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| https://www.nps.gov/slbe/learn/education/classrooms/arrowhead.htm |
Is ecotourism helping or hurting our national parks? This question has two sides to it and is also complicated. This is because there is lots of evidence backing up both sides of the question. Let's start with the first side of the question, Is ecotourism helping our national parks? Well, yes. In article two, Is Ecotourism Helping or Hurting Our National Parks?, it says, "Ecotourism is an industry that promotes responsible travel to natural areas. It can provide income and promote conservation–rather than exploitation–of natural resources. Sometimes, ecotourism is looked at as a solution to a lack of political will or general apathy toward conservation issues. The idea of ecotourism is to enhance the conservation of wild spaces and species in an ecosystem through the promotion of natural resources as a tourist attraction.”. In that same article it also says, "Ecotourism has many benefits. It boosts local economic growth, provides jobs and improves conservation awareness as it stimulates the desire to protect our parks. NPS activities provide more than 200,000 jobs and have $30 billion impact on the economy of the U.S. through visitor spending. Getting outside is also good for people’s physical and mental health, helping with everything from reducing stress to improving memory. Companies are recognizing these benefits for employees, and students’ performance can improve after spending time outside. In addition, our national parks provide a unique American experience, bringing people together to learn about our national heritage. Due to all of these benefits, many people support sustainable tourism.”
Even though ecotourism can be good, it also has a downside to it. In article 3, Keeping Bears Wild - Or Trying - At National Parks, a park ranger at Great Smoky's National Park, who works with protecting the wildlife, most of the time bears, named Williamson says "It's a very difficult window to try to capture, because neither one can behave themselves, humans can't help but get too close to bears or drop food crumbs on the ground; bears can't help but eat the crumbs.". He also says "He can educate all of the bears he wants here, but he can't educate all of the people." This is a problem that many of the parks face. Especially Great Smoky's National Park.
You see people just don't know how much they can effect the environment. Also in article 2, Is Ecotourism Helping or Hurting Our National Parks?, Sencer says "Visitors’ poor behavior has been a growing problem, too. especially in national parks. In the past couple of years, the national parks have made headlines several times because of human misbehavior. In 2015, a family interfered with a bison calf in Yellowstone National Park, which they had presumed was in danger because it was alone in the snow. Bison are physiologically equipped to handle the harsh winters in the midwest. In the end, the family’s misjudgment cost the bison its life after attempts to reunite it with its herd failed….Recently, a woman was sentenced for vandalizing sites in parks around the country, something that unfortunately has impacted many parks over the years.”
Not only that but on article 5, Is ecotourism and oxymoron?, Christie Wilcox says "Ecotourists around the world may be inadvertently causing more harm than good, and that certainly seems to be the case in Kona. No one knows how the mantas’ behavior has been altered by the nightly interactions with humans and the artificial plankton aggregations created by their lights...The Kona industry might be “taming” the rays, causing unforeseen harm — in addition to the damage to the reef and rays already documented.”. But no matter what ecotourism, in a way, is neither good, nor bad. It has it's ups and downs. So the answer to the question in paragraph one, is merely one's opinion. So what do you think?
S&EP
SP7: Arguing from evidence.
I used evidence for different articles to construct my opinion on if ecotourism is good or bad. I read 5 articles to help me with constructing my argument and opinion. Then I had to use quotes from the articles and relate them to one another. I then came up with the conclusion that ecotourism was bad for our national parks and the environment.
XCC
XCC: Cause and Effect
Humans cause a lot more harm to the environment then we know of. One of the ways we cause harm is in ecotourism. Ecotourism is good for us humans, but it make things a whole lot worse for animals and the environment. You see, the animals at the national parks get to used to seeing humans in their daily life. This make them tamer when they are around humans. This almost takes the 'wild' factor out of an animal. This then makes national parks more like a 'wild zoo'.
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