Escapes WEEKENDER
Next steps include a proposed green fee for visitors, more reservation systems, and more fun, family friendly conservation activities, like kayak trips where you can help tidy the reef. Hawai‘i has a long way to go until it’s a fully regenerative circular economy. Nearly all hotels are owned and run by non-Hawai‘ians. The majority of food is imported, as are building materials, cars, and gas. And the planes keep coming. “There is not one silver-bullet solution to these problems,” says Hawai‘ian ecologist Kawika Winter, director of the He’eia Estuarine Research Marine Reserve. “We need a diversity of approaches to solve a diversity of problems. Regenerative tourism can be the difference between being in a place or being in the community. [It] can mean connecting with other humans in ways that are profound.” Places like Hawai‘i and Playa Viva have started a movement. Destinations like New Zealand, Bhutan, Fiji, and some Caribbean nations, as well as independent business leaders worldwide, are working to emulate their success by consulting with these regenerative travel leaders.
Entrepreneurs realize that tourists want to keep exploring but don’t want to harm the places they visit. While regenerative travel doesn’t fix the climate crisis, it is a way for vacationers to use their dollars for change. It may be imperfect, but trying to do good in your travel destination is an aspiration that might just give a few more turtles—and maybe even some beloved and fragile ecosystems—a better stab at survival.
ABOVE RIGHT A turtle makes its mark in the sand at Playa Viva. BELOW Volunteers carry harvested kalo (taro) from a lo‘i at Papahana Kuaola in Kāne‘ohe, O‘ahu, as part of the Mālama Hawai‘i program.
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