Every wonder in this world is constantly under a siege of controversy and debate about the best way to preserve, conserve and protect the area of interest. If asked, the average person will tell you there are 7 wonders of the world. Another person may list another 7 places completely unrelated to the first. A third person might say “Internet” or “Jessica Alba”. Truth be told, there are many amazing, breathtaking, and beautiful things on this earth. I am not going to single out seven things that are in one particular class of “wonders”, rather, I am going to cover how humanity has managed to discover, uncover and invent these wonderful things, and proceed to make a legal or physical mess out of every single one of them. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When there are a quarter million people a month all beholding, problems are destined to arise. These problems range from physical damage to fiscal abuse. It is human nature to be attracted to strange and wonderful things. If it wasn’t, life would be boring and, frankly, rather pointless. When one thing elicits emotions such as awe and wonder from a large group of people, some of them are bound to screw up the experience for everyone else. Regardless of the area, whether it be India, Australia, or Egypt, greed and selfishness always seems to drive humanity. The quest for the “most” and the “best” causes conspiracy and crime. And what one person sees as a crime, another can see as a method of conservation or preservation. From here we dive into the sticky, five sided arguments from politicians and scientists alike, all looking out for “the greater good” of an area or object, when, maybe doing nothing could have been the right thing to do all along.

An area of great wonder is the Lascaux Cave in France. Unlike some natural wonders, the cave contains priceless paintings that are man made. Most of the paintings date back 16,000 years or more. The cave was discovered in 1940 by four teenagers [1]. Although it isn’t listed as a “Wonder of the world”, I believe it is. Nothing like it has ever been found before and quite possibly nothing like it will ever be found again. Immediately after its discovery, the general public was drawn to it in awe. Tours were organized and it became an expansive tourist attraction. In just 15 years after its discovery, the cave began to show signs of damage. The immense numbers of people touring it turned out to be raising carbon dioxide levels inside and deteriorating the 16000 year old surface [1]. The cave had lasted centuries, untouched and pristine. In just 15 years after human discovery it was damaged beyond repair. Scientists were left with a dilemma. Should they continue to exploit the cave for a small monetary value? Or should they close the cave and preserve its priceless contents? They did the right thing. The cave was closed to the public shortly after and a replica was opened to tour in 1980. The original cave remains temperature controlled and preserved while the people in charge can still make their precious money off tours in the replica cave. The contents of this cave were irreplaceable and nonrepairable. Compromising them would mean losing them and a cool part of history forever. Everyone came out happy. The question arises, should this be done to everything fragile and beautiful in our world?

Australia has always been seen as a beautiful country, with its expansive “outback” and unique wildlife. It is home to 21 million people and one of the largest countries on the planet [2]. Economically it competes with the best. Geographically, it is a beautiful country, not much unlike the United States own physical layout. It is not what is on land that is important in this case, but what is slightly north of it. North of Queensland Australia is the largest coral reef in the world. The Great Barrier Reef stretches over 2000 kilometers and contains nearly a thousand small islands [3]. Its biodiversity competes only to that of South American rainforests. The beautiful area has been listed on almost every list of wonders of the world, topping some of the lists, so inevitably its tourism numbers top the lists as well. Nearly 2 million people visit the area each year. Popular activities include glass bottom boat rides, scuba diving, snorkeling, cruises, resorts, and scenic aircraft rides. Almost 730 individual tourist companies help the area bring in over a billion dollars a year [3]. According to a study done in 1996 (remember this is more than 10 years ago), the average person spent nearly 200 dollars (194.32) per day when vacationing and touring the area. In the month of June in 1996, the reef tourism brought in $646,972,000! [4] Now, one has to ask, is the fiscal gain of these entities worth it? There is only one Great Barrier Reef. How much longer will the reef be “Great”? Will humanity eventually run it into the ground? The inevitable answer is yes. The reef will never be the same. Some scientists believe that preserving the reef is a necessary measure. Others believe conservation is ok. Tourism numbers peak every year and are continuing to increase. Officials are stuck with the dilemma of “exploiting the reef” or losing the country billions of dollars. In the capitalistic society of today, cutting the revenue would be a poor decision if it were up to me. Less than 10 percent of the reef is heavily visited by destructive tourism [3], and although it sounds bad, I think that it can be an appropriate martyr for the cause. After taking fishing industries into account, nearly half a billion dollars more is made off of the reef every year[4], and with an area larger than the United Kingdom and Switzerland combined there is plenty of it going un touched. Surprisingly, there has never been too much controversy over zoning and or researching in the reef, possibly because it is so large. In 1981, when tourism had its largest spike in history, zoning laws were put into place, conserving and protecting respective areas. Conservation is the way to go, and much unlike other areas of the world, there seems to be a general consensus on the subject [5]. Vandalism will always be a problem, but you’ll get that with tourism. The reef is large enough that scientists can protect and preserve untouched areas while tourism can continue to flourish. Yes, you will have people lining up holding signs saying “Save the reef!” but I’d just tell them to go do some research. The money here is too great to cut out tourism all together.

Not unlike the Lascaux Cave, Giza Egypt is home to an amazing wonder of the world; possibly the wonder of the world. The Great Pyramids are located here in a desolate desert landscape. The largest of the pyramids originally stood at 471 feet high, and now stands at 450 feet due to wind erosion. There are many more of these pyramids in the area, serving as eternal resting places for Egyptian pharos that lived over 4000 years ago[6]. They are also the first human evidence of a human architect, Imhotep. Naturally, these giant monoliths would draw in a large crowd. In fact, tourism is listed as Egypt’s third largest industry according to the CIA [2], even with the terrorism scares in the area. The amount of money made on this entity is immense and very lucrative. Long ago anyone could go wherever they could get into the pyramids. In fact they have been being looted for practically as long as they have existed. When archeology dawned as a profession, most of the looting stopped and the pyramids were subject to less destructive invasion. These scientists are faced with two options: Sell these Egyptian marvels to the hungry eyes of thousands of people and their carbon footprint, or preserve these wonders. They landed somewhere in the middle once again. I do not believe it was the correct choice. Of the three largest pyramids, it was elected that one be closed for preservation. The other two are open for tourism in small groups. These tours produce quite a lot of revenue for the tourist companies, who ironically are expanding their tours to the reefs in the Red Sea as well. It is estimated that 16 million people will go on these tours in the year 2017[7]. With this amount of touring, the damage will be detrimental. The Egyptian pyramids will never be the same again. Human history can not “grow back” and should be preserved for the intellectuals’ sake. These wonders can be experienced in other ways than violent tourism and exposition. Invasion of these wonders should be limited to archeologists and photographers. If that measure is not implemented soon, I believe we will lose the real marvel of our wonder of the world in a few short years, which illustrates how destructive humans can be. The pyramids, in their state and situation are priceless. Unlike the Reef, which is larger than 3 European countries, a small piece can not be sacrificed to the destruction of profit seeking tours.

A more unique and controversial situation emerges in another area. The Amazon Rainforest has recently been added to the list of the seven natural wonders of the world. In the last 100 years, travel mechanisms have improved greatly. The rainforest not only brings about a sense of awe, it serves as a source of natural resources. Unlike the above mentioned areas, this area can not be looted, pillaged, or vandalized. For hundreds of years this monstrous area has been being culled for its cheap natural resources, and now that tourism is increasing, the controversy over the destiny of the area is becoming more heated. Many people tour the region each year. Currently, the rainforest makes about 80 dollars a hectare per year on tourism. A hectare is about the size of a football field. A deforested rainforest would produce nearly 18,000 per year on perennial crops. [8] Now, these numbers alone would convince almost anyone to deforest the entire rainforest. Every minute more and more acres of rainforest are destroyed forever for agriculture, rendering almost all the species that live there endangered or close to it.  It is my opinion that the rainforest should stop being deforested. We make good money now off the areas that are already destroyed. The question arises then, what should we do to conserve the rest? A profitable solution is present. Unlike the Great Pyramids, the rainforest can regenerate itself. With more and more people becoming aware of its situation, why not encourage tourism? Tourism would bring in very little money compared to full scale agriculture, but it provides a growing reason and opinion to conserve the forest. The more the rainforest is visited, the more people will find out how special it really is. The same situation arises here as in conserving the Great Barrier Reef. Unlike the Reef though, profit is not the primary driving force. There are thousands of species of animals that have yet to be discovered in the Amazon. The more the area is exposed to the general public, the more support it will get. Plus, an increase in tourism provides a need for an increase in tourism corporations. By opening more tourist opportunities, local can get more jobs in the area. The local population is the primary population destroying the natural beauty of the forest. By providing them with alternative jobs, we can actually save the rainforest by exploiting it [9]. Yes, millions and millions of potential profit will be lost, but if you look past the immediate present, one of the last beautiful and untouched places in the world will be preserved. This would prove that mankind can see past the end of its nose. The Rainforest also contains many potential undiscovered human medicines. With the destruction of the forests they could be lost forever. I say discover not destroy! In the long run the Amazon rainforest will provide more wonder and help than if it were destroyed. Tourism could be a win-win situation, in fact, it may be the only way to further conserve and protect the remaining Amazon forest.

The Red Wood Forest in California is another unique and beautiful area and a wonderful illustration of personable conservation. Muir Woods was founded and turned into a National Park just over one hundred years ago. It is home to many gargantuan trees and beautiful scenery. John Muir (the naturalist for whom the park was named) was a prestigious conservationist who also played a large role in founding Yosemite National Park. He believed that the beauty of the area should be available for anyone to enjoy. I agree with him one hundred percent. Today nearly a million people visit the park every year. There is no better evidence than this park to prove that people are people. It is inevitable that the park is subject to vandalism with so many people visiting every year. It also is a strong illustration that, with every bad tourist comes a caring person. There are constantly volunteers and efforts cleaning up the park and conserving its natural beauty [10]. The reason I mention this place is to show that there is only so much we can do. Human nature places the fate of many things out of our hands. People will flock to what attracts them. Conservation is necessary in any natural area. Preservation is not always the answer. Technology is on our side to better share these experiences with everyone.

Moving away from the tangible wonders of the world, I’m going to now touch on something that most of us deal with and see every day. Earlier I mentioned the internet as a wonder of the world. While one is unable to experience it like any other wonder listed here thus far, it is, in my opinion a topic worth giving some recognition. The internet has only existed for a fraction of time compared to other “wonders of the world” but has more visitors each day than any single place in the world. Ten years ago there were already millions of web sites available to anyone with a connection [11]. The internet continues to grow each day and has become a lifestyle of the average middle and upper class person. Now with this many people visiting this spectacular, intangible wonder, what are the chances that it won’t have to endure sieges of abuse from all different types of attackers? The internet supplies us with a clear, honest look into human nature. Words like “identity theft” and “hack” are constantly swirling around the news and some people seem to be doing all they can to sabotage this great convenience. The question is not who or what? The real question is why? Why do these faceless people make others lives miserable on the internet? Why else, but monetary gain. Again, every problem with computers can be tracked back to someone seeking a gain in status or money. Rarely is something just blatantly annoying. The internet is used to abuse pop culture icons, gossip about others behind their back, and even to obtain information others would not like to be dispersed.  For once, conservation or preservation is not the answer. The only way to protect the intangible world of the internet is to catch and prosecute those who dirty it. While measures like this are already in effect, they should be much more harshly advertised to the public. With the millions of people using the internet each day there are so many more ways of rebelling against the rebels who choose to mess it up for everyone else. Once again a handful of people are the ones responsible. Humanity take note, this is your sad story, illustrated page by page in cyberspace.

In the long run, judging the worthiness of exposition of world landmarks lies in the factor of renewability. If an area is easily conserved, by all means, I believe anyone and everyone should be allowed to go tour it. Revenue should be made as well, because that’s just how the world works. Only, if a wonder is too fragile or non-renewable I believe we should leave it alone. In my eyes, what does it say about humanity, if we manage to damage and destroy world landmarks after they lay dormant for centuries? Human records and history are priceless, and if they are lost, will be lost forever. It is our duty to evaluate the damage possibilities versus the worth in monetary gain. Most of all, is it worth trading our ancestors history and our knowledge for instant monetary gratification? I think not.

Footnoted References (In order of appearance)

1)       http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/lascaux-caves.htm

2)       https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html#Geo

3)       http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/the-great-barrier-reef/great-barrier-reef-info.htm

4)       http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/2824/rp56_full.pdf

5)       http://ioc3.unesco.org/marinesp/files/tmp/Zoning%20lessons%20learnt.pdf

6)       http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramidtours.htm

7)       http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VFX-4BRPKHJ-2&_user=1512538&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000053401&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1512538&md5=7b13b3d2d4d598626c51472ffe09a931 7

8)       http://www.ipea.gov.br/pub/td/td0455.pdf

9)       http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/tourism.html

10)   http://www.news.wisc.edu/11298

11)   http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/

Sources Cited

http://ioc3.unesco.org/marinesp/files/tmp/Zoning%20lessons%20learnt.pdf

http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/tourism.html

http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/the-great-barrier-reef/great-barrier-reef-info.htm

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/2824/rp56_full.pdf

http://www.ipea.gov.br/pub/td/td0455.pdf

http://www.news.wisc.edu/11298

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/lascaux-caves.htm

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VFX-4BRPKHJ-2&_user=1512538&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000053401&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1512538&md5=7b13b3d2d4d598626c51472ffe09a931 7

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramidtours.htm

http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html#Geo