Giving back to the land/community/Earth after visiting it/taking from it.
-I was asked in class to focus on eco-tourism and how to give back as a tourist instead of just taking. My personal story that I wanted to work on kind of focuses on this in a way. I have been a Mainer all of my life. I grew up in rural Maine, right outside of Unity. Unity had Unity College, where my mom went to school, as well as MOFGA. As a community it definitely focuses on local farms/community/nature preservation, etc. So, growing up, I definitely valued the local community, nature, fresh air, small businesses, etc because of my family/ environment/ upbringing. Living in Orono is very different in a lot of small ways. Going to Down East Maine almost brought me back to my roots. We barely packed anything, camped off the land and respected/ took in nature. We supported the community by eating at small restaurants around Bar Harbor. I’m not sure if this counts but I feel like my personal story/experience kind of encapsulates how I appreciated, respected, and valued what nature/the beautiful Down East land gave me. I’m giving back by telling my story and trying to influence and impact others.
Let me know what you think about this. I definitely am going a personal route with my story because I’m writing from what I know. Local community and nature is a huge part of my value system. How much should I focus on personal vs something convincing for tourists? I’m not sure where to draw the line there. I could even do maps showing different places I hiked/visited with the story map format and talk about my story from there. Otherwise I would do more of a flow-format story with photos to point to different experiences.