Review - Our Broken Steps

Our Broken Steps is a guide to responsible travel, written by my friend Tamshuk Saha. It's words resonated with me, as it expressed many of my own thoughts and feelings. Tamshuk addresses both the socially and environmentally destructive practices prevalent in the tourism industry throughout Asia. In the following I present a synopsis of the book, followed by an attempt to express his principles in my own words.

Our Broken Steps: A Synopsis

Tamshuk discusses three categories of unethical travel practices: not-so-eco-friendly travel, humanitarian abuse, and clash of cultures. The book is written in the style of a travel-guide, describing many harmful activities, and providing simple solutions that any tourist could undertake. The book is not long, and I encourage you to read it before traveling in Asia or elsewhere. Its available on Amazon, and you can follow Tamshuk at his blog.

The Environmental

It is quite simple to comprehend the effects of tourism on local and global environments. The book focuses on the effects of inappropriate garbage disposal. The aggregation of plastic waste in the pacific ocean (a ‘hidden’ island) is contrasted with an image of beautiful beaches, rivers and forests covered in an unsightly later of garbage. As tourists, this problem is one that get’s in the way of our desire to experience nature’s uncorrupted beauty. Us tourists live in a contradictory world, consuming bottled water while complaining of trash. The prescribed cure in this case is fourfold: follow the instructions of tour operators; pick up your own trash; participate in tours that are explicitly environmentally friendly; and volunteer in eco-conservation projects. But I don't think this is enough to solve the problem - the global problem - of plastic waste. Watch this video, because Jeff Bridges

The Social

The second section on humanitarian abuse is rather more confronting. The ever growing popularity of sex-tourism, itself often judged as inherently wrong, is linked to a rise in human trafficking and child-sex-slavery. Tamshuk refuses to judge those associated with the sex industry, but of-course condemns the associated horrific practices mentioned above. He places other kinds of tourism-fuelled immoral exploitation in the same category. Orphanage tourism leads some families in Cambodia to intentionally ‘sell’ their children to (fake) orphanages that take tourists there for photo opportunities. Many other tours sell similar kinds of experiences, including slum tours in India and ‘human safari’ tours in the Andaman Islands. There are three ways to engage in socially responsible travel: volunteer responsibly; choose your tours wisely; and reflect on the nature and effects of sex tourism.

The Cultural

When people travel across the world and enter an alien culture, their responses are wildly varying. Many people find the experience so unpleasant as to return home and never leave again. However, some expressions of ‘culture shock’ are destructive. These include defacing and destroying monuments or religious artefacts; or wearing culturally insensitive clothing. In these cases, Tamshuk recommends: engage with local people; respect and care for monuments; actively discourage exploitative tourism. This is the most difficult type of responsible travel, since one will certainly confront practices one may find mildly unpleasant to downright appalling. The urge to yell at someone for doing something you find distasteful is something I think many people have experienced. But the responsible thing is to find some way of acting by example, and finding constructive ways of communicating with those you disagree with. Arguing with people in public places (who may not fully understand you anyway) is not the way to build bridges and facilitate learning.

Going Deeper: The ‘Golden Rule’ is not Enough

Tamshuk’s prescriptions are of course practical and achievable, and the reader is encouraged to undertake them at any time when travelling as a tourist. But reasoning behind them implies a deeper moral prerogative. It is not enough to naively obey the ‘golden rule’ - to treat others as you wish to be treated. Equally important is to understand the effects of ones actions on others, society and the environment. Only when we understand the consequences of our actions can we really act properly. Only when one knows the true effects of orphanage tourism can one avoid hurting children. Only when we understand that plastic pollutes planet earth for thousands of years do we avoid littering. Only when we choose to truly engage with foreign cultures can we have genuine relationships. Fundamentally, good intentions are not enough and can even harm when applied without knowledge.

This moral result is not limited to travel or tourism. It is applicable to everyday life, wherever one finds oneself. And that is why this book is important - not because travel is special, but because we must attempt to understand the consequences of our actions, as tourists or otherwise.