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Jeremy Smith on Muck Rack

Jeremy Smith

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France
As seen in: MSN, MSN Canada, MSN Ireland, MSN UK, Yahoo Entertainment, Yahoo Life, MSN India, Aol, ESPN, Greater Good: The Science of The Meaningful Life and
Covers:  travel, ecotourism, environmental issues, green living, wildlife conservation, ecolodges, corporate social responsibility, green and nature tourism, tourism, safaris, wildlife smuggling, sustainability, geotourism, responsible tourism, green travel, poaching, tourism trends, green issues, wildlife travel
Re-imagining travel & hospitality for the Climate Emergency; sowing seeds of resilience & restoration along the way. @TourismDeclares @Travindy
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Jeremy Smith’s Journalist Portfolio

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What's in a word?

What's in a word?

www.wtmlondon.com — I got involved in a discussion on Twitter last week about what the best word would be to describe responsible tourism, and whether there should be a new one. All the usual suspects were bandied about - ethical, green, eco etc - and all the usual arguments we're put up against each one, which can basically be reduced to two problems: Problem 1 - They are co-opted. Take eco- for example. There's no criteria that you have to achieve to call yourself an ecolodge. So anyone can do so. Got an inaccessible hut on a hill. Call it an ecolodge.
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Trouble in paradise

Trouble in paradise

www.wtmlondon.com — Andaman Islands Last week I was on holiday with my family in Portugal for the first time in almost 30 years, celebrating my mother having turned 70 and me 40. Portugal is the first country my family ever took me to, when I was 6 months old, and all these anniversaries and nostalgic reminiscences resulted in lots of flicking through yellowing holiday snaps and even more wine-fuelled conversations about 'life back then' and how much has changed, whether for better or worse. While away, I also read a disturbing article about the killings of the indigenous Ati people's community leader Dexter Condez on the Philippine island of Boracay.
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Leadership, Linen and Lightbulbs

Leadership, Linen and Lightbulbs

www.wtmlondon.com — I was pretty excited to hear that Tripadvisor was launching a 'GreenLeaders' scheme, announced, like so many green corporate initiatives in the US, to coincide with Earth Day on April 22. With many millions of users worldwide, Tripadvisor has clout, and if it is embedding ethics into its listings, there is real potential to bring these issues to a wider travelling public. http://green.tripadvisor.com/survey/pdf/SurveyQuestions The second question begins; "Do you have a towel reuse plan in place...?" It's 2013. Sure, hotels should be getting the towel thing right, but to flag it up at the head of a 'GreenLeaders' survey is like complimenting your partner for cleaning their teeth.
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Inside China's booming cities

Inside China's booming cities

www.chinadialogue.net — Early on in his well-researched book, Tom Miller, the managing editor of China Economic Quarterly, lays out the scale of the problem confronting the country in which he has lived for over a decade. In 1980, fewer than 200 million of China's people lived in towns and cities. But just 30 years later, an additional 500 million - the equivalent of the combined populations of the US, UK, France and Italy - had upped sticks and left the countryside for the big smoke. There are many issues associated with what this book's subtitle declares "the biggest migration in human history".
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Chinese mining fuels trade in Guinea's apes

Chinese mining fuels trade in Guinea's apes

www.chinadialogue.net — Almost all the apes trafficked from Guinea are young, Interpol found. Juvenile apes are easier to catch and transport. (Image by Shiny Things) The announcement came on the eve of this month's meeting in Bangkok of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: the west African country of Guinea would be suspended from trading in CITES-listed species, due to its repeated use of fraudulent permits to trade in great apes. It was a promising start to the convention, one that many observers hoped might spur China to greater action on species conservation.
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Tourism and poaching: Silence is not an option

Tourism and poaching: Silence is not an option

blog.getaway.co.za — Tourism has always used the best shot. Beaches in brochures are enticingly empty or inhabited by immaculately toned models. The sun is setting with the concrete tower block cropped just out of view. Lazy travel cliches paint the best possible verbal pictures too, so that neigbourhoods are relentlessly 'vibrant', markets always 'bustle', and seas across the world lap aquamarine, turquoise or azure. We sell people these holiday ideals, then leave out the bad bits, and hope they will be enjoying themselves too much to complain that it really wasn't like-what-it-said-in-the-brochure. Nowhere is this more true than in the way we present our most iconic wildlife.
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Rhino poaching campaign targets Chinese youth

Rhino poaching campaign targets Chinese youth

www.chinadialogue.net — As the world's rhino population dwindles, poaching is more vicious than ever. With time running out for the rhino, campaigners are turning to China to help end the illegal rhino horn trade. (Image by Jeremy Smith) Of the many errors and misconceptions surrounding the rhino horn trade, perhaps the most oft-cited one is this: it's all the fault of the Chinese. Read the studies, speak to the experts, move away from knee-jerk reactions and the truth is that China is not the number one culprit. Yes, there was a time when it was seen as a virtual panacea.
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Tracking the rhino killers

Tracking the rhino killers

www.chinadialogue.net — Zebra Press (Random House Struik), 2012 In this investigation into the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn, South African journalist Julian Rademeyer uncovers a tale of underground crime syndicates and collusion with everyone from the police to politicians. Jeremy Smith interviewed him in Johannesburg for chinadialogue. Jeremy Smith: Why has the trade grown so significantly in Vietnam compared to China? It's estimated that two-thirds of the rhino horn market is in Vietnam, with the remaining third based in China. JS: Who are the consumers? Julian Rademeyer: Today Vietnam's economy is growing spectacularly and there's an increasingly wealthy middle class.
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What more can p2p offer tourism and the travel industry?

What more can p2p offer tourism and the travel industry?

ouishare.net — The woman who taught me most about how p2p can revolutionise travel has never had a computer. Or heard of wiki and open source. The idea of Collaborative Consumption might excite her, but probably not as much as getting electricity or running water. Jeremy Smith shares his personal experiences with the other side of p2p travel. Building tourism from the ground up We met a few years ago, while I was researching a book on responsible and ethical tourism around the world. I was staying with my wife at Bulungula, a remote backpackers lodge on South Africa's Wild Coast.
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