December 1st is recognized as World AIDS Day and as a traveler of this great big planet I saw it fit to post a short something on the deadly epidemic which has killed 25 million people to date according to the United Nations. Yahoo News has an article that summarizes the very basics on areas with high HIV numbers, how you can lend a in helping eliminate AIDS or find a cure. Fighting the battle against HIV/AIDS doesn’t have to involve a coach class flight into Africa to help and teach orphans or teens about the disease, you can start right here, right now, where ever you are. I think many Americans are starting to discover AIDS is hitting a lot closer to home than they previously thought. Wake up and be smart folks. That’s my word and now I’m off to the Red Hot & Riot show at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Walking in His/Her/Its Foot/Tentacle Steps
While no one has yet come up an atheist themed trip yet, there are plenty tourism operators that cater the to devout…or at least the devoutly curious. for example, a company called Global Passages offers a “in the Footsteps of Lord Buddha” package tour that takes you through a good part of India including Delhi and the Taj, and that in the end (of the trip, that is) deposits you in the mesmerizing city of Varanasi, which I can say first hand is one of the most fascinating and spiritual places you will ever visit. And that’s coming from a devout agnostic.
This piece over at Frommers takes a look at a host of other religion-based trips, and tries its best to cover the Big Three as well as a few others. No trips were listed for following in the tentacle steps of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but I imagine someones working on such a thing…perhaps in Italy.
Ethical Travel
I’ve visited some pretty screwed-up places during my travels and have always felt that my presence there has, in some way or another, helped the locals. This is not always true. Staying in government owned hotels, for example, actually helps the government more than the locals. In fact, there are those who argue that spending any money while visiting a country run by a corrupt regime helps keep that regime in power.
Ethical travel is a relatively new phenomenon which aims to limit the amount of tourist dollars that actually ends up in the hands of despotic governments while maximizing the amount that goes into the pockets of suffering locals.
A great article in Mother Jones discusses the challenges of ethical travel and reviews three organizations which help promote it through a variety of creative ways. I recommend checking out the article when you get a chance, but in the meantime here is a short synopsis of what each organization has to offer.
Backpack Nation – Distributes donated funds directly to those in need through a network of independent travelers.
EthicalTraveler.com – Promotes ethical destinations and offers tips on how to make the most positive impact while visiting them.
Tourism Concern – Publishes The Ethical Travel Guide to help travelers “travel globally and spend locally.”
Worldmapper
Here is a very interesting new way to look at the world. A site called Worldmapper allows you to view the various countries of the world in relative size according to factors other than actual geography. Consider, for example, the map I chose here which shows population. Now, everyone knows that India and China are the most populated nations in the world. But in this image you can see how much larger their populations are than other countries like the US by the size they represent on the map.
Wee countries like Panama and Chile and Norway and, well, Guinea-Bissau, just kind of disappear. But population is kind of the obvious one. You can also view countries by private health spending (where the US looks as bloated as a mid-western teen with a fast food addiction) and HIV prevalence. Pretty neat new view of the world, eh?
Mobile Ashtray Museum
Imagine a world where non-smokers and smokers live harmoniously. How do you picture it? What does it look like? Does the smell of cigarette smoke pollute the air or do you only catch whiffs of apple-pie, roses and other delightful scents floating in the air? I do not yet have a clear vision of what this harmonious world looks like, but Japan Tobacco seems to have one or a piece of one at least.
According to this Japan Times article the world’s third-largest cigarette-maker aims to push portable ashtrays so that smokers can place their butts in a safe place until further disposal and non-smokers can enjoy a landscape unblemished by discarded cigarettes. Are you feeling the harmony yet? The Mobile Ashtray Museum (MAM) is a private collection of manufacturer’s products from the past, but also an emporium selling more than 300 portable ashtrays. Other goods for up for grabs include lighters, cig cases, and all the JT-made cigarettes, of course. I mean, after you go check out all these sort-of cool devices to help keep butts off the ground, I mean you’re going to want to puff on something right? From the sound of this piece the smoking tourist might have somewhat of a blast in the so-called quirky museum, but the truly anti-tobacco minded will choke up and probably burst into flames at Japan Tobacco’s attempt to keep smokers smoking and therefore passing on their second-hand smoke, which is always the biggest issue with smokers anyway.
Right?