Haste Makes Waste: Learning to Travel

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Gradual Greening of an Industry?

In addition, the tourism industry as a whole is beginning to embrace environmental causes, says Patrick Long, Ph. D., faculty director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism at the University of Colorado, Boulder, noting that Vail has the largest on-mountain recycling program in the world and 70 ski areas have signed on to the McCain Lieberman greenhouse gas accord.

But isn't steering clear of them the best thing we can do for sensitive ecosystems? Not if they're threatened by poverty. In addition to minimizing its impact on the natural world, responsible ecotravel provides benefits to local economies and indigenous communities as well as conservation, according to Martha Honey, executive director of TIES.

What You Can Do

•Talk to people who have previously traveled to your destination and check local newspapers online for current tourism news.

•Look for philanthropic opportunities combined with travel, allowing you to help local communities with educational materials, construction or other goods and services. Volunteer with www.crossculturalsolutions.org, Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat.org), Cultural Restoration Tourism Project (www.crtp.net) and for younger people looking for cultural exhange, see www.operationcrossroadsafrica.org. Break Away provides travel volunteer opportunities for students on spring break, www.alternativebreaks.org. Student and professional engineers can help in local projects, such as improving wastewater treatment, worldwide through Engineers for a Sustainable world (www.esustainableworld.org). And to help preserve Hawaii's natural areas and wildlife, you can volunteer with The Nature Conservancy (www.malamahawaii.org).

•If you're looking for study or work opportunities abroad, there are a host of options. The World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program (www.wwoof.org) gives you a chance to get your hands dirty and work with locals while leaving time to travel. The Council on International Educational Exchange has programs both to help student both study and work abroad for students (www.ciee.org). Studyabroad.com lists programs by city, country, subject and also provides a parent's guide. Earthwatch Institute offers students a chance to do environmental research on expeditions and gain academic credit (www.earthwatch.org). The Sierra Club's Sierra Student Coalition offers weeklong environmental leadership training programs throughout the country (www.ssc.org). Conservation International's ecotourism program provides opportunities to help preserve biodiversity hotspots (www.ecotour.org). Lastly, World Wildlife Fund's membership travel program expeditions will bring you closer to animals in their natural habitats on all seven continents (www.worldwildlife.org).