Taking photographs? Leave more than footprints

“Take only photographs, leave only footprints”. I first saw this saying when arriving on a remote island in the Seychelles. It was written on a weather-beaten board and greeted us as we waded out of the warm water onto the pristine sandy beach. It seemed very apt, as we had taken a short boat ride across to enjoy a spot of sunbathing and would be back on the main island of Mahe before the day was out. The phrase is also used frequently in many national parks and environmentally sensitive areas. It neatly captures the philosophy that we should leave the place untouched once we have enjoyed our time there.

For the fragile environment of a national park, the advice may be sound. But I am inclined to disagree with this maxim when it comes to any visit that involves human interaction, and indeed it may be a counter-productive phrase in the battle against climate change.

We may travel halfway around the world to see a spectacular mountain or waterfall, to gamble or to drink in a famous bar. These are the attractions that entice people to take that trip. But isn’t it the case that once we are home, it is often the meetings with people along the way that become the most lingering legacy of our trip? That chance encounter with the English-speaking village teacher; or the old man who remembered his trip to our hometown some 40 years ago; or even our fellow tourists with whom we became great friends. These are the types of memories that remain for me long after the vivid recollection of the amazing sights has faded.

Knowing about the powerful potential of interactions with other people, I would be disappointed to have spent time with others, whether fellow visitors or local people, and not taken some knowledge of those people’s lives, beliefs and values, and perhaps shared a little of my own. I am thinking mainly about off-beat locations, where people are still interested in the visitors that arrive in their locality, but the same could apply anywhere. We can choose to gawp at people going about their lives, take some photographs and move on, having left no more than the proverbial footprints. But what is the point? Who have we benefitted by that exercise? Ironically, we have probably left a giant carbon footprint in order to take those photographs. Isn’t there a wasted opportunity here?

Fantastic hospitality from a group of social entrepreneurs in Manali

Travelling on big planes for long distances does have an environmental impact (let’s leave the arguments about the size of that impact aside here). I don’t want to stop travelling, and no amount of evidence or increased taxes will dampen my enthusiasm to see as much of the world as I can (although it may change how I choose to travel). Neither am I convinced in any way to ‘offset’ my guilt of contributing to global warming by paying some company to make a profit in the process of administering the diversion of a sum of my money to a token project elsewhere.

What I would like to do is to create the most positive effect I can, however small, as a result of my visit to another place. If I meet fellow tourists and share stories and ideas, speak with people from different cultures, religions or backgrounds and learn something about how they view the world we share, then my visit may have some value. If the time away from home enables me to learn something about myself that in turn changes the way I live at home for the better, then there may be a positive and lasting legacy. If, by being part of an interaction between people who may have harboured some prejudice, I play even a tiny part in creating a better level of tolerance and understanding, that can be one of the most memorable moments of a trip.

Experiences such as these will not offset the carbon footprint that we have created to reach our destinations. But they may have a positive social effect that at least creates a change for the better for ourselves and those we meet on our travels.