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HOW TO BE A NICE TOURIST
Welcome to the Nice Tourist!
The aim of this space is to create awareness about glacier retreat and how we can all contribute to reducing the impact of human activity on the environment.
"The outcome ideally is to slow down; taking longer in these places, spending more days in places, and choosing to access them by low emissions-means to actually spend time there. Behaviour change, and also a change in how tourist opportunities are offered".
Why do we care about glaciers?
“Glacier meltwater is a really important source of drinking water, and for life, essentially...
They are important for us and ecosystems because of the interaction between the building up and melting of the ice...
Whether they’re gaining mass or they’re melting, that changes the flow in rivers, and the balance of water on the land..”
Humans & glaciers
Climate change is the biggest impact. Tourism in glaciers is minimal if it is compared with gas emissions, high temperatures and the use of fossil fuels...
Continuing high gas emissions will mean that temperatures will keep rising and glaciers will keep shrinking.
In the future, we probably still have glaciers, but they will be smaller and not as accessible as we know them, or have known them to be.
Another expert we spoke to was Heather Purdie, Glaciologist and senior lecturer at University of Canterbury
Glaciers in a warming world
An organization that creates awareness about the importance of glacier and environmental care and protection.
Paulina Jiménez and Constanza Espinosa told us about the factors affecting glaciers.
"The main human impact on glaciers through large industries and greenhouse gases emissions...
More damaging is the fact of being unfriendly to the environment, through bad practices such as littering, feeding wild animals or emitting noise in these pristine environments."
"We have a duty of care to both the visitors to the area and the businesses operating in the area...
Making sure they provide experiences that are resilient, safe, and sustainable long-term"
Sam Parsons from DOC gave us some insights about how to be a sustainable tourist.
