Oxymoronic ecotourism

One would think that the eco-tourism industry cares about the environment and would therefore not be harmful to the animal and plant life its livelihood depends on. But no matter how careful tour companies are when they take tourists to view wildlife and natural phenomena, disturbance will and does happen. Eric Jaffe from Science News magazine wrote a well-researched and varied piece on this ironic subject. Although written over a year ago, it is still very much current and disturbing:

"Visitors travel 3 to 5 hours by boat to reach the beaches of Costa Rica's Tortuguero National Park—home to hawksbill, green, and leatherback turtles. Since the early 1990s, park officials and conservationists have gone to great lengths to protect these rare animals. The money that tourists pay to watch the turtles nest goes to safeguard the species... And while tourists don't directly harm the turtles, they leave trash such as water bottles and snack wrappers in Tortuguero, which lacks an adequate waste-processing center."

Read the full story: Good Gone Wild