Tourism and
Nature
I’ve
been in “the business” officially for around 23 years. My chemistry teacher
from high school would have been mortified that my first foray into the
environmental field was in industrial chemical policy and regulation. But then
again, my colleagues were very gracious in filling in on that steep learning
curve and all of a sudden that goofy science made sense in a real world
application. And so, I found my nerdyness later in life.
I
started out in food. From an early age,
I worked in restaurants and hotels, and then branched out into farms and then a
wonderful experience with cooking school where we were verbally assaulted by a
Frenchman suitably ill-willed towards American culture.
I
loved the orchestration of bringing a meal to a table, the banter and the good
will of a well machined team. But I was also troubled. I was mortified at the
amount of edible food we threw out… and not just any food, but prime rib,
lobster, and stock bases that had simmered for what seemed like years.
After
taking a b-line out to Seattle,
I thought I’d give merging those two loves —food and environment—into one
business and that’s where I started with my old business partner and friend
Missy. It was a tough sell at first. Restaurants and hotels didn’t seem that
inured to what we were trying to do but after a while, it made sense to some.
Restaurants have the highest per square foot energy costs in the U.S.
commercial sector. That’s pretty significant given not only rising energy costs
but where that energy comes from- dirty coal sources that lead to acid rain and
lung cancer, or dead fish from hydropower.
Paying
attention to certain issues also really resonated with the staff- not wasting
food, recycling, trying to convince our manager that women should be allowed to
wait staff dinners—and it gave us a higher purpose and in a good way, gave us a
moon to hang our stars on.
The
second story of sorts is about an enormous African American man and the
National Seashore in Maryland.
When I worked at EPA, I had this complex, wonderful friend who had grown up in
the ghettos of Cleveland.
One weekend, a group of us camped at the national seashore in Maryland at Assateague and Chincoteague--you
know where the wild Spanish ponies and mule deer actually run around free on
the dunes and the beach—and practically run you over too. The rest of us had
experienced a lifetime of the beach so although the experience was delightful
on that sunny, hot Maryland
weekend, there was nothing particularly telling about the day.
I
saw James standing at the edge of the water for some time and I walked over to
him, wondering if he was just taking it all in or whether he was just sick of
our incessant chatter about food. When I came closer, I realized he was crying.
Upon asking him what was wrong, he remarked, in broken sentences, that this was
the first time in his life that he had swum in the ocean. I didn’t know what to
feel- I was at once elated- almost proud that we had brought him to this
experience --but also profoundly embarrassed about my life long privileges… at
having access to the sea, to have snorkeled, to have breathed the emerald
forest and its greens, and to have skied wintry breaths in pristine places.
These
are probably common experiences for many of us- clean air, sunlight dancing off
the water- - in many cases, Puget Sound. There are many things we can and do take for
granted- clean and available drinking water, clean air, the ability to swim,
fish, kayak or collect shells at low tide.
Are
we talking about becoming better communities and humans? Indeed.
It’s about creating opportunity and not taking
things for granted. Because the things we take for granted are the very things
we rob from the people we love- our parents, our kids and grandkids, our
younger friends.
The
other issue I wanted to briefly touch on is the underlying subtext that is
undeniable in this line of work. Just listen to the news and you will hear it
immediately… “Businesses said blah blah blah… environmentalists said blah blah
blah. We are counterpoised in black and white.
In
the meantime, we’re checking the back of each other’s heads for sixes and as a
result, we have been exquisitely positioned to fail because in almost every
conversation I hear, it’s about us and them. It’s about businesses that want to
destroy the earth and environmentalists that are out of touch and would rather
have you out of work to save a seal or an owl.
It’s
all very artful, but it’s all very wrong. Think about it for a moment- when you
are stressed and seek solitude, what do you
look for? The last time I checked no
one was seeking out a parking lot, or an industrial complex or grey strip
malls. I don’t think anyone is clutching their DVD players close to their chest
in time of need.
We
sit in our gardens, sipping our favorite libation or play with our kids and
friends in the woods or along the shoreline. We all have sacred places and the
conditions that our elders told us about- a florabundance of nature that jumped
out at us bigger than life itself. Everyone wants safe drinking water and the
solace that the outdoors brings to us. We care about our kids where we see
skyrocketing rates of asthma. We care about the women in our lives where we are
also seeing a dramatic increase in breast cancer.
Protecting
the things we love- now that’s something anyone can connect with.
So,
then why do we turn to plants, pets
and a serene setting anyhow? As it turns out, we have very old genes. Not the
kind you wear on your body but the genetic blueprint that makes us … well, us.
We co-evolved with nature, all the wild green things, the creatures that give
us both elation as pets or frighten us in corners or the wild. Nonetheless, our
physical and emotional health is tied inextricably to the natural world of
which we are an important part.
This
is so much the case that we heal
faster when we see natural images- even if they are fake- and our blood
pressure lowers when we hold our pets—and our retail sales go up when we plant
trees and flowers near our stores.
So
when we hurt all the things we love- streams, the ocean, the critters that
depend on those systems- we only hurt ourselves and our kids. This environment
isn’t just something “out there,” like some parallel universe, but it’s us.
If
nature were a company, it would be a design firm.
Everything in natural systems
is lock and key… like a well designed love.
There is absolutely no waste and every single little organism up to the
most massive creature- has an implicit signal to do something. Nature gives us
oxygen, medicine, food, water for drinking and commerce and industry—it
cleanses dirty soil and air and slows the flow of pollutants to water.
It also
provides fodder for prose, love and art.
We
have reached a point where our manipulation of natural systems and the
pollutants we have shoveled into them has reached a point where some declines
may not be reversible.
But
you know something? We are
reversible. We can change our minds, our attitudes, the way we come to the
table to address challenges.
So
this is a call to bring your vision, the knowledge and feel of the things you
love, to bring innovation and change to make the future we want to be. It’s
about finding common ground and joy in a different path- it does not mean
sacrifice but it does require a willingness to look up and out towards the
horizon.
And
it may mean holding hands- either literally or figuratively-- with someone you
never thought you would.
Heidi Siegelbaum
heidi@calxysite.com
