By Annika S. Hipple

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 billions of single-use water bottles consumed in the United States every year, 86 percent end up as litter or in landfills; in many countries this number is even higher.

“Raw.” The simple, but evocative word Susan Fanning chooses to describe Africa. After spending a good chunk of her life on the continent (11 years), native Irishwoman Susan decided to return once again and continue her love affair with the country and its people. This time, she spent it within the Maasai community through a Maasai Warrior Training program put together by Laura Alessandrini and Silas Kitonga. Silas is a Maasai from Il ‘Ngwesi, the area where Maasai Warrior Training takes place.

Earlier this month, we asked our members and partners to share how they’d be celebrating Earth Day (April 22), and received many responses from around the world about exciting grassroots activities. While “every day is earth day” for many of you who are ecotourism supporters and sustainability advocates, the worldwide celebration of Earth Day / Earth Month is a great occasion for all of us to join, gather, share and find hope and inspiration for a more sustainable future of our world.

According to the UN World Tourism Organization, the tourism industry accounts for 5% of global CO2 emissions. The hotel industry alone contributes 23% of that total 5% and only trails car and air travel. It might not sound like much but if we take into account that the CO2 emissions produced could increase by as much as 150% by 2030, the future starts looking bleak. What would happen if all hotels went green? We set out to answer that very question and came up with an alarming, albeit hopeful, data visualization called “The Future of Hotels is Green”.

Global Vision International (GVI) runs responsible volunteering programs in over 40 countries around the world, and is one of the largest and most respected volunteer abroad organisations in the world. Guided by a unique commitment to volunteers and partners, GVI run almost all of their own operations. This unique ground up approach to volunteer travel allows GVI to run sustainable long-term projects that volunteers can join and contribute on for short periods of time, from two weeks to two years.

Tourism activities under the Sápmi Experience Quality Label are based on the common heritage of the Sámi. Sámi tourism must be sustainable over the long term. This means that tourism must be accepted and established, culturally and socially, in Sámi society, and the host must be able to communicate Sámi values and way of life. Sápmi Experience operators strive for social, cultural, ecological and commercial sustainability. They are companies that respect the integrity of the Sámi culture and work to prevent its objectification.

By Aaron Smith – I spent over a year traveling around doing sustainable hotel/resort site inspections. Rarely did I get to spend more than one, or two nights, at each property. For me to be thorough, I needed to have an action plan, call it a comprehensive checklist to ‘grade’ each property. I saw every shade of ‘verde’ from the washed-out, to the vibrantly pure, and it was in this journey that I formed a deeper understanding of the industry, its operational challenges, and perhaps surprisingly, I grew a transcending appreciation for those not quite green enough yet.

By Lenka Uhrova

In July 2010, I published an article on the Local Travel Movement website about how I saw tourism in Iceland at the time. I’ve always been particularly interested in regions off the beaten tourist track, which in the past would often be overlooked and overshadowed by the more commonly promoted highlights and ‘must-sees’ of Iceland.

By Kelly Austria

Inspired by our treks and visits to mountain communities, in 2007 we formed a group based on a shared common love for nature and compassion for the kids living in these mountains. We decided to hike on a new trail, and called our group TREK, or Trails to Empower Kids. Our first outreach program was held in the mountainous province of Benguet, in the municipality of Itogon, Philippines.

By Jason Wire

Aysén is Chile’s third-largest region, about the size of Tennessee, and the most sparsely populated. It’s among the most remote and undisturbed areas of Patagonia, and could be changed forever by the largest hydroelectric project in the history of Chile. This is not just another forest. This is the largest river in Chile. These are among the most powerful rapids on the planet. These are the wildest and most pristine rivers within the wildest and most pristine area left on earth.