The month of March ended abruptly and brought with the start of the end of the spring semester. College students grasp to life during the school year with the hope of surviving just enough to make it to Spring Break to have some much earned fun. This college holiday then proceeds to being celebrated with sandy beaches, blue oceans and sunny skies across the seven continents. In my case, it was well spent in Texas.
In talking about sunny Texas skies, I would not be able to proceed unless I speak of weather on the St. Edward’s campus. While I was out try to maintain my sanity at a normal human level, I found myself in my newly acquainted favorite spot under the Sorin Oak on campus. I have noticed that since I started spending more time outdoors, I am more likely to spend more than the one hour needed for the class journals outside. And who would not when the fields across campus look like this?
The last couple of weeks have been really stressful and it wanting to, like I mentioned before, stay sane I like the nature journal time to think about nothing school related. The recent weather has totally helped. I have kept my consistent schedule of going out Sunday afternoons, but I have noticed myself walking up to the Sorin Oak Wednesdays after my 3:30pm class because the sun is out and I love feeling my skin soak in that vitamin D. For the most part the temperature has been consistent at around 72 degrees Fahrenheit which just makes the whole experience a lot more pleasurable. Obviously, this too then has become the time in which I ponder on my plans for the future.
As I had mentioned on the previous post, I have started to think about what I want to do as a future career. I am looking into the tourism industry in Texas which has made me think about the region I am from in a totally different way. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for Spring Break, my mind immediately when to the beach: South Padre Island which is located in one of the biodiversity hotspots we have talked about in class. Also in my previous post I wrote about the pride the island has over their bird and turtle centers so I thought I would check them out while I was there.
According to Raul Garcia, reporter of a local newspaper in the Rio Grande valley, “South Padre Island is ranked third on the Family Vacation Critic’s list of 10 Best Beaches for Families for 2016”. Something that is consistent with the state of Texas economic overviews that claim that In 2013, total direct travel spending in Texas was over $67 billion which directly supported 599,000 jobs and generated $4.7 billion in state and local taxes. As a site of tourism SPI, as many spring breaks refer to South Padre Island to, the city is flourishing and contributing to the profitable industry, but at what cost?
Like Costa Rica, South Padre Island, has been very successful in attracting tourists. But as the article: Ecotourism as a development strategy: experiences from Costa Rica states, an increase in the numbers of visitors calls for waste processing facilities that are missing. Something I could not agree more with. I must admit that the last time I visited South Padre was about a year and half so I was very shocked to see what I encountered as I walked down the first beach access Thursday morning.
This was a sight I was totally unfamiliar with. I had never encountered a crowd that was so completely absent minded and unaware of the actions. As a twenty one year old, I expected to see people intoxicated. I would have to avoid them if I did not want to get vomit on me, but to have to look where I was walking as to not step on a broken beer bottle or plastic, was frightening and something I had never experienced there before. In talking to local business owners, one mentioned that this particular group of young adults, “did not seem to care and were as equality destructive as hurricane Dolly in 2008”. Being from the RGV, I remember this particular storm and I could not understand how it was that people were so unaware that they just did not care. Local news channels attempted to raise awareness to the issue by covering the festivities, but it people like Just ask Adopt-A-Beach organizer Javier Mendez that are actually doing something about it. “Some people leave syringes around so it hurts the environment, sea turtles, sea gulls, pelicans, and humans,” said Mendez. Tony Hernandez with Cameron County Parks is responsible for picking up a lot of the trash left behind. “Its really bad,” Hernandez said. “If we didn’t do that it would be a landfill out here.” Many of the people I was talking to that weekend where not even from the state of Texas and were completely unaware of what kind if effects their trash was making to the Gulf of Mexico.
In looking to alleviate the situation in sights that attract large influx of people, specially with the weather starts calling for a trip down to the beach, we need to start acting on these problems. Places like Costa Rica believe that the best way to keep people from disturbing fragile ecosystems, like those in the ocean, is to educate the people that are visiting those areas. A lot of the times, these tourists are only in the region for a couple of days where are the people who have made their homes are having to deal with the repercussions that their actions are having in the environment.
What started as the project I was going to focus on for Ecolead is beginning to really strengthen my values and plans for the future to make tourism possible through sustainable means that continue to encourage investment and an increase in tourist activity in the region, but do not harm the environment or the ecosystems that make it up.