A few days ago, Ernesto Pastor, one of the souls of the bikepacking world, a pioneer in opening new “paths” and sowing seeds, published a text that has generated debate. You have probably already seen his new campaign on social media and on Montañas Vacías’ website. Ernesto has sent us a more extensive and detailed version, and we are pleased to be able to share it.
Ernesto Pastor
The most that an advertising campaign could aspire to would be to leave a mark on the potential client or consumer that would last for years. If it is also providing values and philosophy, I would consider it simply the perfect campaign.
Something similar happened to me thirteen years ago with an advertisement from a prestigious clothing brand that invited people not to buy their products during the Black Friday campaign. The first impact when reading that message was brutal, it completely captured my attention. It was impossible to turn the page without stopping.
That dissuasive message was intended to raise awareness about the consumerist absurdity of that and other times of the year when they try to bombard us with the idea that we need this or that product.
There is no production system that can sustain such exponential growth for many years, but above all, there is not enough planet to absorb this trend of manufacturing and waste for many more decades.
It's been thirteen years now, and that message still resonates in my mind, almost with the feeling that we have learned little or nothing since then. It is a message that I feel is more relevant than ever, both in the field of consumerism of objects, and if we apply it to another type of consumerism, that of tourist destinations.
International travel related to tourism has grown exponentially in just a handful of years, as has the number of people seeking to escape from crowded cities to increasingly degraded natural environments (Against tourism. Book by Rodolphe Christin, 2023). The resulting environmental and social effects are beginning to take their toll in many places: unaffordable housing prices, deterioration of ecosystems, noise pollution far above healthy levels, and many residents being fed up with waves of tourists with no conscience at all...
However, it is also clear that tourism can have, and is having, a vital role in the rural development of many areas that would otherwise be dead. Or, if we look at it from another perspective, it can also be considered as a solution for some territories that have been in demographic palliatives for decades.
Of course, this is a process that must be carried out in a very controlled manner, with exquisite management, and putting the environmental value of the place in question first, considering these destinations as the natural museums that they are, in which these landscapes, these environments, are the works of art without which the invention does not work.
With all this in mind, it occurred to me to emulate and make a small nod to that impressive advertising campaign to do my bit to raise awareness about a more ethical and sustainable way of travelling, in which we prioritise experience, learning, and interaction with the territory. In which we access the surroundings on foot or by pedal, and not so much in cars or motorbikes that leave an indelible mark wherever they go, in the form of noise pollution, among other forms of pollution.
It is also a call to reflect on our travel philosophy. Too often, the tourist destination has become a commodity, an object to be collected, where we simply visit places to check them off a list, without giving a damn that what we see in that crowded place has nothing to do with what we have seen in that over-edited Instagram photo.
That is why, both in my case as the creator of the Empty Mountains project, and in many other cases in which I am sure that this can contribute something, I tell you:
DO NOT DO THIS ROUTE.
Come only if you are going to cycle or walk. Minimize the use of motor vehicles, which threaten the main wealth of this territory: natural silence.
Don't come here just to tick this destination off your list. The red line between positive impact on the area and saturation is very thin.
Maintain natural silence. Leave no trace. Use no fire. Consume in the villages. Talk to the people. Learn about their problems.
@montanasvacias
Ernesto Pastor is a restless, passionate person with a unique perspective who has been able to focus on the beauty of an area considered a "demographic desert." After pedaling many years in ultra-distance road tests, he decided to seek further challenges. He is one of the leaders of bikepacking in this country and is the creator and ideologist of the mythical "Empty Mountains", a project with a true soul that transcends cycling.
Ernesto Pastor