http://www.travelearning.com/rsp_tourism/responsible_tourism.php
Click here to download your copy of ETC's Responsible Travel Handbook, created exclusively for the conference's new Responsible Travel Fourum. The Responsible Travel Handbook will help guide you along the long and winding trail that is responsible travel. http://www.travelearning.com/content/RT_Handbook.pdf = = = RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL HANDBOOK // 2006 "Whether you are traveling on your own or arranging travels for others-the Earth is your homeland. Give it the care and respect it deserves; learn about its environment and geography; spend time getting to know its people and their art, culture, history, and livelihoods. While you derive pleasure, knowledge, and understanding from your encounters, hold close the importance of preserving these treasures for those who may follow in your footsteps." TABLE OF CONTENTS // INTRODUCTION // 10 The Responsible Travel Movement // Deborah McLaren 11 Introduction Definitions // 14 Community Travel // Ron Mader 14 Artesania, Crafts and Tourism // Ron Mader 16 Defining Sustainable Tourism // Ron Mader 17 Defining EcoTourism // Ron Mader 18 Traveler's Philanthropy // Courtesy of Sustainable Travel International 19 VolunTourism // Courtesy of Sustainable Travel International 20 Ethical Dilemmas and Practical Risks in Tourist Philanthropy // David Abernethy 28 Sustainable Travel // Deborah McLaren RESPONSIBLE TRAVELER // PERSPECTIVES 31 The Future of Travel // Volker Poelzl 32 Traveling Responsibly // Rick Steves 33 Kidnapped in Rwanda // Robert Powell Sangster 34 Tourism and Poverty // Ron Mader 35 Nature Travel: The Basics // Bill Belleville 36 The Impact of Study Abroad // Shoshanna Sumka 38 Saving Machu Picchu // Tim Leffel 41 Making a Positive Impact // Jim Kane 42 Beyond Ecotourism // Sean Patrick Hatt and Tammy Leland 44 Peace through Tourism // Denise L. Hummel 45 Looking at the Big Picture // Clay Hubbs RESPONSIBLE TRAVELER // ECO PERSPECTIVES 47 Ecotourism Guidelines // Dianne Brause RESPONSIBLE TRAVELER // VOLUNTEER PERSPECTIVES 48 Making the Most of Volunteer Vacations // Doug Cutchins and Anne Geissinger 49 Volunteer Vacations to Fit // Doug Cutchins and Anne Geissinger 50 Seniors Have a Different Agenda // Alison Gardner 51 A Perspective on Voluntourism // Cori Tahara Simms 52 Warning // Reverend Dr. Henry Bucher, Jr. 53 Making Retirement Count // Amy Warren and Winsin Hsieh RESPONSIBLE TRAVELER & TRAVEL TRADE // CROSSOVER 54 Media, Environment, and Tourism // Herb Hiller TRAVEL TRADE // READINGS 56 Goodness Sells // Frances Figart 64 Voluntourism // David Clemmons 65 Wisdom & Insight // Los Niños 66 Generosity in Action // Lynn Kelson 68 Stones in the Road // Ron Mader MAKING RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL WORK // 71 10 Actions that Tour Operators can Take Now // courtesy of Tearfund 72 Establish your Own Travel Philanthropy Project // courtesy of Sustainable Travel International 73 Latin America Ecotourism // Ron Mader 75 Declaration of the International Forum on Indigenous Tourism // courtesy of Indigenous Tourism Rights International 77 Tourism Certification and Indigenous Peoples in Latin America // Luis A. Vivanco and Deborah McLaren THE BEST RESOURCES // RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL 79 Responsible Travel // Deborah McLaren 85 Ecotourism // Ron Mader 87 Volunteer Travel // William Nolting 88 Travel Trade RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL SURVEY 89 Planeta.com and Transitions Abroad Responsible Travel Survey 2005 Results 91 In the Words of Travelers APPENDIX // 93 Insider Guide: Make a Difference When You Travel Insider Guide: For Overseas Staff, Play Your Part // The Travel Foundation Global Code of Ethics for Tourism // World Tourism Organization and United Nations Pro-Poor Tourism // Harold Goodwin Responsible Tourism and the Market // Harold Goodwin Responsible Travel Survey // Aboriginal Tourism Australia INTRODUCTORY LETTER // FIRST STEPS making a positive difference "The golden rule is more and more recognized as the first rule of travel." -Clay Hubbs, Founder of Transitions Abroad Magazine "I take very seriously the sense of our living these days in a global neighborhood. And the first sensible thing to do in such circumstances, as well as one of the most rewarding things, is to go and meet the neighbors, find out who they are, and what they think and feel. So travel for me is an act of discovery and of responsibility as well as a grand adventure and a constant liberation." -Pico Iyer, Renowned Travel Writer The Responsible Travel Handbook will help guide you along the long and winding trail that is responsible travel. This is no solitary journey, and if you wish to be a responsible traveler or a responsible travel provider, there are plenty of allies. The instruction and guidance we present is intended to support your personal or organizational effort in researching, selecting, and ultimately participating in or creating a travel experience that most resonates with you and your understanding of traveling responsibly. Traveling more responsibly is as much about the small, and often very simple, practical steps you can take-from choosing local guides and staying in locally-owned accommodations to respecting local mores- as it is about one's mindset to become a more conscious and conscientious traveler. As one responsible traveler wrote in response to our survey question on what it means to be a responsible traveler: "First, do no harm" (Hippocratic Oath). Let the contents of this handbook spark your enthusiasm for positively contributing to the wellbeing of others as you discover the world around you. Whether you are traveling on your own or arranging travels for others-the Earth is your homeland. Give it the care and respect it deserves; learn about its environment and geography; spend time getting to know its people and their art, culture, history, and livelihoods. While you derive pleasure, knowledge, and understanding from your encounters, hold close the importance of preserving these treasures for those who may follow in your footsteps. To what degree this volume will enhance responsible travel will only be evident through how you determine to travel following your perusal of its contents. The more inspired you are to integrate the suggested wisdom presented in these pages into your own travel experience, the more valuable will be the role of this handbook. The attitude with which you read it and aim to apply its contents will ultimately be revealed when an inventory of your journeys or those you provide for others is tallied. Let the passion with which you read it become the purpose of your travel. RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL HANDBOOK 2006 The Responsible Travel Handbook was prepared for the first- annual Responsible Travel Forum in partnership with The Educational Travel Conference. The Responsible Travel Forum was made possible by The Educational Travel Community, Travel Learning Connections, Inc., P.O. Box 159, Ronan, MT 59864-0159, 406-745-4800, www.Travelearning.com. We extend special thanks to Mara DelliPriscoli of the Educational Travel Conference. EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION Sherry Schwarz, Transitions Abroad Magazine. P.O. Box 745, Bennington, VT 05201, 802-442-4827 www.TransitionsAbroad.com DESIGN Nashima Gokani, Transitions Abroad Magazine CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Duncan Beardsley (Generosity in Action) // David Clemmons (VolunTourism.org) // Mara DelliPriscoli (The Educational Travel Conference and Travel Learning Connections, Inc.) // Jim Kane (Culture Xplorers) // Ron Mader (Planeta.com) // Deborah McLaren (Indigenous Tourism Rights International) // Christine Winebrenner (The Educational Travel Conference and Travel Learning Connections, Inc.) PUBLICATION INFORMATION The Responsible Travel Handbook is a compilation of articles and resources reprinted with permission. Opinions expressed in The Responsible Travel Handbook are those of the contributors. While every reasonable care is taken by the publisher and editors, no responsibility can be accepted for individual opinions expressed or inaccuracies in editorial content. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. SUBMISSIONS Articles and resources for future editions of The Responsible Travel Handbook can be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS GENEROUS THANKS for making possible the compilation of this handbook THE EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL CONFERENCE is the only forum of its kind dedicated to the education, training, and networking priorities of professionals in the business of experiential learning through travel. Established in 1987, the Conference was initiated by the Conference Organizer, Mara DelliPriscoli and Travel Learning Connections, Inc., as a pioneering effort to provide highly customized educational programming, professional development and affinity-based networking forums for seasoned travel planners, as well as jumpstart training for newcomers to the field of nonprofit/educational travel. The Conference hosts over 450 delegates absorbed in 3 days of inspired sessions, first-rate social venues and educational rich "experiences" on site. The Conference is purposely kept intimate to ensure high quality networking and small group educational experiences with like-minded individuals and/or like organizations. Designed and operated from its inception as an educational resource, the Educational Travel Conference remains committed to its core objectives: Delivering "content rich" conferences and cutting edge agendas; Promoting planner-supplier partnerships through high quality networking; Building community through affinity connections; Raising the bar of industry professionalism through training; Advancing and transforming mission driven programming and responsible tourism agendas. Contact: Travel Learning Connections, Inc., P.O. Box 159, Ronan, MT 59864-0159; 406-745-4800; [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.travelearning.com INDIGENOUS TOURISM RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL (TOURISM RIGHTS), is an Indigenous Peoples' organization dedicated to collaborating with communities and networks to help protect native territories, rights and cultures. Our mission is to facilitate the exchange of local experiences in order to understand, challenge, and take control of the ways tourism affects our lives. Contact: Tourism Rights, 366 North Prior Ave., #205, Saint Paul, MN 55104, 651-644-9984; [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.tourismrights.org. PLANETA.COM is a practical guide for everyone with a serious interest in conscientious travel and eco travel. Developed in 1994 by Ron Mader as a reporter's notebook (a forerunner of today's blog), Planeta pioneered online environmental and tourism reporting. Our award-winning site continues to mature as a lively public dialogue about practical ecotourism around the globe. Planeta.com is updated on a regular basis. The site provides free access to more than 10,000 pages of articles and resource guides for students, travelers and policy-makers. Planeta.com also hosts the Latin America Media Project (LAMP) to spotlight reporters working in the field and websites about this region. Contact: Ron Mader at [EMAIL PROTECTED] TRANSITIONS ABROAD was created as the antidote to tourism, a magazine with the specific goal of providing information that would enable travelers to actually meet the people of other countries, to learn about their culture, to speak their language, and to "transition" to a new level of understanding and appreciation for our fascinating world. The title was also meant to suggest the changes in our perspective-philosophically, psychologically, aesthetically, ethically, politically, etc.-that result from such immersion. Transitions Abroad was founded by Clay Hubbs, editor and publisher of the magazine and former professor and study abroad adviser at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1977, Transitions Abroad remains the only publication and comprehensive web portal dedicated to work, study, living, and immersion travel abroad. Its purpose is the dissemination of practical information leading to a greater understanding of other cultures through direct participation in the daily life of the host community. Contact: Transitions Abroad, P.O. Box 745, Bennington VT 05201, 802- 442-4827, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.TransitionsAbroad.com. VOLUNTOURISM.ORG is the source of information regarding the integration of voluntary service activities within the context of travel itineraries. Established primarily to support travel and tourism industry professionals as well as nonprofit and development organization executives, VolunTourism.org provides in-depth articles and research studies on VolunTourism through a monthly publication- "The VolunTourist." In addition, the website covers the annual VolunTourism Forum through pre-event updates and post-forum analysis. VolunTourism.org emphasizes the potential of tourism to become a balanced socio-economic engine, intimating that the traditional economic impact of tourism can be modified by also delivering social benefits to people and destinations throughout the world. Contact: VolunTourism, 287 "G" St., Chula Vista, CA 91910; 619.434.6230; [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.VolunTourism.org.. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS // BIOS DUNCAN BEARDSLEY is the former Director of the Stanford Alumni Association Travel/Study Programs. He is now director of Generosity in Action, www.generosityinaction.org, an independent organization that supports travelers' philanthropy that helps local people in developing countries. GIA provides a structure for travelers to support local villages and people. Coordination with tour operators and tour leaders insure that donations are properly applied to the projects intended. Duncan also serves on the Board of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] DAVID CLEMMONS is the Editor of The VolunTourist, an e-newsletter for the business tourism industry and travel trade. He specializes in developing VolunTourism products and services for the M&IT and Leisure Travel markets. Currently he collaborates with George Washington University's International Institute of Tourism Studies (IITS) and the Educational Travel Conference (ETC) to offer the annual VolunTourism Forum. David is the Founder of VolunTourism.org and Co-Founder of VolunToursTM. VolunTourism is defined as the integrated combination of voluntary service to a destination and the traditional elements of tourism-arts, culture, geography, history, and recreation-in the destination. David spent 15 years in the hospitality industry, served 30 years in volunteer and nonprofit roles including volunteer management and training, and currently mentors those interested in combining voluntary service with hospitality, travel, and tourism. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] J. MARA DELLIPRISCOLI, President, Travel Learning Connections, Inc., is the founder of the Educational Travel Conference (formerly Nonprofits in Travel Conference), now celebrating its 20th year. With this conference platform she has successfully facilitated strategic business partnerships between nonprofit institutions and for-profit travel suppliers within the educational and special interest travel community. Expanding the professional development and business-to- business networking needs of those in the field of alumni, museum, conservation and affinity group travel, Mara is currently focused on launching an online trade and membership community serving the special interest travel community worldwide, and aggregating the collective buying power and destination expertise of this market niche in support of sustainable tourism. With over 30 years experience in the tourism industry, Mara has worked within most sectors of the travel industry including tour, hotel, transportation, trade, and government research firms. In addition to heading the pioneering efforts of the Educational Travel Conference and online Community, Mara lectures, writes, and works with cultural, community, and conservation tourism development projects in the U.S. and abroad. She consults in the field of educational, community, and special interest tourism development for a variety of U.S. and international organizations. Mara is a veteran traveler and sailor crossing many seas, with a passion for exploration, language, and ethnic music and dance. Mara holds an M.Ed. in Tourism Development from George Washington University, and a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University. Contact her at [EMAIL PROTECTED] RON MADER is a journalist, photographer, and founder of the Planeta. com website, launched in 1994 to explore ecotourism and sustainable tourism around the world. Ron is the Latin America and ecotourism editor for Transitions Abroad magazine. Based in Oaxaca, Mexico, Ron organizes grassroots tourism fairs and co-founded a local rugby club. Ron received his master's degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas in 1990. His work has garnered numerous awards and is profiled in the book American Environmental Leaders (Abc-Clio, 2000). DEBORAH MCLAREN is the founder and former Director of Indigenous Tourism Rights International (formerly the Rethinking Tourism Project) and now serves on its Board of Directors. Deborah grew up on Native lands in Oklahoma. Her small hometown was a superfund cleanup site due to lead and zinc mining, which led the community to look at other more sustainable options for development. She has a master's degree in Social Ecology, specializing in global tourism, from Goddard College in Vermont. Her graduate research focused on community-based tourism alternatives in Asia and her thesis was a critique of the global tourism industry. She has worked as a consultant for international NGOs on human rights, environment issues, sustainable development, and sustainable tourism/ecotourism policies and programs in Latin America and Asia. Deborah has organized and presented sustainable tourism workshops and assisted in strategic planning for community groups, state and national institutions, and travel associations. She served as an international witness for Indigenous land rights in Latin America and Asia. In addition, she coordinated the first-ever international Indigenous Forum on Tourism in Mexico in 2002 and its follow-up Internet conference on Indigenous Tourism Certification in 2004. Deborah is author of the book Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel (Kumarian Press) West Hartford, 2nd. ed. 2004, which is used extensively by travelers, academics, students, policymakers, and communities. Deborah is working to design a new U.S.-based sustainable tourism network, including websites and e-newsletters. She currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her family. Contact her at [EMAIL PROTECTED] CHRISTINE WINEBRENNER is the Educational Travel Conference Sessions Manager; this is her second year at ETC. For the past eight years she has worked in various areas of the travel industry, including: wholesale travel, corporate travel, and hospitality as well as working for Lindblad Expeditions and Horizon Airlines. Her diverse experience has given her a broad perspective of the different impacts various areas of travel have on communities and the environment. Christine's research interests include tourism development and its impact on poverty, specifically in Thailand, as well as policy implications for responsible tourism. She will graduate from George Washington University with a master's degree in Tourism Administration, focusing on Destination Management as well as a MTA in Event Planning in May 2007; she earned a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Montana. SHERRY SCHWARZ is Editor and Publisher of Transitions Abroad magazine- the guide to learning, living, and working overseas. While her role keeps her more often behind the desk than on the road, she travels vicariously through reviewing Transitions Abroad articles and working daily with internationalists. Sherry is also Founder and Director of the Abroad View Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves as an open forum for students to discuss international education and global issues. Among its key activities is the biannual production of Abroad View, www.AbroadViewMagazine.com, the global education magazine for students, which Sherry founded in 1998. She served as the Editor and Publisher of Abroad View until 2005. Sherry graduated from Middlebury College in 1999 with a major in English literature and a minor in creative writing. Contact her at [EMAIL PROTECTED] DAVID ABERNETHY is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Stanford University and author of The Dynamics Of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, 1415-1980 (Yale University Press, 2000). He has lectured on Stanford Alumni Association Travel/Study trips to the Indian Ocean, eastern and southern Africa, New Zealand, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and India. BILL BELLEVILLE is a Florida-based writer specializing in nature and marine issues. He contributes widely to national magazines and has scripted and co-produced two PBS documentaries. River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River has recently been published by University of Georgia Press. Bill is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker specializing in nature, adventure-travel, and conservation. He has written over 1,000 magazine articles and four books, including his latest Losing it All to Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape. For more information, visit www.BillBelleville.com. DIANNE G. BRAUSE has loved nature and has been fascinated with learning about cultures around the world since she was a child. During college she traveled to the Middle East and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 1967-69. She has traveled extensively in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and India as tour guide, group participant, citizen diplomat, and independently as a single woman. She has written extensively about Ecotourism and Socially Responsible Travel. She currently lives and works in an intentional community, Lost Valley Educational Center (www.lostvalley.org), which teaches sustainability, permaculture, and conscious communication. She recently visited Turkey as an American Mevlevi Sufi (Whirling Dervish) following in the footsteps of Jelaluddin Rumi, the now-famous poet who lived there in the 1200s. Contact her at [EMAIL PROTECTED] REVEREND DR. HENRY BUCHER, ordained in the Presbyterian Church, has been chaplain and associate professor of humanities at Austin College, in Sherman, TX since 1985. While Dr. Bucher was on the staff of the University Christian Movement, 1965-69, based in New York City, he served on the Executive Committee of Commission on Voluntary Service and Action (CVSA). DOUG CUTCHINS and ANNE GEISSINGER are the co-authors of Volunteer Vacations: Short Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others, published by Chicago Review Press. The 9th edition is due out in spring 2006. Doug and Anne can be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED] FRANCES FIGART (pronounced Fi-gert), editor-in-chief of Courier Magazine, the official publication of the National Tour Association (NTA), will be leaving that position in April 2006 to begin consulting in the field of sustainable tourism. Under the name Green Travel Consulting, she will provide writing, editing, and other communications projects for travel professionals doing ecotourism, responsible adventure travel, nature-based, agritourism and voluntourism, among others. Under Frances' direction, Courier underwent a widely celebrated redesign, of both content and graphics, rolled out in January of 2004. As a result, Courier is now rated the most valued magazine in the travel industry over all other trade publications by NTA tour operators and is read monthly by 96 percent of NTA tour operators. Seeing the need for better communications and serious journalism in support of responsible travel led to Frances' decision to leave mainstream tourism and to focus specifically on sustainability. Frances' long-term goals are to write a book profiling leading sustainable travel companies, destinations, attractions and associations, and to found the consumer magazine Green Travel with the goal of raising awareness of the importance of responsible travel. She is currently seeking investors for this project and can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 317-423-0369. ALISON GARDNER, Senior Travel Editor of Transitions Abroad, is the author of Travel Unlimited: Uncommon Adventures for the Mature Traveler (Avalon Travel Publishing, 2000) and editor of Travel with a Challenge web magazine, www.travelwithachallenge.com, a richly illustrated travel resource featuring ecological, educational, cultural, and volunteer vacations worldwide. Contact her at [EMAIL PROTECTED] HAROLD GOODWIN is Director of the postgraduate International Centre for Responsible Tourism at the University of Greenwich. He has worked as a consultant and researcher for the World Tourism Organization, the U.K. government's Department for International Development, the European Union, the World Bank, the IFC, and others. Harold wrote a briefing paper for DFID on Tourism and Poverty Elimination in 1998 which led to the CSD7 Pro-Poor Tourism initiative by DFID at the U.N. in 1999. In August 2002 he co-chaired the international conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations, held as a side event to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa, which produced the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations (www.icrtourism.org/capetown.html). Most recently he has been working in South Africa and The Gambia developing national policies for the implementation of sustainable development principles through Responsible Tourism (www.responsibletourismpartnership.org). Harold has a strong private sector background with commercial interests in marketing special interest travel and he is working with a number of leading U.K. operators and with Small Luxury Hotels of the World to develop their responsible tourism policies. SEAN HATT is Principal of Altitude, LLC, an organizational behavior and leadership development company in Seattle. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.leadersclimb.com. HERB HILLER is an authority on issues affecting Florida tourism and Florida natural, historical and cultural resources. He was founding editor of the Ecotourism Society Newsletter, initiator of the Florida bicycling movement and of the Florida bed-and-breakfast movement. As executive director of the Caribbean Travel Association, he initiated the Caribbean Tourism Research Center in Barbados (today's Caribbean Tourism Organization) to research backward and forward linkages in regional tourism economies. His books include Guide to the Small & Historic Lodgings of Florida, Season of Innocence (about tourism in early Coconut Grove, Florida) and, newly, Highway A1A; Florida at the Edge, a review of turn-of-the-present-century emergence of year-round residential Florida downtowns and their potential for reducing the prepossession of sprawl. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Land & People and Florida Trend. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees respectively from Union College (NY) and the Harvard Law School. He lectures as a Road Scholar for the Florida Humanities Council. DENISE HUMMEL is a native New Yorker, living in Italy with her husband and children and directing a communications business focused on sustainable tourism. She can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.imagine-communications.com. JIM KANE is president and founder of Culture Xplorers. He is also the Community-Based Travel columnist for Transitions Abroad. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more information, visit www.culturexplorers.com. TIM LEFFEL is the Resourceful Traveler columnist for Transitions Abroad. He has published over 50 travel articles in print and on the Web. He has written about a wide range of subjects, from sailing on the Nile to hanging out with wandering holy men, while sampling everything from Kentucky bourbon to Korean soju in the line of duty. Tim publishes an award-winning cheap travel blog at blogs.booklocker.com/travel and a web magazine called Perceptive Travel (www.perceptivetravel.com), written for independent travelers with open senses and open minds. He has been a collaborator on dozens of business strategy, management, and biotech articles, as well as several business books. He has also worked as a proposal writer, hotel reviewer, English teacher, and ski instructor, plus more positions than he'd like to count in corporate cubicle land. For more information on Tim's book, as well as copies of his travel articles, see www.WorldsCheapestDestinations.com. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] TAMMY LELAND is co-founder of Crooked Trails, a Seattle nonprofit community-based tourism company. Contact her at [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.crookedtrails.com. LOS NIÑOS is a community development organization that aims to improve quality of life by creating opportunities for children and their families to realize their human potential through participation in the development of their communities. Los Niños believes that sustainable communities with healthy children are the foundation of a strong civil society. It provides opportunities to nurture human potential through self-reliant activities that promote community development, food security, social justice, and human dignity. Contact: Los Niños, 287 G Street, Chula Vista, CA 91910; (619) 426- 9110; Information:[EMAIL PROTECTED], www.losninosinternational.org. VOLKER POELZL is the Living Abroad editor for Transitions Abroad. He is author of Culture Shock! Brazil and Culture Shock! Portugal. He has lived and traveled extensively in the Brazilian Amazon and is currently working on a book about this fascinating region. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ROB SANGSTER's Traveler's Tool Kit: How to Travel Absolutely Anywhere (3rd ed., Menasha Ridge Press) is essential reading for those setting out to see the world. It contains more than 500 pages of Rob's road- tested information and advice on every aspect of independent world travel. Rob is the Independent Traveler columnist for Transitions Abroad. When not traveling, Rob writes and sails in LaHave, Nova Scotia, Canada. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] CORI TAHARA SIMMS is the assistant director of UCLA Alumni Travel. For more information on UCLA Alumni Travel programs, contact 310- 206-0613 or 800-UCLAlumni or visit www.UCLAlumni.net. RICK STEVES is the host of the public television series Rick Steves' Europe and the author of 27 European travel guidebooks, all published by Avalon Travel Publishing. For more information, visit www.ricksteves.com. SHOSHANNA SUMKA is a graduate student in applied anthropology at the Univ. of Maryland. She is a past participant in the School for International Training's semester in Sumatra, Indonesia and a former leader for the Experiment in International Living's summer program in Ecuador. SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL INTERANTIONAL, founded in 2002, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing education and outreach services that will lessen the toll that travel and tourism takes on the environment and local cultures. It was founded by Peter Krahenbuhl and Brian Mullis, who work closely with the STI Executive Board, the STI Advisory Board, and a team of dedicated volunteers, to devise programs that will catalyze a fundamental transformation in the travel and tourism arena. For more information, visit www.sustainabletravelinternational.org. AMY WARREN, the Communications Director for Global Service Corps, and Winsun Hsieh are both MBAs with an unbusinesslike passion for international travel and helping others. They have both volunteered abroad in recent years. <*> To buy Marcus L. Endicott's new book: Vagabond Globetrotting 3: The Electronic Traveler in the New Millennium, go to: http://www.lulu.com/mendicott <*> To post a message to this group, send an email to: [email protected] {* Remember, it is important to include a descriptive subject line.} {* Please do not quote entire Digests or long messages in replies!} Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/green-travel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
