Friday, 1 January 2021

Being Home Doesn't Mean Behaving Better?

The 'staycations' enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic on populations across the globe (and the claimed increase in appreciation of the natural world) have not led to all people treating their local environments any better. In the UK, people have been shocked by littering, fires, parking 'wars' and 'fly camping' (erecting tents in banned areas) at some of our National Parks (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/01/the-litter-was-a-shock-2020-covid-rush-on-uk-national-parks). For once, such boorish behaviour has not been limited to the Brits. Even in relatively sparsely-populated New Zealand, the replacement of foreign tourists by locals, had resulted in environmental damage (including) defaecating in pristine locations and disturbance of wild animal populations (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/31/see-your-own-back-yard-just-dont-poo-in-it-new-zealanders-told). One can only wonder what these people do in other countries they may visit in normal times!

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