I went to Mexico with my family last week, to stay at an all-inclusive resort.  It was an absolutely amazing trip, and spending time together as a family was something we haven’t had a chance to do in years.  Upon our arrival at the resort, however, I was struck by its magnitude, grandeur and general ridiculousness.  Smack in the middle of must have once been a large piece of jungle, extending its concrete splendor down to the pristine oceanfront, I couldn’t help but wonder about the environmental impact of such a massive place.

I searched the web to see what I could find on the subject, and came up with a couple of interesting articles.  The first one was about whether or not all-inclusive resorts can be sustainable or not.  In theory, they could.  However, their bad reputation comes from the fact that a lot of them aren’t.

http://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/can-all-inclusives-be-sustainable

In trying to find out a little more about the hotel that we stayed at, I found a development proposal by the same company for a resort in Jamaica. http://www.elaw.org/system/files/Hotel+Bahia+EIA+Report+-+Final.pdf

It was uplifting to see that extensive research had gone into planning to put a similar massive resort on the oceanfront, and that the impact on the flora and fauna, marine environment, and socio-economic situation had all been considered in the process.  I know that projects such as these can still be pushed through despite reports of major negative impact in the planning stage, (such as the Walmart being put in in my hometown, which is a rant for another time), but it was nice to know that environmental impact had at least been considered on some level beforehand.

I have been mulling over what to write about for my blog for this class for most of the semester at this point.  So I finally went on the GRS blog website and did a little “creeping” to see what others had written about.  After scrolling through a few, I found one that inspired me – an introductory blog.  It seems worthwhile to introduce myself to the, as this is the first blog I have ever written, and I am planning on being a part of GRS for a couple years.  So here’s a little bit about me and why I’m a part of GRS and have a blog to begin with.

I grew up in a town called Salmon Arm, which is about a five hour drive from Vancouver.  I lived most of my life on the lake there – Shuswap Lake, on a horse farm with my family.  When I was in grade ten we moved across town to farm with more land for our horses.  One of the main reasons for the move was to be able to have hay fields and pasture to support all of our animals on our own land.  It was here that I learned the basics of farming, and developed a love for it.

Originally I wanted to go to university for acting and musical theatre, but after taking a year off and travelling a little bit, I decided that maybe that wasn’t the lifestyle I really wanted.  The gap year then turned into three, but by the end of the third one I knew I wanted to go back to school, I just didn’t know what for.  I researched a lot of different options, but didn’t feel inspired by any of them.  I knew that I wanted to somehow incorporate language and travel opportunities into my degree, and considered things like being a translator or international business.  A friend of mine had recently enrolled in an International Studies programme at SFU and, intrigued by her studies, I did some research and came across the GRS page on UBC’s network.  I instantly knew that it was the programme I had been looking for.  I applied and came the following September, which was last year.

At first I was certain of what I wanted to major in: Sustainable Agriculture in Africa with French as my language.  However, now being part of the programme a little more, I am debating.  There are so many interesting things to study and places to go!  For the moment, I am going to stick with the plan, but who knows what that plan may become by next fall.