Pristine nature is a danger to itself

Here, in my palm-thatched palapa, which I have called home the past three months, I reflect on my semester.  No offense, Bulldogs, but traveling south to Baja California Sur, Mexico, was a great way to avoid a drawn-out Spokane winter.  The focus of my studies here has been on the relationship between man and nature.  I don't care how many relationships you've had — none have ever been as complicated as this one. After all, it's been going on for at least the past 2,000 years.

My field station is located in a small fishing town inhabited only by fishermen, local shop owners and their families.  Two prominent aspects of the town are the trash that lines the streets and a large sardine cannery from which a fishy perfume is carried by the northern wind onto our campus. Other than these unfortunate attributes, the town is quite bonita, or beautiful, and each spring hundreds come to see grey whales in Magdalena Bay, one of the most productive bays in the world and the element on which the town is based.  Naturally, everyone's first thought is to clean the place up and get rid of the stinky factory.

However, I bring up a less — if at all — considered point: Sometimes pure, natural beauty can cause its own downfall and a small amount of pollution can help preserve an environment. Beautiful, pristine marine areas are very attractive to everyone, including tourists.  Resorts attract thousands of people who bring their food and water needs, cars, and waste.  Often, these resorts are attached to huge investments and the health of the environment comes second to economic profit. An example is coral reefs, destroyed by snorkelers who kick up sand and contaminate water with sunscreen. Though we may mean well, our love of nature doesn't always lead us to do what's best for it.

This is where a little pollution can help.  In Magdalena Bay, it's quite possible that the trash and the factory repel large, harmful tourist developments.  Which is worse for the environment — a littered fishing town with a big, stinky factory or a giant resort with large resource demands, lots of waste, parking lots, traffic, and uninformed tourists?  Honestly, it's hard to say.  But I cannot stand seeing pristine habitats such as those I've visited here in Baja get degraded for human entertainment.

While I am arguing that some pollution is good in moderation, this is no excuse to throw trash on the streets and to drive your car more. Rather, I suggest that perhaps humanity should set more realistic environmental goals: Instead of trying to have zero impact and keep nature exactly as if humans never existed, we can consider that nature is an amazing, resilient being on which we will have some effect.  There is no denying it: Humans will impact the Earth.  What we can control is how much impact we have.