AT Corridor Monitoring April 2016

Last weekend I went out to Tyringham to do some boundary walking on the Appalachian Trail.  A great day to be in the woods!

Here is a short video of the walk.

Earth Day 2016

Let's celebrate the Earth today (and everyday).

And by earth, I mean all of it, the abiotic and biotic parts, including humans.

Dark (and Fright) Tourism

Here a couple of links for Dark Tourism

https://www.facebook.com/darktourism

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/olivier-le-carrer/atlas-of-cursed-places/9781631910005/

And one for Fright Tourism

http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_square/publications/technical_reports/pdfs/2005/ne_gtr326.pdf#page=223

finally, in Western Mass, you may wish to check out

http://www.dementedfx.com/

BnB take beds from Hotels

Seems to be a powerful new partner in the travel and tourism industry.  The BnB, especially the one called https://www.airbnb.com/

This is not with out some concern, since local residents of apartments and houses may not realize their neighbor is actually renting rooms.  This is a particular problem in urban areas with a night life where the temporary tenants return "home" after a late night of partying.  Further there is a concern about lost tax revenue.

But just like the Uber Taxis, the market drives the competition.  But we will likely see some sort of regulation, especially if the big guys (e.g., Intercontinental Hotel Group) feel threatened?

11th Province for Canada

There has been a discussion for several years for the Turks and Caicos to become the 11th Province in Canada.  This recent report summarizes the idea.

Talk about a neat idea!

I always remember meeting some British citizens in St. Lucia who noted the lack of reasoning when the "Empire" gave up the tropical paradise.  The TCI merger may be a mutually beneficial arrangement for our neighbors to the north.  Oh, yeah, while in St. Lucia, we met President Clinton.

Climate Change Toolkits on the web

Seems everyone and their brother are now doing "toolkits" to understand climate change.  For instance here is the states we have https://toolkit.climate.gov/.  It is pretty simple and provides access to basic data.

A more holistic approach is found with the League of Women Voters.  The LWV have a history of providing a good review of any topic and worth the visit.

The United Nations has a good reference too and is found here.  And for more info, the UN has this.

And finally, for this short intro, since travel and tourism account for 5% of the carbon emissions. check this one out for tourism impacts.

UN World Tourism Organization and Poverty Alleviation

Come on folks, let's all make tourism help the world instead of exploiting it.  Tourism can be a tool to alleviate poverty instead of filling the deep pockets of the rich.  Visit this UN site for details.

Belize

Appalachian Trail Boundary Monitoring

So, here is video I shot last fall.  Will try to hit the NPS properties this spring with my students.  Just need to wait for the snow to melt.  Out to hunt for these monuments:

Good stuff.

Tourism Conference in Sardinia

Time again for a tourism conference in Sardinia.  This time in the southern part of the Island, the last one I attended was in the northern end when I flew into Olbia.  The Tourism Naturally Conference is set take place in Alghero, Italy.  Beautiful country, but I think I need to pass on this one.

But if you are interested in the conference, check out this link.

April Fools (again)

Just for the record, yesterday's post was my annual April Fools day joke.

After all, Don Trump would also replace park rangers with cocktail waitresses but paid by tips only to save money!