[Gocamino] Pilgrimage and Environment

[E. O. Pederson]

The November 5th 2011issue of the weekly news magazine the Economist has a brief article "Pilgrimages: Hot Steps. Pilgrimages are booming. Time to make them less destructive" (p. 71), worthwhile reading and food for thought for anyone who feels that perhaps the pilgrimage to Santiago is becoming too popular. There are are environmental costs to pilgrimage, and with a world population now said to be 7 billion, there are huge numbers of potential pilgrims to all of the major (and minor) pilgrimage destinations. Perhaps it is time to asses the environmental costs and do something to mitigate them. Otherwise "pilgrims risk destroying the destinations they love."E. O. Pederson