Seychelles, Galapagos, Greek Islands, Arcachon and Venice
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Posted by John Blatchford Feb 2, 2009 |
In an attempt to engage more members of the general public (i.e. not only the specialists and ‘nerds’ referred to in my last blog) I have decided to write about important exhibitions, particular species, habitats and environmental problems found in some of the better known tourist locations around the world.
Here are five recent examples:
- Tempting Readers to Find Out About the Darwin Exhibition
I used the famous Marine Iguanas of the Galapagos Islands to try to get more people to look at what is on offer at the Natural History Museum in London this year.
- Engaging Readers with Climate Change
The attractions of Venice and the controversial Mose Project seemed a good way to get people thinking about Climate Change issues and Global Warming.
- Making the Link Between Pollution and Health
Taking recent scares about the safety of some French oysters seemed a good way to suggest the important link between our pollution of the environment and the potential health risks we are exposing ourselves to.
- Eating Intelligent Animals
Looking at the octopus and indicating how intelligent it is thought to be raises ethical questions about what we eat. I like grilled octopus – but maybe it is wrong to catch, kill and eat sentient beings?
- Flagship Species and Conservation
I use the Seychelles, and particularly Aldabra Atoll, to show how one ‘flagship species’ (in this case the Aldabra Giant Tortoise) can be used to publicise conservation efforts which preserve entire ecosystems. A similar article could have been written about Giant Pandas, Mountain Gorillas, Polar bears, Blue Whales etc. etc. – but I chose the tortoises because of the link with a well-known tourist destination.
Search Engines
These five recent articles are an experiment to see how much the reference to holiday resorts and tourist destinations influences the number of readers finding my articles through search engines. The hope is that members of the general public might ‘stumble upon’ these articles while idly browsing their vacation plans, and that having found them they might actually read a bit and think about the issues!