Month: June 2019

LO3+LO5: We started this process by identifying the activities we wanted to do as a group and found common connections in scuba diving, kayaking, and hiking. We then made a list of places we could travel to and do these activities (Cebu, Tioman, and Borneo). Here working as a group was a major benefit, as we could divide into smaller groups to investigate each place fully. This allowed us to eliminate Borneo and Cebu quickly, as we could not find service to do in Borneo or Cebu. Since we divided it up, we could be confident that we had investigated each place fully.

LO6: When planning our trip it was important for us to make sure our activities and hotel were environmentally sustainable. Many of our locations rely on the tourism generated by their oceans, which are at greater and greater risk thanks to pollution. In order to help with this, we want to work with the Juara Turtle project in Tioman to help conserve the dwindling turtle population. We understand that it is a difficult issue to contribute to in such a small time frame, but we all have the potential to make a small scale difference, which when added up can lead to something greater.

LO7:On our first day of project week, we went camping. Most of us had never gone before, however; we were able to combine our various half-remembered outdoor skills to assemble the tents and a fire. We also had to be very conscious of our environmental impact during camping. The fire had to be fully extinguished and our trash kept in bags, which we didn’t have. We ended up using our bigger trash as containers, which made it easier to carry back and avoid a negative environmental impact.

LO2:On day three we went Kayaking, another activity I had never done before. It was a new challenge for most of us, but we went straight into it with a sea kayak. It started a little slow, fortunately, I was the only one in a solo kayak so I did not have the initial coordination issues that slowed down my group. I switched to a double kayak on the way back and I was surprised how easy it was to start swerving.

LO6: While Kayaking we saw firsthand the pollution caused by some major hotels a few hours away from our own. This made me consider the environmental impact of unsustainable tourism. I also saw this during our beach clean-up, where we cleaned mostly plastic off the beach near the mangroves. While I felt like we had an impact, it seems like the problem needs a change at the source of waste disposal methods than simply dealing with the symptoms.