I know the islands well. Tourism is still only a third of the economy
there. International shipping and agriculture sustained the islands
for hundreds of years, prior to the 1970s when cheap jet air travel
came of age. They import a lot now, but can in theory totally
self-sustain. Each of the islands has a very different biosphere
suited to different farming.
We should pay attention to the Canary Islands, the rest of the planet
is the coal mine, The problem is identified as "tourism" but their
relation to the global economics within a climate change context is
the real story.
> 13.9 million people visited the islands
Nearly all of them flew there. A few passenger cruise ships stop by.
> a water emergency is already been declared on Tenerife
They've a housing crisis, a cost of living crisis and now 36 degrees
in April after a dry winter.
Most of Tenerife is volcanic and the plant life around tourist areas
is heavily irrigated. Without that it's a quite barren, unattractive
environment. Without enough water for just the population, tourism is
unsustainable.
> It's a model that was built around a business class that doesn't want
to listen to what needs to be done, and with a political
class that serves that business class instead of serving
all the citizens.
So, the usual root causes, greed and short-term thinking.
We should pay attention to the Canary Islands, the rest of the planet is the coal mine, The problem is identified as "tourism" but their relation to the global economics within a climate change context is the real story.
> 13.9 million people visited the islands
Nearly all of them flew there. A few passenger cruise ships stop by.
> a water emergency is already been declared on Tenerife
They've a housing crisis, a cost of living crisis and now 36 degrees in April after a dry winter.
Most of Tenerife is volcanic and the plant life around tourist areas is heavily irrigated. Without that it's a quite barren, unattractive environment. Without enough water for just the population, tourism is unsustainable.
> It's a model that was built around a business class that doesn't want to listen to what needs to be done, and with a political class that serves that business class instead of serving all the citizens.
So, the usual root causes, greed and short-term thinking.