I’m sitting in a train enroute to Vienna from Bregenz, Austria. It is March 1, 2009. Across from me is a 20-something female student on her way back to university from spring break. Diagonally opposite me is a 60-something matriarch, serious, thoughtful and independent – quiet and reflective. And, beside me in the 6-passenger cabin of this particular rail car is a male student reading a report. Two of us (me included) are plugged into audio devices (I’m listening to a favourite recording of Anoushka Shankar – Rise). Around me, as I travel eastward on this 650 km, 7-hour journey are the mountains and farms of Austria.
As I started out this day, a couple from Dornbirn (western Austria) joined me in this cabin. They were going skiing in St. Anton just for the day. Imagine! They chose to use the train instead of a car. Each with a backpack on their back, a set of skis and poles, and a bag with their boots, they were simply going skiing for a day. Much as a Canadian would go to the country for a day trip, or to the zoo in the city. Skiing in Austria is the national sport. So, going skiing for the day in this magical post-monarchy kingdom is just a beautiful and ordinary thing to do. We reflected about the great Austrian Olympic skier Herman Meier, about ice hockey between Canada the Russians, and about the beauty of our respective countries. I marvel at the fact that almost everyone I have encountered in a week in Austria speaks English. I have not had to resort to a dictionary or contorted hand-theatrics to try to communicate. What a great lesson for me, as a unilingual Canadian. To be able to speak multiple languages is both admirable and advantageous.
My point is that we had areas of common interest. This is good in a world divided by people defending their differences, seemingly driven by leaders who feel their actions justify winning at all costs, and being right. People suffer; economies collapse; weather patterns change.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in the Yukon dog-sledding with Uncommon Journeys owner Rod Taylor. He spent an hour with us expressing his vision for sustainability and in his straight-forward manner and explained his involvement with a new iconic eco-lodge project in the Yukon. Involving investors, First Nations partners and their intention to give life to a a powerful vision to have the most sustainable-greenest eco-lodge in the world and also become a location where world leaders can share leadership and examples of sustainability. I am struck by the fact that each of us has the responsibility to lead our tourism businesses to demonstrate the very best of climate-friendly best practices in our operations. Rod is doing his part in the Yukon. Are we each doing our part within our own respective communities or provinces?
In Vienna, the cars are small, fuel-efficient, and the tram system is extensive. Underground tubes, above ground electric trams and rail, it’s all designed to move 1.5 million people efficiently and with low carbon emissions.
In Canada, although our geography is so large, we need to find much smarter, more fuel-efficient solutions. Rail has to make a come-back. We need electric-only cars and trucks. We need to use alternative energy solutions for rural farms, towns, and residences that emphasize zero to low carbon emissions (wind, solar, geothermal, bio-fuels).
When we travel away from our own country and go away to new places, we see our planet and our country and our living styles through a new lens (a lens of sustainability, inter-connectedness, and environmental accountability). Imagine – today, there is a world wide tourism trend for visitors to see as quickly as possible iconic tourism locations before they disappear (like the bears on Hudson Bay at Churchill, Manitoba, or the Antarctic before a majority of the ice sheets melt and some of the species associated with cold Antarctic waters disappear, or the Galapagos and the unique island species that are there). The challenge is once we have seen what we are doing to our planet through a new lens, we need to make some changes. I look forward to doing my part, as a tourism leader and sustainable tourism business owner. There are many things that we will be working on at a national, regional, and local level over the next months and years. We’ll keep you up to date on what some of these are.
If you are interested in a new and revised edition of the Community Indicators Handbook for Sustainability, learn more here. Gives tourism operators, tourism officials and economic development officers a good starting point for engaging communities in work to make their own communities more sustainable.
