In a recent edition of The Economist, we came across a fascinating article about how uncontrolled tourism could be major factor in climate change: “Rapa Nui déjà vu: Tourism threatens to trigger another ecological collapse”:

Today Easter Island once again faces environmental threats. Food comes from Chile, either by ship or on the seven weekly flights from Santiago (there are also two from Tahiti). The visitors “all pull the chain,” Luz Zasso, the mayoress, notes acidly. The absence of a sewage system is threatening the cleanliness of the island’s underground water sources. But it would be hard to install one without damaging archaeological sites. Electricity comes from diesel-powered generators. Power cuts are frequent. Rubbish is piling up.Many Easter Islanders are worried. Tourists should be limited to 50,000 a year and be preferably well-heeled, argues Marcelo Pont, the vice-president of the Council of Elders, an advisory body. Visitors from the Chilean mainland attract particular resentment. “They’re interested in sun, sand and swimming pools, not the island,” says Edgard Herevi of the local chamber of tourism.

It wasn’t always this way: early visitors were fascinated by the artifacts left behind by the island’s long-dead culture, as British archaeologist Katherine Routledge explains in her 1919 book The Mystery of Easter Island. A classic work of archaeology and heavily illustrated with a wealth of old photos, this treasure trove of information begins with Routledge’s yacht voyage from England across the Atlantic, and around South America to Easter Island. Her account of this incredible adventure is one of the first ever of the life, history and legends of this strange and remote place. Detailing the statues, pyramid platforms, Rongo Rongo script, Bird Cult, and the war between the Short Ears and the Long Ears, Routledge and her companions explore the secret caves and walk the ancient island roads. This rare early account of Easter Island has served as a primary source for the theories that have evolved to explain Easter Island’s enduring mysteries.