Do the Earth a Favor, Spend Spring Break at Home
The time has come. The season is changing, and flights are booked. Energy has shifted, and bathing suits have been purchased. The college kids of the United States are coming for your beaches, and they won’t take no for an answer.
Traveling to a tropical destination where the sun is hot and the people are hotter has been a staple in the culture for ages. It’s a human cliche that all college students think about doing. A place where bars, clubs, and restaurants sit between hotels and the beach? It sounds too good to be true. The truth is, traveling for spring break is played out, and you should just stay home.
First off, let’s think about the locals. When looking with the eyes of a college student thirsty for a good time, it may seem like these hot destinations are only a hub for bar-hopping and mistake-making. However, when you rub your eyes and look, a whole population of people wants the tourists to disappear via a Thanos snap. Spring breakers disrupt the entire ecosystem of local people’s lives. All the people who work near the beach mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare for the tsunami of people that will flood their businesses. Citizens trying to mind their business must deal with the influx of traffic that incoming tourists will cause. The invasion of spring breakers to these hot spot destinations leaves the local area unrecognizable once they’re through with it.
This is a perfect segway to talk about the Earth. If not for the locals of the area, stay home to save the Earth. That is not hyperbole, either. If you break down the carbon footprint that one individual can have on a spring break trip, then multiply it by millions, it can get overwhelming. Flights to vacay and home, Uber-ing everywhere, LITTERING (and don’t try to say “I would never!” Once you’re drunk on the beach, that White Claw is already swimming with the fishes). The amount of garbage that piles on the beaches after spring break makes all faith in humanity disappear. Global warming continues to step on the gas pedal, earthquakes are destroying other countries every other day. However, parts of the U.S. are currently dealing with their own environmental disasters. Although it’d probably be way more enjoyable to forget about all this and get lit on the beaches of Cancun, do the Earth a favor, and spend spring break at home.
Besides, it’s way cheaper! Why spend $8 on a beer at the club you already paid a $40 cover fee for when you can buy a case of beer for $20 and be in the comfort of your own home? Although it is the American way to ignore crises with fun distractions, the country was on the border of a recession, and inflation was crushing the prices of absolutely everything, from groceries to gas. You may think you’re the beneficiary of a lovely spring break trip to South Beach, but you’d be wrong. It’s the companies thumbing through all the cash you spend on them. Don’t fall victim to consumerism this spring break. Instead, try to be more cash-conscious and stay home!
Not everyone can be blessed to live in a place that has warm weather and beaches year-round, but that does not mean that is what you need to have a good spring break. Don’t fall into the propaganda of every coming-of-age TV show and movie where the cast goes on a trip for spring break, and it “goes wild!” This year, make your local area fun. Bar-hop in your own town. Invite the homies over for a weekend of bumming it in the yard with some cold ones and loud music. Or ditch partying altogether! Pick up a good book, and finally start that new hobby you said you would do weeks ago. Let’s use spring break to take a break. It’s not like it’s called “spring party.”
Strike Out,
JD Delcastillo
Boca Raton
JD Delcastillo is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine. He loves consuming media and thinking critically. A major know-it-all, anything related to pop culture, music, and sports, he has knowledge in. Reach out to him on Instagram @jd.delcastillo or email @ jd.delcastillo954@gmail.com
