Blog Action Day: Climate Change and Tourism

Today is Blog Action Day. The theme this year is Climate Change. One of the suggested categories is travel. Since I just returned from a trip where green efforts to mitigate climate change were evident everywhere I traveled, this seemed a good subject for me today. Today I thought I’d touch on just a few of the environmental programs we discovered.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. Photo of our ship, Adventure of the Seas, taken from the top of the Paradise Point Tram at St. Thomas.

Royal Caribbean, the cruise line on which we sailed, is an adamant supporter of healthy environmental actions. They received the first ever "Clean Sea Award” during the Nor-Shipping Conference titled "From Crisis to Opportunity: Shipping's Role in the Fight against Climate Change" (Oslo, June 9–12, 2009).

Royal Caribbean established a Save The Waves program to directly engage the crew and guests in their environmental management efforts. Information was in our cabin with tips about participation. Many of the available ship excursions included opportunities to be active in environmental concerns.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

The Environmental Committee of the Aruba Hotel & Tourism Association facilitates island initiatives such as beach and reef clean-ups, educational programs, and sponsors the Sponsor-A-Mile Program to keep Aruba clean as well as the Save the Turtles Foundation.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

I’m not a big shopper when traveling, probably much to the financial despair of places I visit. However, we did pick up a few things here and there on our trip. In Aruba, recycled license plates are sold as souvenirs. My husband bought one for me with Aruba’s motto: “One Happy Island”. I like the idea of mementos made from recycled materials.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Dominica, located in the West Indies, promotes itself as a nature island. This is a very green island in terms of agriculture which provides plentiful food resources along with those foods provided by the sea. Their water is resourced from the abundant rains they receive. My photo shows some of their bamboo piping structures which helps with natural irrigation as well as drainage.



Just like many of the islands we visited, Dominica stresses utilizing reusable grocery bags. Funds from the bag sales support local charities which I heartily approve.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

One other item I bought was a small jar of pure Dominican sulphur cream with lavender, a completely natural skin care product made from the natural clay and natural sulphur springs in the Wotton Waven area of Roseau Valley.

Travel doesn’t mean we blithely go about our vacations ignoring our environmental responsibilities—because it affects all of us everywhere. Tourism doesn’t have to be a detriment to the environment. As tourists in these places; we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities afforded us to participate in positive and responsible ways.