Key Questions

How do we sustain human society into the

future?

How do we balance economic growth with

the use of nature?

Do we need to rethink our relationship with

nature?

Do we have ethical responsibilities to the

natural environment?

Ways of understanding nature Critical realists recognise the existence of an independent

environment but that our conceptualisation of it influences how we interact with it.

Constructs and types of value may change through time- e.g. wildlife tourism

A common starting point of debate is the ‘natural environment’ as external to us

Anthropic caused environmental changes and challenges have created questions about ‘our place in nature’

Tourism is highly dependent upon the natural environment Climatically- tourism flows- sun and snow

Natural environment as an attraction- beach; mountains; wilderness; wildlife

Nature as a form of escapism and authenticity

Place of physiological and psychological recuperation-a contrast to the ‘home environment’

Trends to nature and eco-tourism

What makes certain types of environments attractive for tourism-influences of constructs Influence of place and space- different places and

longer spaces?

Cultural perceptions- economic and social changes

Influence of Industrial Revolution- urbanisation

Artistic ideas- Romanticism

Noble savage- authenticity

Pre-industrial societies

Use of the environment for different tourism activities

Shifting constructs of nature Throughout much of (western) history the

natural environment was something to be controlled and tamed

Many areas now popular for recreational tourism- e.g. forests and mountain areas were held as dangerous- places of mythology

From the late 18th/early 19th centuries- major shift in environmental constructs

Industrial Revolution, urbanisation, Romanticism

Le Voyageur au-

dessus de la mer

de nuages

1817

Caspar David

Friedrich

Lake District

Challenging questions of our relationship to the natural environment Do we have unlimited natural resources?

Is nature there purely for human benefit?

Is the western consumer based lifestyle sustainable and transferable?

Does it matter how we treat nature? Why?

What is our relationship to nature- are we part of it or separate from it?

Issues of environmental politics and global relations-e.g. Climate justice

Anthropocentric ethics

‘Instrumentalism’ – use of the environment solely for human pleasure and profit

Rene Descartes – irrelevance of ethics to the human-nature relationship

Franco’s- ‘Plan Nacional de Estabilization’…..’crecimiento al cualquier precio’- ‘growth at all price

‘Conservation’ – places emphasis on ecological conservation for the benefit of human-kind

Dominant ethic of contemporary environmental policy

Brundtland Report- Sustainable tourism- ‘stewardship’ of nature

Non-anthropocentric ethics

Ethic of ‘libertarian extension’ Accords all non-human animals the right to an

uninterrupted freedom of existence·

Recognises an intrinsic value in nature - right to existence · ’

Includes all ontological beings, trees, rocks etc

Ethic of ‘ecological extension’· Prioritises the right to the existence of the ecosystem

over the right to existence of individual animals

·

Summary Growing awareness that we are dependent on nature

and that we are a part of an eco-system not separate from it

Realisation of the cause and effect of human action on our surroundings

Much of recreational tourism is dependent upon natural resources and eco-systems

Attractive environments for tourism are a process of cultural construct that place value on nature as authentic

Shift towards stewardship/conservation