Introduction

With the increase of extreme weather, more and more people are aware of the urgency to transform our current society to a more sustainable society. A “green wave” (Keating, 2019) blows from the European to the rest of the world. However, I also see many people do not pay much attention to it. The largest carbon emitters, the United States and China are still busy with their trade war which throws the global into disorder. Japanese still play the peacock of their advance in recycling but doesn’t realise 80% of their domestic wastes end up at direct incineration. (An Introduction to Plastic Recycling, 2016, p. 3) And Chinese still think it is not fair to let developing country slow down the speed of economic development but to save our earth, but not realise that all human being is sharing the same planet. To build a sustainable society is the appeal to many social vanguards.

In this article, I express the hope and difficulties of such social transformation, according to the history and current situation in reality. And, I appeal to more people, including individuals, enterprises and government do what they can do to achieve a sustainable society. Then I try to find out the potential of wilderness to stimulate the transformation to a sustainable society, by analysing its definition, previous research and my experience of ecotourism.

Milbrath review and reflection

The chapter of Milbrath(1984) discuss the question “Whether or not a group of humans can redirect the course of their civilisation?” I totally agree with the “vanguard” and new environment paradigm(NEP) they support. There is no hope if we continue the dominant social paradigm(DSP). However, from my perspective, it is tough to achieve the redirection of those “Modern-day Prophets”.

Milbrath (1984) discussed that our present social structure is not sustainable, so we have to experience social change. He listed three processes of social changing, 1) evolutionary succession, 2) social learning and 3) scientific/technological development (Milbrath & Fisher, 1984, p. 95). In his opinion, he, as an environmental vanguard, advocated the second processes. The first one, in his opinion, is a “traumatic and painful” process and for the global environmental issues, the failure of the evolution means we might lose more than we could stand, whilst the third one could not be projected.

Milbrath pointed out that the process of social learning depends on the improvement of people’s awareness towards the society and started from social elites arousing public awareness of the social ill. Pairs Agreement (2015) is a blissful achievement that we get approval to spend the joint effort to save our only planet, no matter developed countries or developing countries. I saw more and more people standing out to protest for themselves for a sustainable society and offsprings, and their appeal is gradually influencing the policy-making of the government. Also, there is a rise in the number of young supporters to environment paries in European, which brings pressure to the traditional parties in power (Keating, 2019) What’s more, the U.K. became the first G7 country to legislate for net-zero emissions (n.d., Government gives details on setting a UK net zero emissions target, 2019). Also, “The European Commission calls for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050” (n.d., 2050 long-term strategy, 2019). To cater to the public, who are more and more aware of the environment, in the 2020 US presidential election, Even Donald Trump, who had mocked climate science, “declared himself a champion of the environment” (n.d., Trump praises his green credentials, 2019).

The redirection of a civilisation ask the environmentalists to form its own political power, for example, the Green Parties around the world and win majority seats in the parliament worldwide, as the change from DSP to NEP need momentum both from top to bottom and from bottom to top. However,  until now, no green parties in the world achieved such a goal, but most of them stay in opposition to influence or even extra-parliamentary opposition to supervise and influence party in power. The public’s collective awareness of society’s long-term development, more eco-friendly and economic sustainable, still couldn’t compete for the mainstream, the traditional capitalism way of progress. The rise of right-wing in European (Europe and right-wing nationalism: A country-by-country guide, 2019) and lose in democracy world-wide (After decades of triumph, democracy is losing ground, 2018) all shows unfavourable news to left-wing environmentalists.

That’s how environmental vanguards shows their effort in democracy countries, as the vanguard advocate their thought through social movements, freedom of speech and democracy. However, in non-democracy countries, the first step, arousing of people’s awareness might be full of obstacles, for example, in China, striking, marching, etc. are not allowed by the government. All condemn to the government are not allowed. Although China wants to show its responsibility toward climate change and expand its global influence, “China’s NDC is not ambitious enough to limit warming to below 2°C, let alone to 1.5°C as required under the Paris Agreement”, as it projected to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 (n.d., China, 2019).

Although environmentalists will win the election and have the power to redirect social change, we have to consider whether we have enough money to support the painful transformation of society. As we know, society transformation not only means the change of superstructure but also the obsolescence of traditional industry and unemployment of workers in those industries. That will be the burden of government. Besides, investment in infrastructure like a power station of renewable energy also a heavy burden which many developing countries can’t afford. Moreover, the price of renewable energy and environmental-friendy products are higher, most of the time. Those all become the obstruction of moving to a sustainable society. It is just like for many poor families, education might be their only opportunity to change their kids’ life; however, they just don’t have the money to support their kids to continue their study. That’s the reason Donald trump withdrawal Pairs Agreement. And, that’s also why I deem the topic question of the chapter is so arduous to achieve.

Though the future is so desperate, we have to follow this what vanguard’s direction, as this is the only way to escape the road to ruin. Also, I look forward to the breakthrough of technology, for example, electric aeroplane, new materials to replace plastics to a large extent, which might make our future brighter.

We don’t have much time to waste. All stakeholders of the only planet should take action rather than waiting for a hero to save us. As an individual who care about our environment, select environment-friendly 1)products, 2)lifestyle, 3) political parties, being more cautious about the risk of technologies, supervising and protesting for the shortsighted policies. We should also be aware of that with social change, it is inevitable to encounter the crackdown of traditional industry and ideology. Although the social transformation brook no delay, the government should be more foresight, give consideration to more stakeholders and then make prudent decisions to achieve a society of well-being and equality, as history told us that transformation too swift always ended up with failure. Corporations need to find the megatrend and niche market of environment-friendly consumption, and then make changes, for example, considering decreasing the waste when designing. Scientists should provide scientifically and theoretical support to help the transformation of business and government.

I also want to express that there is no time for us to engage in endless haggling and shifting of responsibility, condemn why others don’t make as much effort as they do. Do what we can do from ourselves. If developing countries haven’t sufficient money to support the infrastructure, at least they could improve their citizens’ awareness toward climate change, informing them what climate change is, how it would influence our life and what could an individual do. For ourselves, decrease unnecessary consumption like disposable items, high-carbon travel. Don’t be the obstacle to the people who want a better future, a sustainable society.

Lecture programme critique and reflection

What could we use nature or wilderness to stimulate the process of social change?

As the imprint of human activities almost spreads everywhere on our planet, the real wilderness, which is defined as an “areas of pristine ecology that are completely free of any human disturbance” (Higham, 1998, p. 29)  is questioned whether it is still existing.

The Another definition of (phenomenal) wilderness (Kliskey, 1992; as cited in Higham, 1998), which is more moderate, is an “areas where the imprint of humanity is largely unnoticeable” (Higham, 1998, p. 29). And wilderness has become a “scarce resources” need to be protected and managed by humankind. The definition of legislation helps better manage the wilderness in New Zealand. For many countries, just conserving nature not decrease is very hard. The forest area in the world had decreased by about 3% from 1990 to 2016, while the forest area of New Zealand had an increase of about 5% in 26 years(The World Bank). The increase in forest area is an advance of human’s endeavour to a sustainable society.

Higham (1998, p. 28) articulated the contradiction between the imagination of wildness and human management as an “anomaly”.  However, I don’t think there is a contradiction, as the management of wilderness is to isolate the wilderness from the human imprint, which means we set autonomy for the wildlife and decrease our influence on the area. In my opinion, this is the best way to protect the wilderness. Wildlife thriving in the Chernobyl exclusion zone after human evacuation because of the nuclear accident (n.d., Radioactive safari: due to the lack of human activity in the region surrounding the Chernobyl station, plant and animal life has been allowed to thrive. ‘Wormwood Forest’ by Mary Mycio describes life in Europe’s largest wildlife sanctuary, 2006) , which shows that human is the biggest threat to wildlife, much more horrible than nuclear radiation. In addition, the wilderness is a “cultural and contested idea” (Saarinen, 2018, p. 4) , for example, one of the aims of Finish Wilderness Act(1991) is to secure the indigenous culture and related traditional livelihoods. Wilderness doesn’t equal to human excluded.

After the industrial revolution, human seems to be separated by nature. Being part of nature had been the history of the human being. However, the connection between human and nature are not able to cut off. Wilderness tourism is a sustainable way to both satisfy mankind’s affinity to nature and achieve economic benefit. In term of ecotourism or nature-based tourism, nature is designed to cater for different imagination of nature-based on cultural and personal perception. It is not an easy task to manage the wilderness for tourism, earn more money to support the protection of nature and even achieve an educational goal.

There is also a dilemma between reservation and business, especially when the increase in the number of solo international travellers in New Zealand, for example, the rubbish and human waste led the indefinite closure of one of the New Zealand’s tourists’ sites, Mermaid Pool (White, 2019). If tourism brings more harm to the environment than the advantages, it is time that we should rethink our management of tourism. Environment and tourism should not be an alternative question. The future of ecotourism is projected to achieve a win-win relationship. Russell and Wheeler(1994) demonstrated that the academy had long been researching on how to arouse pro-environment value through visitor experience(as cited in Higham & Carr, 2002).

When I was young, the priority of travelling for our family is relaxing and accompanying each other, as if we spend our time at home, we didn’t have much common topic but spent much of our time on a laptop or our cell phone. We chose to visit a forest park mainly because we want to breathe some fresh air, strength our body and view the impressive landscape of nature, get a change from our route life. Also, some of my experience in wilderness tourism had a subtle influence on my idea of the relation between human and nature. When I was surrounded by nature and having an on-site experience of how small and weak I am as an advanced creature, comparing with nature, I understood that human should be biocentric, but not Anthropocene. I thought this a favourable change for me. I got those experience all from remote and desolate places, like on the top of a sand dune in a vast expanse of desert, on a seaside, etc., where there were seldom people. I don’t believe I can get such feeling in places crowded with tourists and with well-build tracks and huts. The experience of isolation and harmony was challenging to meet. This kind of experience for me is not knowledgable learning but changes my value subconsciously through strengthing the affinity between me and nature, as what Tuan (1974, p. 112) described, wilderness is “a state of mind” and “it is impossible to define a wilderness in an objective manner”(as cited in Saarinen, 2018, p4). I deem it might be one direction of ecotourism that this kind of experience could be designed and copy as an educational part in wilderness tourism. Former researches in New Zealand also points out that experience in tourism had challenged visitors to consider environmental issues (Higham & Carr, 2010, p. 287).

We had plenty of research about the development of ecotourism, wilderness tourism or nature-based tourism. I saw a good trying to push forward the ecotourism. The categories of different level of wilderness can cater to different kinds of wilderness seekers, as the wilderness recreation opportunity spectrum(Department of Conservation,1995) shows that Routeburn track is suitable for backcountry comfort seekers and Olivine is suggested to remoteness seekers (as cited in Higham, 1998, p35). Also, I found that almost every ecotourism site that I visited in New Zealand has plenty of information board, and some of them even had a well-built information centre introducing indigenous species and geographic knowledge. Although I was questioning whether were there any tourists, especially international tourists, would stop at the information centre for a while to read them as they are in the library, as their main aim is the on-sight experience. But I still appreciated there are facilities to provide more educational function in the process of ecotourism.

On the last two field trips, I had the opportunities to look at some endangered birds and other species of New Zealand. I observed that both sites wanted to deliver more information to the visitors rather than wildness tourism, which the main content is to experience by eye and physical activities. I didn’t think what they interpreted was very attracted to me, as the information scattered and could not seize my attention as a story. So I don’t think they would attract more tourists other than the birds-lovers and alike, although they have the potential to do that. They also expressed that the capacity is not enough to afford too many tourists. I guessed that’s why they didn’t find effective methods to promote customers’ satisfaction. Orams(1997) pointed out that “circumstances attendant at most tourism sites that challenge the goal of effective interpretation” (Higham & Carr, 2010, p. 279) which is rooted by diversities of age, educational background, cultures and language among tourist audiences, limited learning timeframes, non-captive audiences and the distractions that exist at tourism sites and attractions”(p.280). However, I believe that if they found a better way to catch the interest of visitors, “it will contribute to the long-term benefit of the environment” (Higham & Carr, 2010, p. 279).

Conclusion

From Milbrath(1984)’ perspective, the road to a sustainable need to encounter a deadly slow process of social learning. It started with a group of the social elite to arise the awareness of the public. and when the awareness spreads out and becomes a common sense, the environmentalist parties could gain the election and then redirect the society from the top of government. What has been happening now is idealism met with, cracked down by the brutal reality, but gradually and continuously gain little process. I saw great success in the rise of awareness around many countries and is glad to see that policies to cope with climate and environment issue have been written into legislation. However, the awareness of the environment in the non-domestic country and developing countries are not high enough; also obstacles from DSP are obstinate. It might need more time for them to realise the seriousness of environment and climate issue we are encountering. It might too late to wait for the rearguard to wake up to reality, so do what we could do, not shrink responsibilities to others.

The protection has been done a great job in New Zealand in the last 3 decades. The area of forest in New Zealand increase and ecotourism has been the highlight attraction for tourists. However, I expected that New Zealand could do much better in the future by managing its nature-based tourism scientifically. The previous research has been a great support to understand the market segment of different wilderness seekers and tourists’ experience in ecotourism. From my previous travel experience, I found there is still an enormous potential for development, as an educational role to change visitors’ environmental values.

In conclusion,  the road to a sustainable society needs unremitting efforts from all sectors of the society, including environmentalists, tourism industry, etc. The more parts engaged in the movement of social changing, the more brighter our future will be.

References

Higham, J. (1998). Sustaining the Physical and Social Dimensions of Wilderness Tourism: The Perceptual Approach to Wilderness Management in New Zealand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26-51.

Higham, J., & Carr, A. (2010). Ecotourism Visitor Experiences in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Challenging the Environmental Values of Visitors in Pursuit of Pro-environmental Behaviour. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 277-294.

Milbrath, L. W., & Fisher, B. V. (1984). Can Modern-day Prophets Redirect Society? In L. W. Milbrath, & B. V. Fisher, Environmentalists : vanguard for a new society (pp. 95-101). Albany : State University of New York Press.

n.d. (2006, July). Radioactive safari: due to the lack of human activity in the region surrounding the Chernobyl station, plant and animal life has been allowed to thrive. ‘Wormwood Forest’ by Mary Mycio describes life in Europe’s largest wildlife sanctuary. Retrieved Aug. 12, 2019, from Gale Academic Onefile: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A149243544/AONE?u=otago&sid=AONE&xid=237086cb

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n.d. (n.d.). Forest area (sq. km). Retrieved August 14, 2019, from The World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.FRST.K2?end=2016&start=1990&view=chart

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