eco-tourism

Last semester, my friends and I had chance to join a group of people who went to the National Mall to pick up trash after the Cherry Blossom Festival. I love going to The National Mall, especially during the Cherry Blossom Festival. I am sure many of you already went to one if not many. It is so beautiful that I cannot describe in words. Therefore, when my friends first asked me to go to the Mall to pick up trash, I wondered who would throw trash in such a place. It did not make sense to me that people would come to see a clean and beautiful thing and leave trash behind.
When I got to the Mall, I could not believe what I was watching at. All of the trash cans were overflowed. There were piles and piles of trash. The Mall seemed totally different place from how I remembered. I was so mad. I was just so angry that the tourists came to see the beautiful environment, but they did not care about it. They only focused on eye-catching beauty of Cherry blossom, but no one really appreciate and respect the nature.
However, after watching the film in class, I realized that I am also one of the tourists since there are more fundamental harms that I made as I travel than throwing trash or leaving mess behind. I been to many places where some of them were very urban but some were environmentally well preserved. This summer, I went to Boracay Island in Philippine. Boracay Island is a very small island where no building can build above the palm tree, ocean is so clear that you can see to the bottom, and beach sand is so white and soft. It was one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have been to. Before the tour guild told me one heart breaking story, my days there were heaven like. After the tourists rushed into the island, and the big and luxurious hotels were built to serve them, local people are experiencing frequent blackouts and water shortages. The big franchised hotels have prior access to water and electricity than local people. I thought it is so bitter and ironic how tourists push local people out to the edge. The hotels are built in the most beautiful and convenient place. The local people who do not have cars, and are the poorest are pushed far into the island.
Before I take this class, I never thought of solutions to these problems. I never heard of “eco-tourism” before. I still do not know the solution, but I could carefully make suggestion. We should not only praise to go to some place far and costly. I am sure many of us did not even visit local vacation places. We could walk or take bike to local places rather than taking hours of plan to foreign country. I also suggest using local market and restaurant instead of using American franchised store or restaurant when we are in vacation. In addition, many hotels already encourage people to reuse towels and bedding more than once.
We should all participated in eco-tourism and try to minimize our impact on environment during tours. We must be eco friendly to enjoy our environment better and longer.