Ecotoerisme - Universiteit Utrecht

thing to do with them is burn them. Yuck! We don’t have the complete solution, but wehave made great strides. We have reusable plastic boxes and coolers which go back andforth to her business. She packs them up and sends them to the pier and they return to theisland. What plastic packaging does come to the island now goes back to the mainland forproper disposal.Since our island is virtually all sand and poor in biological carbon, we are able to benefit byany and all food scraps which are composted along with grass clippings, coconut branchesand other natural trash. During the rainy season our staff utilize the compost in ourgardens. These vegetables and fish they catch after work make a substantial contribution towholesome staff meals for almost six months each year.One can go on and on about eco‐sensitive and responsible tourism, but I think you thereader is getting the point now. At GBBR we do care about the environment, our staff andthe local community. And, of course, we care about our guests. After all, we are in thehospitality business. Guests want to relax and enjoy the local surrounding without hardship.We could do more to conserve energy such as stop buying ice for bar drinks and drinkingwater or stop bringing purified drinking water from the mainland and let everyone drink thesmelly yellow ground water we use for the gardens. However, there is a point where all butthe most adventurous says “enough is enough”.I’m a believer in science. It can have bad uses or good uses. We will continue to exploreways to use waste water for our gardens, solar for power and lower energy techniques topurify water. I am not too sanguine about making ice in the resort. The laws ofthermodynamics are not very forgiving and it simply takes a lot of energy to cool water from25 C to ‐4 C with current technology.I am sure there will be more good ideas to come. If you have a suggestion, please pass it onto us.DanaDana M. Fowlkes MD PhDDirectorLost Horizon Resort Co. Ltd.22