Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Let us know what you think at [email protected].

Travel light

Here at RTBC, we’re often drawn to stories about making travel more sustainable. Contributing Editor Peter Yeung reported for us on the steps Barcelona has taken to curb overtourism, and Contributing Editor Michaela Haas wrote about the “regenerative travel” movement. This week, Editorial Director Rebecca Worby was intrigued by an interview in the Daily Yonder with sustainable tourism advocate Elijah Hicks about what he calls “dispersed tourism” — essentially, the opposite of funneling all visitors into a single destination like Disneyland.

Becca says:

This is cool: Dispersed tourism “seeks to stay within the social and ecological carrying capacity of a location to ensure the lasting ecological, social, and economic stability of a region.”

Dark Rum

Rum, an island off the western coast of Scotland, recently became Europe’s newest official International Dark Sky Sanctuary. As the New York Times reports in a story shared by Audience Engagement Manager Sophie Pitt, the island is a national nature preserve with a tiny population and, crucially, a dearth of artificial lighting: no streetlights, no neon.

Sophie says:

I love this story because I also live in one of the world’s officially designated Dark Sky Reserves. Congrats to the 40 inhabitants of Rum!

What else we’re reading

🍁 As Tariffs Slam Maple Syrup, Sugarmakers Branch Out — shared by Rebecca Worby from Civil Eats

🌱 Seagrass: £2.4m project launched to restore ‘wonder plant’ to Scotland’s coasts — shared by Sophie Pitt from BBC News

❤️‍🩹 Deadliest phase of fentanyl crisis eases, as all states see recovery — shared by Rebecca Worby from NPR

From our readers…

Two months in, we’re seeing more and more reporting on the benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program. New this week: Bloomberg on increasing public support for the program, Wired on more welcoming streets for cyclists and THE CITY on the decrease in honking complaints.

None of this comes as a surprise, of course — it’s all in keeping with what happened in other cities that have implemented congestion pricing, as RTBC reported last year.