There are many different kinds of environments that make up our world. Most of the time when we think about environmental consciousness we think of the ‘natural’ environment we travel through and live in - in our case the waters that are our home.
Yet the ‘social’ environment we are part of as we travel is just as important. Part of it is made up of other cruisers, who in their own way and for their own reasons travel the seas and waterways. The other part is the social world of the people whose homes we visit.
Many cruisers find companionship and help among that first group; friendships form and groups develop when we are with those who are most like us. Some find more friends in the countries they visit, and in doing so come to know people whose lives are different, sometimes very different, from theirs. Their interaction with the social environments they find themselves in leaves them more knowledgeable about and aware of the world they are passing through.
Care of this social environment should be as much a part of cruising as care of the natural environment. Caring for either takes effort - the effort to learn what helps and what harms, the effort to consider your own individual actions and their effects, and the effort to make changes when change is needed.
If each person did what they could, learned what they should, and acted with the thought and consideration they wished others would - then person by person, step by step, a little at a time, we would enhance our relationship with the world around us. If each person took the time to observe what was expected and by their actions showed their respect for other people and other places, then our passing would weigh more lightly where we visited and we would be kindly remembered after we left.
Like those cruisers who understand when resources are scarce, as water is in many places, and find ways to avoid using those scarce resources. Or those who take the time to observe how people dress and behave, and, having observed, dress and behave in ways that will not offend. Or those who, asking, learn what is needed and help where help is needed - or asked for.
At the very least we can try to avoid doing things that harm our natural environment or create difficulties in living with our social environment. The reward? Why should it be any more than knowing we are doing the best we can for the world we live in?
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