The extremely wastefulness of vacation resorts and how it’s being addressed
Upon embarking on a vacation, the last thing on a lot of people’s mind is the environment and the effect that their vacationing has on it. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the idea of just enjoying yourself. You work a rough 260 days a year. Maybe a little less or a little more depending on your job and the amount of holidays that they give you. This doesn’t include vacation time, which some people accrue and some people don’t.
Let’s assume that you get 2 weeks vacation time every year. This might be generous, but it’s a good deal if this is what you receive. You’re worn out from working your 9 hour shifts, 5 days a week, totaling 260 days this year. You’re really ready for some down time strutting across that Las Vegas Strip, or laying on the beach somewhere in Cancun, Hawaii, or the Bahamas.
Why should you care that the resort you’re staying at is throwing out thousands of gallons of usable product every day? It’s your time to be showered with the best. You’re paying for it, after all.
Starving and Over Fed
Several years ago, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases came out with a report that several scientists did on the food waste in America and the effect it has on the environment.
The findings showed that as much as 40 percent of the food supply in America is thrown away in a calendar year. When the math was done, dividing the total amount of caloric value in the food by the amount of people living in the states, it came out to 1.4 million calories per person, per day.
That’s an unbelievable amount of food, especially considering that 1/9th of the world (795 million people) are malnourished.
Resorts are a bit part of this problem. People who stay at all-inclusive resorts will testify to the amount of food that gets thrown out every single day. There are elaborate buffets for all meals of the day and because the guest has paid for it-they take a serving of everything, eat what they please, and throw away the rest.
Once the buffet is done, the resort then has no choice but to throw away the masses of food that are left over due to food handling and health regulations. It definitely doesn’t seem right. There must be a way that resorts can get around this issue and give their leftover food to the homeless and starving.
Photo/Nathan Bevier, U.S. Air Force via wikicommons
Waste is Imminent
The problem doesn’t stop at food. Imagine the sheer magnitude of resorts-the amount of water it takes to fill their swimming pools, do their laundry, provide hot water to their guests, the amount of soap it takes to clean, the chemicals used to make things sterile, the electricity and power is takes to run a massive operation, the unfathomable amount of garbage put out on a daily basis.
Have you ever thought about it? The waste doesn’t end. It’s an imminent reality of the world, and many resorts don’t want to spend the resources to lessen their impact on the environment. It is possible to lessen waste as a luxury resort. Some are already achieving this and thus making positive impact on the environment in which they’re placed.
Take a Hint
Despite the thousands of resorts that could care less about the negative impact they’re making on the world, there are others who are doing a lot to lessen their carbon footprint. Some are even partnering with companies that aim to provide technology to countries that don’t have clean water or a proper way to handle waste.
Some of the biggest cities in the world is taking massive steps toward achieving a more sustainable environment. One such city is the city that is the gambling capitol of the world. Imagine Las Vegas sustainability, or Los Angeles sustainability, or New York sustainability. The world would look like a completely different place.
Thankfully, there are efforts being taken to change the reality in which the world lives. When more resorts or large corporations realize that they are the driving force for change and the largest reason the world is drowning in waste, hopefully they will be compelled, and some day made responsible and obligated for the bettering and sustaining of the world in which we live.
Until then, all it takes is the population realizing the cause, and taking a stand for what should be done to sustain the world from this point on.
Guest Author: Lolita Di
