Could one of our greatest life goals be unethical?
She had a rainbow hair clip, a sequin halter top, four-inch sparkly platform heels and heavy makeup. We could smell the perfume as she brushed by us exiting the elevator. She looked young, somewhere in her late teens. The American (or Canadian, maybe) male in the elevator said goodbye to his prostitute but kept one foot on the open elevator door as he waived. We got in with him and rode up to our floor in silence that was meant to convey our unhappiness. Not all sex workers are victims, but many, many are vulnerable especially in Colombia.
Viva Colombia! We just came back from an incredible, inexpensive, nine-day trip that included a gastronomic blowout in Medellín and five days on empty, rural Caribbean beaches. To our delight, Colombians we met seemed very optimistic, especially for a nation that has suffered so much under toxic U.S. foreign policy. Hosting tourists was unthinkable as recently as seven years ago. There is still conflict and deep distress and cocaine production is higher than ever. But the people we talked to seemed optimistic.
The Airbnb host of our swanky Medellín apartment apologized when we brought up the sex-worker. They said they check identifications of everyone who enters the building, and no minors are allowed up ever, not even children of guests. That’s probably all they can do, right? Fake IDs are inexpensive and difficult to spot. Doormen can be bribed. We still felt complicit somehow.
At Lifetime Financial, we spend a lot of time Life Planning. Life Planning is a series of exercises that encourage clients to spend their time and money on the things that bring them the most fulfillment and flourishing. Travel is high (often number 1) on our fulfillment lists, including mine. For most of my life I have thought of it as a core value that has moral goodness. When we travel, we get historical perspective, global understanding, and human compassion. Our local belief bubble is challenged and there is some economic benefit to the host country. Was I right about that?
I decided to educate myself on things I can do to make my travel more ethical and environmentally sustainable. Here are the primary suggestions from various articles and blogs:
Don’t take short haul flights if there is another option and maybe buy carbon credits.
Avoid animal encounters that occur in tight captivity. (What is an ethical zoo?)
Be very careful about “slum tourism” and mindful of the white savior industrial complex.
Share what you’ve learned about the country and its culture back home. Be a reporter.
Tip locals very generously and buy local products that put money back into the local economy.
But there’s a bigger issue. Rising public awareness of systemic racism, sexism and classism in the past decade has made me more aware that merely participating in a system itself contributes to systemic injustice, even if our individual actions are benign. I find it hard to escape the worry that by visiting places with oppressive laws or deep social injustices, I am validating the autocratic regime du jour or the abuse of vulnerable populations. On some level, merely being there in that elevator was participating in a system that encouraged and tolerated an injustice.
Obviously, that’s not just an issue for travel. We are validating terrible things every day. "None of us are pure until we’ve ditched the conflict minerals in our phones, ensured none of our vast array of Chinese products were made with forced labor and siphoned the Saudi petroleum from our gas tanks," says longtime New York Times correspondent Nicholas Kulish.
This is the defining issue of the 2020s for thoughtful, privileged people and I don’t know the answer except that we each need to look at this and make an informed decision for ourselves. As far as travel, I liked Kulish’s answer: Travel! But bear witness to the suffering of others, meet people, and tell their tales.
