in the philippines, the nuoveau riche asian tourists are blatant in discarding their trash during tours, whether on land or at sea. when they're told to not touch the corals, that's exactly what they'd do. touch and take selfies during dives. a tour guide once asked me what he should do. i told him to tell them the rules about trash and touching the wildlife otherwise you will stop the tour, go back inland and if anyone protests, leave them at sea and call the cops. the problem is for money, the tour owners easily give in, and the tour guides are afraid of getting fired. the government is easily cowered by threats of tourism boycott and suits and the local authorities are more often than not corrupt. even here in toronto, i was at a park yesterday to shoot a couple wanting headshots. we passed by many families doing their long-weekend bbq. as it was end of day, some families were starting to leave. only two spots were left cleaned and five spots were strewn with garbage which were being blown by the wind, despite the fact there were an abundance of trash bins and recycling bins around the picnic areas.
