One of Australia’s iconic creatures, the koala is beloved around the world, yet if current trends continue, a day may come when this cuddly marsupial may be no more than a memory. The koala is facing extreme threat from habitat destruction, attacks by domestic and feral dogs, road accidents, climate change, and other factors. According […]
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by our friends at Sustainable Travel International in the Travel Green section of their Responsible Travel Report. It is reproduced here with permission. A good way to evaluate a tour company’s commitment to sustainable travel is to review its sustainability policy (which includes its social, economic, and environmental […]
Purchasing a plastic bottle of water or two while traveling may not seem like a huge deal on an individual level, but multiply that by the number of travelers crisscrossing the globe every day and the impact is massive. On a global scale, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used annually for water bottles. Of […]
The recent political opening of Burma (Myanmar) after decades of isolation is bringing new environmental challenges as the country struggles to modernize and develop its infrastructure and policy framework. Due to its long isolation, Burma’s natural riches remain largely undeveloped. The country has huge swaths of intact forest and tremendous biodiversity, including 1,100 species of […]
Born into the Samburu tribe of northern Kenya, Tom Lalampaa could have ended up following the traditional pastoral lifestyle of his people – had his brother made a different choice. When Tom was a child, his father called his sons to him and said, “I’d like one of you to go to school and the […]
When travel bloggers and their readers join forces, they have the power to change the world. That’s the idea behind Passports with Purpose (PwP), an annual fundraiser started by four Seattle travel bloggers: Debbie Dubrow (Delicious Baby), Michelle Duffy (WanderMom), Pam Mandel (Nerd’s Eye View), and Beth Whitman (Wanderlust and Lipstick). Founded in 2008, PwP […]
There’s a lot of coverage in the media about threats to different ecosystems around the world—not to mention the planet-wide threat of global warming—but except on rare occasions, the threats facing irreplaceable cultural heritage sites tend to garner much less attention. “Coral reefs, the Amazon, and polar bears are getting a lot more press than […]
With all the green buzzwords flying around these days, it can be hard for travelers to know what to trust. How do you know if a tourism business is truly sustainable? How can you be certain that an ecolodge is really “eco”? What kinds of criteria should you be looking at? Enter Hitesh Mehta, a […]
Imagine having to walk for an hour just to get drinking water or wash your clothes. Or being forced to rely on candlelight and gas lamps for all your household chores and other activities after dark. That’s what daily life is like for many rural people in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the […]
