Arnie Weissmann
I wrote my first article on sustainability in tourism more than 35 years ago (assigned by ASTA for its association magazine). Since then, environmental awareness and conservation efforts have proliferated in the travel industry: Tourism Cares was founded and flourishes, ecolodges have thrived, carbon offset options appear beside airline ticket prices, altruistic industry foundations have mushroomed.
Yet, when it comes to reaching planetary goals related to climate, biodiversity, the oceans and natural landscapes, the needle has moved backward.
Discouraged? In need of an Anthropocene therapist?
You're not alone. Last week, I spoke at the International Conference on Sustainable Tourism in San Jose, Costa Rica, and a fellow speaker, Willy Legrand, gave a 30-minute master class in isolating the underlying causes of eco-exhaustion, defining the forms in which it manifests and identifying solutions to overcome it.
Legrand, a professor at IU International University of Applied Sciences in Bonn, Germany, recognizes that eco-anxiety exists broadly but applies his findings to the travel industry specifically.
"We don't just manage businesses or destinations, right?" he asked. "We're dealing with human beings, with a mental health crisis that impacts employees, guests and communities emotionally. It's time we learn to know how to help."
Legrand noticed a massive drop in interest in addressing sustainability issues over the last few years and began to research how to keep his students' interest, motivation and hope engaged in the topic.
An underlying cause of what he calls ecological grief is solastalgia, which is, in a sense, the feeling of homesickness while remaining at home. If, for example, one works in an area where glaciers have receded, the changing landscape brings a sense of loss even though one occupies the same physical space.
"We're feeling an exhaustion from carrying environmental concerns for too long," he said. "Your most committed environmental employees are burning out. Activists are leaving movements. Everyday people (i.e., guests) sort of give up, lose attention.
"And here's what's crucial: These are normal responses to abnormal circumstances."
Legrand came across a Norwegian researcher, Per Espen Stoknes, who both broke down why eco-apathy is increasing and formulated solutions to help counter this negative trend.
Stoknes defined five defense mechanisms that prevent people from taking on environmental activity. He labeled the first reason that people retreat from action "distance." To them, climate change begins to be seen as something abstract, something that both moves slowly and is far away. In other words, somebody else's problem.
The second reason is "doom." "When environmental messages focus on catastrophe, loss and sacrifice, people turn away," Legrand said. "Fear doesn't necessarily motivate; it may simply paralyze people. Guilt is even worse, because it leads to the avoidance of the issues altogether."
Next: "dissonance." Dissonance can result, for instance, from driving your SUV to the organic farmers market. "We usually justify it rather than change our behavior," he said. "It's very hard to be virtuous in a world that's not made for you to be virtuous."
The fourth D is "denial." It's when people reject or suppress science to get on with their day, to get on with their life as normal.
The final cause relates to "identity." It's when environmental information, activists or climate policies are seen as a threat to lifestyles, freedoms or values systems.
Stoknes' analysis of the causes of eco-apathy led him to contemplate solutions.
Legrand said he begins with social networks. Peer influences are powerful, more powerful than top-down mandates. "When a respected colleague is acting on climate change, others follow," he said.
How one frames a challenge also makes a difference, Legrand said. "If you tell your hotel guests that they have to sacrifice for the planet -- bad move," he said. Rather, frame environmental action around health, opportunity and well-being.
And focus on sharing success stories rather than statistics. Show restoration in practice. Celebrate progress. Incremental successes keep hope alive versus emphasis on enormous challenges that may never be resolved in the short term.
Finally, involving guests in documenting and celebrating the natural world through citizen-scientist apps like iNaturalist, eBird and CoralWorld gives them an opportunity to participate in solutions. "When people can participate in healing ecosystems, they heal themselves as well," Legrand said.
The conference was hosted by an organization called Canaeco. Its president, Hans Pfister, is also co-founder of the Cayuga Collection, eight sustainability-focused hotels in Central America. He has been working on environmental hospitality projects for 30 years.
"We've all seen a certain level of burnout because it's hard. It's really hard," he said of commitment to sustainability. "Sometimes you feel down."
Still, he relates to what Legrand said when he talked about the motivation that comes with social connections with like-minded peers. "You see others doing it, you get reinforcement that what you're doing is not in vain," Pfister said.
"But we're not doing this because it's corporate policy. It's the only way we know. And it's the right way."