Four very interesting articles thus far:
1. The one about ecotourism.
Essentially, there’s two sides to ecotourism. On one hand, it creates jobs for some people and creates awareness in communities about certain aspects of the environment; this is meant to motivate people to be Eco minded. On the downside, this eco-mindedness rarely lasts long, and sometimes the ecotourists cause more damage than they save.
2. Artificial reefs.
After diving in Cozumel and diving some wrecks in Texas, I was interested in learning more about the politics of wrecking. On the whole, it doesn’t seem like there are many ill effects of creating reefs; although there is further research that needs to be done. Apparently, man made habitats are just as effective as natural ones.
3. Chronic oil spills.
At first I was not clear on the difference between British petroleum or chronic oil spills. However, it’s now clear that Chronic oil spills are more damaging over longer periods of time to indigenous species. Unlike the gulf, chronically affected areas have a harder time recovering as they do not have time to recover at all.
4. Invasive species.
I had some personal experience with these in Cozumel. I’ve been a fan of longish since their role in “the naked gun” (or was it the pink panther?). Either way, I was shocked when I learned they are invasive bad-a’s who just eat everything. One problem with them is that they eat a significant amount of small fishes in the reef system, which can really mess with the food chain.
