Redefining tourism in a global system

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Transcript:
Speaker 1 (0s): I'm here. 

Speaker 2 (21s): We were discussing an article about empathy and its impact on the environment. 

Speaker 1 (26s): You know, that article was something I, I came across just in trying kind of to do what you do, kind of trying to find like how can we make connections and help people understand, like, people we talk about compassion and empathy, sympathy all in the same kind of realm. And we really think about it from a humanistic kind of standpoint. All are kind of different. They're not necessarily the same, even though they get clumped together. And so I was trying to find something that just to share, you know, that we could say, okay, actually all of these things are vital or important in nature as well. 

Right? And so whether it's, it's, we're thinking about land or the ocean or wildlife, it doesn't really matter when we, human behavior is really a component that's really impactful on our surroundings. And so that article is actually pretty intense. I thought when he's talking about vultures, which is really interesting, cause we all think it's just being these demonic, evil animals with like, why should we protect Folgers or take care of them? Well, they're a part of a larger ecosystem, but you know, it's that mental, that process that we have from young age that we see these crazy, really scary animals on the side of the road, eating the roadkill and they're doing their part. 

But we think it's really horrible that that article is, you know, he talks about too, at the end of it, logging in and different things that humans think we're doing the right thing to S to save our planet or planting trees, because we think that that's going to help the carbon footprint, which it is. But if we're planting trees that we're just going to cut down in three years for timber, that kind of defeats the purpose. Right? So that's why I thought that article would be at least good for us to base a conversation on a little bit. 

Speaker 2 (2m 12s): I thought the article was fascinating and I really liked how the author of the article gave the distinctions and empathy. It made me realize the impact that empathy has on our behavior about our surroundings and the people we love and our relationships. 

Speaker 1 (2m 32s): Yeah, yeah, it does. And that is, I mean, we can put ourselves, we can say, Oh, I can put myself in that person's shoes. I've never experienced whatever they're going through right now at this point in time. Right. And there's a difference where you have a sense of empathy. When you can say, I have the same feelings, I have similar feelings, I've had this, I can understand where they're coming from and what they're doing, the difference between. And I'll go to compassion real quick is that compassion is like, you want to actively remove that suffering from that person. 

Right. And that's what you start looking for when we think about empathy and it's not really an action. So to speak, it's more of, we, we feel this inside of us. And then how can we take that into a different realm where we're going to say, okay, if this is how I feel, and it's not happening to me, what is it doing to the people that's affected? Whether it's one person, whether it's a whole society, whether in our, in my line of work, it's the world around me and what role do I play in that? 

How can I make a difference? Or how can I make a change being one person? Does it really matter? Every time I go to the beach, I pick up rubbish. Maybe when people see me doing it and start acting the same way. I don't know. But when you talk about altruism, then it's kind of like, okay, so how, how do we get people to actually like internalize that we don't, that's a paradigm shift that's gotta be made in society. I think, I don't know that people are that conscious. 

Unfortunately, 

Speaker 3 (4m 13s): What are some effective tools we can use to change behavior about conservation? 

Speaker 1 (4m 17s): I think modeling behavior. I mean, when you go out and you're around people being mindful of your actions and what you're doing and knowing that people are always watching what you're doing. I mean, we live in a small world now with technology. I don't know if you saw our friends in the mainland, one of those, but the kids that took a trampoline up to stairway heaven, right? They might, they muscled this thing up there and they're getting a bunch of flack for it. Like, are they born and raised on why? Like, why would you do that? Well, because it's fun. And they wanted the, you know, Instagram theater, whatever they wanted, but the people who are standing by, well, they're not local that, well, they're not necessarily thinking back to maybe things they would have done as they were growing up to have fun and to get that higher, to get their friends. 

And they didn't have people watching, they didn't have cameras filming, they didn't have pictures being taken. And so I think that in this day and age, it's, it's a blessing. I think that technology is actually a really good thing. It can be used for good it's unfortunately used for not good a lot of times. But another component of it is that what's happening to us here in Hawaii may not look exactly the same in the continental U S or in South Africa or in the Southern American continent or in Asia. 

But there are still, when we talk about like global climate change, when we're talking about environmental things, much of what we do here actually could be impacting across the CDs and 180 degrees across the world from us. And so when we can kind of think a little bit bigger like that than it, and we think, okay, I'm just this small meek little person it's actually one step. And we can, we can globalize it from a small local because of technology. Right? So anyways, I think I derailed a little bit from what you're saying, but, but I think modeling is really important. 

And I think that it being mindful too. I mean, a lot of people in the public lately have been talking about where your dollars go is, what's going to make decisions in the world, right? So being very mindful of the companies that we purchase things from, or that we support by our day to day shopping. We're a little stuck here in Hawaii. I'm hoping as many people are that our food security's gonna get better and we're not having to import 90% of our food. But when we go to Malama market or food land and we're spending, you know, $10 on a gallon of milk, and then we realized, wait, what do we need here? 

Well, grain is ridiculously expensive to feed cattle. And how can that go into the broader scheme of things when we're thinking? I mean, back to being like empathetic and thinking about conservation, it's not just about conservation. I think through like mindful acts, we'll get conservation it's there. We actively go and do things to say, this is conservation, but it's also how we act in our data. This really applies, that would feed into it. So I think that's one part it's, it's thinking again, when you go to the market, like where did this food come from? 

What am I buying it? You know, was it grown here or was it slave labor? Like what kind of fields was it grown in? It's so big. The conundrum is so large, right? It seems so much bigger than us, but I think that that's a big hit is where are our dollars is a big part of, of change. 

Speaker 4 (7m 29s): Could you speak a little bit about where you work and what it is that you do? 

Speaker 1 (7m 34s): I work for th...