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Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

bbc.com

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Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#91

Post by lm28469 »

ixtli wrote: post #46
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #33

“The relatively new trouble with mass society is perhaps even more serious, but not because of the masses themselves, but because this society is essentially a consumers’ society where leisure time is used no longer for self-perfection or acquisition of more social status, but for more and more consumption and more and more entertainment… To believe that such a society will become more “cultured” as time goes on and…

I find that the root issue is individualism. There are immaculately clean cities in east asia whos parent societies would definitely qualify as highly "consumerist." It's not consumption that's the problem but the parameters within which that consumption is allowed to proceed. As well, in individualist societies we seem far more comfortable to discard our trash wherever and just forget about it. A more collectivist a…

> There are immaculately clean cities in east asia

Isn't it because they have armies of cleaning people in the streets ? A friend of mine told me about it, I think he was in South Korea, Seoul perhaps, at the time. He told me people mostly act the same but their cities are more efficient at cleaning the mess before it piles up. I don't know if there are other laws similar to that [0] but it probably explain some behaviours too.

I agree with the underlying point though, some people just don't give a shit. I visited a small greek island last year and was appalled to see that locals were throwing their trash, old furnitures, construction materials, &c. over a cliff, straight to the ocean.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum_ban_in_Singapore

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#92

Post by maxxxxx »

sillyquiet wrote: post #5

I call this the 'Disney World' effect of nature tourism. Self-involved, entitled people who treat national parks and the wilderness like an amusement park that has been set aside for their entertainment. They expect the natural world to cater to their whims the same way a Disney world employee does, and they just do not understand that's not how the world works.

Our whole society is based on trying to make things easy and convenient. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that people have the same attitude towards traveling and nature. Iceland could fix this easily by making places less accessible but then the tourist money would stop flowing. In the end they have to make a choice. Limit accessibility or number of tourists and lose some money or accept the negative consequences and keep the money flowing.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#93

Post by lordleft »

davidhyde wrote: post #26

Clickbaity title implies that all tourists that visit Iceland trash the place and this could not be further from the truth, I thought people were pretty well behaved. This article was about a few bad actors, literally. Iceland’s economy is now heavily reliant on tourism but tourism always comes at a cost and this needs to be factored in when choosing this as your source of income as a country. You don’t hear about th…

I don't know what percentage of Iceland's tourists are behaving in the manner described by the article, but I disagree. There's nothing wrong with educating tourists about proper conduct in a guest country. Some will just ignore the admonitions but others may adjust their behavior. I do agree that a country should account for possible ecological/environmental costs and factor that into fees passed onto tourists.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#94

Post by bamboozled »

ridewinter wrote: post #50
marapuru wrote: post #27

This quote from the article baffles me: > The good instagrammers try to show different ways of enjoying nature. We don't tag places that are off the beaten path that we want to protect as long as possible. Some places have become "insta-famous" without ever mentioning where they are but eventually they become known to everyone. Wait, what? So you take a picture. Put it on instagram (because you are an 'instagrammer')…

Hot tip: enjoy the moment, then find a similar scene on google images and share that if you need to. No one ever knows or cares the difference.

This, how many photos of the same scene are required ? 1

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#95

Post by ansgri »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #89
qwsxyh wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's hope the future learns people that most of these instagram shots are basically digital waste. That's very condescending of you. Lots of people like having real visual memories of places they've been.

There was a paper a little while back saying that if you took a photo of something you remember it less well. This was troubling to me as the designated photographer in my family, but not particularly surprising. Definitely made me consider sometimes to leave the camera in the backpack and just soak in the moment.

definitely this. When looking for a good photo, you look basically with one eye and with a set frame, deliberately turning off the 3D immersive experience. I've learned this trick after countless very bad images of very beautiful things, but it's equally important to be able to turn off this mode and enjoy the full experience.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#96

Post by justaguyhere »

prawn wrote: post #64
justaguyhere wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same everywhere. I still remember going to the NY ball drop new year's eve - all I could see was camera flashes, hundreds of them every second. It was disgusting. I was one of the very few people who wanted to see stuff with naked eye :( Do these super talented artistic photographers see the photos they take, even once, after they have taken it?

Yes, my kids and I often go back through my travel photos and reminisce. They are almost all on Instagram (plus a local copy). We’re not climbing over safety ropes to pose though. Think of photography in that situation like a hobby, just like people might want to learn programming languages or whatever. There’s a personal sport to it - challenging yourself to get a great shot or document what you’ve seen. Each to the…

The difference is we aren't disturbing anyone while learning programming languages - the biggest nuisance I can think of is a newbie writing wrong/out-of-date tutorials on the web. Whereas photography by its very nature can be super annoying to others - you have to be polite and wait for some dumb tourist is taking a photo of his girlfriend, you can't enjoy anything in peace with flashes going off all around etc.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#97

Post by knd775 »

mijamo wrote: post #78
CptFribble wrote: post #67

After the volcano erupted in 2010, the government launched a PR campaign in winter 2011 to counter the projected tourism drop. It specifically targeted "inspired" and "enlightened" travelers to come see the "unique" landscape. Also in 2011, WOWair debuted with it's $99 flights to Iceland. Instagram launched in 2010. Maybe it's less "people are garbage" and more "we should make it more expensive to come here."

Iceland is pretty damn expensive, probably one of the most expensive nature destination you can find, together with Norway (although Switzerland probably still wins the prize).

I went there in the winter (when things are generally a bit cheaper) a couple of years ago and it wasn't too bad. Food, however, was incredibly expensive everywhere. No where else have I spent nearly $20 USD for a meal at a fast food restaurant.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#98

Post by merpnderp »

growlist wrote: post #7
jihadjihad wrote: post #3

You see the same thing in Yellowstone--inattentive Instagrammers with selfie sticks hoping to snap the perfect pic next to the wildlife and scenery. Nothing quite as real as being scalded by a hot spring when you're used to viewing the world through a screen.

Mass tourism has ruined travel for me.

Try Yellowstone in the summer if you want ruined. Non-stop traffic jams, trash everywhere, random punk kids carving crap into every tree on a path they meet, and nearly every tree seems to have carvings scraped off it multiple times.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#99

Post by onion2k »

jsonne wrote: post #82
ixtli wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that the root issue is individualism. There are immaculately clean cities in east asia whos parent societies would definitely qualify as highly "consumerist." It's not consumption that's the problem but the parameters within which that consumption is allowed to proceed. As well, in individualist societies we seem far more comfortable to discard our trash wherever and just forget about it. A more collectivist a…

8 of the 10 most polluted rivers in the world are in East Asia. Of the top polluted cities in the world 8 of 10 are in Asia. Your analysis falls apart with even a cursory search.

8 of the 10 most polluted rivers in the world are in East Asia. Of the top polluted cities in the world 8 of 10 are in Asia. Your analysis falls apart with even a cursory search.

Those rivers and cities are all in the manufacturing regions that supply goods to customers in the west. The root cause of the pollution is our consumerism coupled to the governments of Eastern countries enabling exceptionally cheap labor that we exploit. To blame the nations of East Asia for the problem is a pretty poor analysis on your part.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#100

Post by onion2k »

knd775 wrote: post #97
mijamo wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iceland is pretty damn expensive, probably one of the most expensive nature destination you can find, together with Norway (although Switzerland probably still wins the prize).

I went there in the winter (when things are generally a bit cheaper) a couple of years ago and it wasn't too bad. Food, however, was incredibly expensive everywhere. No where else have I spent nearly $20 USD for a meal at a fast food restaurant.

If you'd eaten the local cuisine it would have been cheaper. Importing goods to an island is expensive.
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