Aug 22
A few weeks ago Tourism Concern, a UK-based non-profit focused on ethical tourism and travel, announced that they will soon be launching Gap Year and International Volunteering Standard (GIVS). GIVS is a voluntourism standardization program that will ensure that voluntourism companies are regulated and are a benefit to the destination communities. As you may recall …
Aug 15
Since Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt, some of the bloggers and activists who devoted their online time to organizing revolution have turned to a new use for social media: economic aid. 20 prominent Egyptian bloggers—the same ones who previously blogged about overthrowing Mubarak—have joined together to create a Twitter fundraising campaign, Tweetback. The …
Aug 11
I’ve written a lot about climate change and how future development needs to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. It’s easy to talk about these things like there are simple solutions and unlimited funds to develop sustainable products. In reality, however, it’s an extremely difficult process to create a product that is the perfect intersection between …
Aug 11
On Tuesday afternoon I gave a webinar presentation on voluntourism, or volunteer tourism, and though it is now available on the SISGI Group Institute for Social Change website, I thought I would give a quick summary of it for those of you who couldn’t attend (or didn’t know about it). Voluntourism is the combination of …
Aug 10
Facing climate change and modernization Lebanon is a relatively resource rich country. It has no deserts, it has good arable land, it has four seasons and it is the most water-gifted country in the Arab world. But despite such natural attributes, Lebanon is a food import dependent country for 70% of its total food consumption. …
Aug 05
Our agricultural and food system have many inefficiencies. Damages to the environment and promotion of an unhealthy food system are both causes and consequences of bad agricultural practices. We’ve previously studied the dangers of the monocrops. They’re apparently threatening our long-term agricultural sustainability (to learn more see posts). A change is needed, but how can …
Aug 01
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the opportunity and need for Haiti to redevelop sustainably after the devastating earthquake in 2010. I also discussed how construction in Bihar, India – after a flood completely washed away the area – could be a model for rebuilding homes in Haiti. Unfortunately, like Haiti and India, Pakistan …
Aug 01
I have never understood the appeal of Sandals Resorts. I’ve never been to one, so I can’t say for sure that my opinion is valid, but from the commercials they run it looks like all of the resorts are pretty much the same and are all the kind of all-inclusive, never-have-to-leave-the-resort facilities which never appealed …
Jul 29
“For it isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” –Eleanor Roosevelt It is more dangerous in most conflict-stricken areas to be a woman than to be a soldier. Yet, women’s experiences during times of war are often ignored …
Jul 29
On Tuesday, my colleague Ryan wrote the first installment of a blog series he and I are working on about the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. It is the largest refugee camp in the world, built to accommodate about 90,000 people. However, due to the current drought crisis in the Horn of Africa, there are …
