Green grass in the desert

This post may be a little off topic, but I think it is quite relevant in a lot of ways.  In my destination marketing organization class tonight we had a guest speaker who is one of the leading members of Tourism Kamloops.  The lecture was mainly based on research and some of the different development projects that Tourism Kamloops has been working on in its early stages of life.
Tourism Kamloops is making a huge push as a "Golf Destination" opening new courses and trying to bring in the elite golf tourists.  They are also trying very hard to develop sustainable tourism in this region.   By their definition, sustainable tourism is an economic concept, trying to develop tourism strategies to continue bringing visitors to this region.

But what if there is no destination for them to come to?  Kamloops is already a huge consumer of water, using far more than the national averages.  Keeping the grass green and the golf courses in pristine condition consumes even more water. When our speaker was questioned on the research that Tourism Kamloops has done on the environmental sustainability of this develop, they struggled to give a legitimate answer, simply saying "the Thompson River seems to still flood every year."  A follow up question was asked on whether or not Tourism Kamloops would have a long term plan on providing a cap or regulation on water usage, which led to the same result.

So how is this at all related to parks and industry development?  In my opinion, we are recklessly developing for short term gains and not looking at the long term problems.  Depleting the water supply and changing the natural environment is just as bad as cutting off the top of a mountain and building roads through forests for mineral extraction.  If we don't look at the long term impacts of our development regardless of the industry they fall in, we will see a future without destinations.  We can't market dried up golf greens and brown grass, just as we can't bring tourists to come check out where the mountain range used to be!
http://www.tourismkamloops.com/