Connect mid-month RAP: 7/19/23 ~ Expat Toads and Pythons
Greetings and Happy Midweek!
And since today is just past mid-month, it’s time for another of our RAP sessions (Review And Process, deeper and wider). Each RAP revisits a cross-cultural theme or topic from a previous Connect. This month we are going to revisit the topic of tourism, exploring two examples from the natural world which, I think, can give us a few cross-cultural insights!* These fit into the PROfile component of Global SKILLs PROACTive Framework, because the first step in avoiding issues is to identify, or ‘profile’, the culprits!**
Since I’ve returned to Florida, a sub-tropical environment here in the southeastern US, I have been reintroduced to several aggressively invasive species. Just this past week, I came across one of these critters, a Cane Toad, in person. The other, a Burmese Python, was featured in local media. Cane Toads are dangerous to both animals and humans. If they are touched or bitten (by a pet), the toxin they exude produces dire, even potentially lethal, effects. They don’t really have any positive function in local ecosystems, and basically should be avoided at all costs. Pythons are wreaking havoc in a different way, by actively obliterating the small mammal population of an entire region of central and south Florida. They consume pretty much anything smaller than themselves. There are efforts to eradicate them, even by bringing in expert snake hunters from Southeast Asia - but they are hard to find, and reproduce faster than anyone can keep up with.
These critter encounters got me to thinking about how invasive species can be compared to some expats! Tourists or insensitive business people come to mind - folks who don’t contribute in constructive ways to local cultures or communities but instead have negative, even toxic and destructive, impacts. I guess this is just a word of caution - to avoid being, or interacting with, those who behave in such ways. Let’s hope instead that we can bring positivity and enrichment when we travel and work across cultures!
How about you ~ have you encountered any toxic or invasive behaviors across cultures?
Share about that with a friend or note it here…and avoid it in the future!
And check out the Global SKILLs LINKs below for more on this topic.
Thanks for being part of this Connect community.
Until next week,
Betsy
Global SKILLs LINKs
~ toxic Cane Toads: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/plague-invasive-cane-toads-overruns-florida-community
~ invasive Burmese Pythons: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/13/1187497592/record-breaking-burmese-python-longest-florida
~ tourists behaving badly and how host communities are fighting back: https://www.travelweekly.com/Europe-Travel/Fed-up-with-bad-behavior-destinations-are-striking-back
Notes
* previous Connects on tourism: 7/7/21 - my kind; 7/14/21 - overtourism (scroll down here to the date)
** Through my business Global SKILLs and several partner subsidiaries I offer unique cross-cultural consulting and training including:
3 Dimensional Dynamics Model:
1st dimension = HOME ; 2nd dimension = HOST ; 3rd dimension = HARBOR)
PROACTive Learning Strategies:
PRO = PROfile (which we explored this week), PROcess, PROgram
ACT = Application, Collaboration (which we explored this week) and Transformation
~ contact me for more information on this model and these strategies and how you might use them in your current programming: betsy.barbour@gmail.com
2023 ~ Celebrating 40+ years of working in
intercultural communications and global community building
“It takes a community to build a community”
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Please do not reproduce or share without my permission (betsy.barbour@gmail.com)