Abstract
This chapter considers the paradox that in the very process of valuing ‘nature’ by arranging for people to visit it, the tourism industry has paved the way for nature’s (and indeed, tourism’s) eventual demise. The consumerist ethic, combined with mobility and affluence (for a minority, but nonetheless a considerable number of people worldwide), has created a situation in which searching for unique experience and habitat is contributing to ecocide. The destruction of the environment is thus fostered by commodification of all that we hold sacred and desirable. The sheer number of tourists is transforming the world. These transformations not only change nature but simultaneously transform human relationships and the habitats of human and nonhuman alike. This fundamentally undermines environmental health and wellbeing globally.
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White, R. (2019). Loving the Planet to Death: Tourism and Ecocide. In: Raymen, T., Smith, O. (eds) Deviant Leisure. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17736-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17736-2_13
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