressure on infrastructure, especially transport.

It also generates environmental challenges.

The supply of water, sewage services and power must all increase as the city grows. And there comes a point where delivery systems for utilities are past their sell-buy date. They cannot be upgraded or expanded anymore and a whole new system is needed.

Or, as with Sydney and its sewage release to the open ocean, the system is no longer acceptable.

640,000 homes and the roads, railways, shops and public spaces that support them need space. Some will be squeezed in amongst the existing suburbs; others will be green field developments. Conservation of natural habitat is a challenge when the concreted area expands.

In Sydney the built up area is encroaching on fertile agricultural land that has traditionally supplied a large proportion of the horticultural produce consumed by the city’s residents and those 10 million visitors. Planners must make the difficult choice between food production and living space. Good choices need local input and a clear regional strategy.

Sydney has a few quirky issues too, such as what to with a resident population of grey-headed flying foxes, an endangered but nuisance species of fruit bat the size of a small cat, roosting in the botanic gardens that sit in the shadow of the CBD skyscrapers.

Then there is the real environmental issue of the city’s footprint. Water, energy, food and waste cannot all be generated within the Sydney basin. A much bigger land area is needed to supply the resources and places are needed to dispose of waste.

There is also the issue of greenhouse gas emissions from lifestyles that use fossil fuel based electricity and transport.

It is a long list of challenges that each place pressure on the integrity of the environment.

Sydney is a moderate sized city by modern standards, similar to Phoenix, Arizona. It is half the size of Chennai, a third the size of London, a quarter that of Shanghai and a blip compared to Tokyo, the largest agglomeration in the world, at 34 million inhabitants.

The significant statistic is that there are at least 70 cities in the world that have larger populations than Sydney. Urbanization is a big deal.

The environmental issue for real is that we have to have this urbanization. The world population of 7 billion will peak at between 9 and 12 billion and, to help retain an environment that can support them; we probably want most of these extra people to live in cities.

Attention to how we make these cities livable and how we can manage their environmental footprints should be a priority for us all.