Interrogating Travel: Guidance from a Reluctant Tourist

Lindholdt (Explorations in Ecocriticism), an English professor at Eastern Washington University, offers an intriguing study of global tourism and its cultural and ecological consequences. In loosely connected chapters, Lindholdt touches on “overtourism” and the ironies of “loving a place so much we help bring about its slow erosion”; how pollution from air travel contributes to climate change; the ways “traditional tourism exoticizes and essentializes locals, reducing them to... economic servants”; and the importance of responsible consumerism abroad, where “every dollar spent is a miniscule political act.” Though Lindholdt doesn’t present a systematic program of reform, he urges readers to travel locally rather than globally, noting that it can be rewarding to “absorb the intricacies of our provincial vicinities.” Interleaving his analysis with autobiographical reflections (“In the shadow of the Mayan Apocalypse, liberal guilt had me in its grip. First-world privilege was tainting every sip and bite of paradise I tried”), Lindholdt powerfully expresses his hope that, as “sensible apes, we ought to be capable of learning from our mistakes and... overcoming this rough epoch our technology has wrought.” This will give jet-setters plenty to ponder. (June)