How might we, as a species, become less impactful to the environment even as we struggle to know whether western-style economic development truly improves the lives of people in tourism destinations?

-think about how tourism, applied as a tool to improve the lives of what Johan Rockstrom called the 80% of the worlds population living at the subsistence level, has also contributed directly to climate change and a decline in biodiversity. What aspects of tourism development tend to contribute to these negative impacts the most? How might we, as a species, become less impactful to the environment even as we struggle to know whether western-style economic development truly improves the lives of people in tourism destinations? What types of mitigations and adaptations are applicable in the tourism context?
-think about how our modern lives have come to impact our planet and how tourism is both a blessing and a curse in terms of the industrys ability to combat global poverty and empower social justice; while also degrading critical habitats, threatening species and contributing to climate change. What attitudes or approaches can tourism managers employ to affect a balance between the benefits of tourism, both to the tourist and to communities, and the cost to our environment? How can this argument be re-framed in order to achieve greater balance between economic gains, brought about through tourism development, and the intrinsic value of the places where tourism takes place?
-Consider the ways in which tourism contributes to climate change. What kinds of adaptations or mitigation strategies do you think make the most sense in a global environment? At the community level? What kind of influence do you think the United Nations has in effecting change in the tourism industry?
-Consider how the measures described in the UNEP document frame the debate between the economic value of tourism development in terms of poverty reduction and livelihoods creation, and the non-market value of biodiversity globally. How does Gowdy frame the argument? Are these approaches similar? How does assigning value to biodiversity help to balance the debate or does it?