You may be familiar with the Galapagos Islands, which lie 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.  They’re pretty pivotal in our science textbooks, what with Charles Darwin doing his whole, “Hey, what’s the deal with the finches on this island, and perhaps we should look into this evolution thing, no?”  It’s no surprise, then, that the Galapagos (not quite sure how to pluralize that one, so we’ll just let it be) have become a major tourist attraction.  And this, ironically, is destroying the very fragile ecological system that Darwin studied, and tourists come to observe.

The United Nations has listed the islands on its “in danger list,” so the Galapagos Islands (or, at least, the people there) are fighting back.  Officials are attempting to scale back the level of tourism and also setting checkpoints to find illegal immigrants that come to the islands to work in the tourism industry. Those caught are flown back to Ecuador.  From The Guardian (Ignore the fact that this article is a couple months old. I learned about this yesterday, okay?):

The idea is to maintain the bonanza but lighten its environmental footprint by scaling back ancillary activities which require imported labour - a process of weeding out the poor to make room for the rich by government, as opposed to natural, selection. Environmentalists welcomed the initiative, but worried it did not go far enough. ‘The system is currently broken, or certainly strained,’ said Johannah Barry, president of the Galápagos Conservancy, an advocacy group formerly known as the Charles Darwin Foundation. ‘The problem is not so much the number of tourists as the ancillary economy that’s going up around it. It makes sense to limit the strain.’

Darwin’s 200th birthday is next year, which could cause an influx in tourism which could put the islands in even more danger.  And, like so many other nations, the Galapagos are now attempting to balance economy and ecology.  If you’re thinking of taking a vacation anytime soon, takepart and visit the ecotourism society to find a green trip.