Painted in wondrous colors, the walls of Comapala express a rich history dating back to the Communist revolutions. The walls are representative of the conceptualization of the Comapala itself. The town recreates new substance to public space by incorporating these murals. These artistic displays showcase the resourcefulness of the Comapala, and it is unique in the way the people choose to use older spaces to ascribe an significant meaning.

Similarly, the Tecnico Maya Vocational School Project implements environmentally friendly approaches in the construction of their school to teach useful trade skills to the children who attend. With environmental education as the helm of the school’s curriculum, the school seeks to build the abilities of the students. The long term effects of educating the youth with the capacity to create environmentally sustainable work gives Comapala and the area a feasible future. More information on this project can be found on iJourneyGreen.

Hi there. I apologize for being absent last week, but I’m back this week with another exciting post about a wondrous location situated in Greece. Zakynthos, sometimes known as Zante, is an island positioned in the Southeast area of the Ionian Sea. It is known for its breathtaking white cliffs and azure blue caves that are carved near the northern part of the island. Aside from the coastal sights, Zakynthos is well-known for the animals that reside there, specifically the Sea Turtles. The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is one of the more well known species which fully utilize Zakynthos’ warm sands and pristine waters to help nurture their population.

However in more recent years, due to increased human activity in the region, the Loggerhead Sea Turtles’ population has decreased drastically to the point of becoming labeled an endangered species. Loggerhead Sea Turtles are especially sensitive to noises and lights as they lay their eggs at night, so they need a more isolated habitat at night to exist. One of iJourneyGreen’s partners, ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece hosts various projects to protect and manage the habitats and nests of these Sea Turtles. ARCHELON really stress not only hands on protection but also increasing public awareness of these Sea Turtles. With more projects and awareness, these Sea Turtles have a better aspiration for being able to coexist with humans.

For more information on the Sea Turtle Project, please visit ARCHELON’s site and iJourneyGreen’s travel credit page.

Travel does not simply encompass long distance journeys spanning half the globe. People often make efforts to travel to another city, across states, or even to another region of their city that they haven’t seen before. iJourneyGreen is based in San Diego and most San Diegans make their travels between North County unto the more Southern areas spanning the border. The impact of commuting is not only felt by taking trips through the airway, but it is felt locally as well. According to an article written in 2009 by Move San Diego, the average San Diegan drives 23.7 miles a day. That is a lot of miles which impact not only the environment but the community of San Diego, itself.

Casa Familiar is a San Diego based community organization which works to help better the San Diego areas with holistic programs to outreach to the community. With various arts, cultural development, human resource, and over fifty other programs, Casa Familiar strive to enhance “the quality of life through education,advocacy, service programming, housing and community economic development.” Our travels impact not only communities we visit, but in communities that we live in. Consider giving back to creating a better community and check out iJourneyGreen’s travel credit page for Casa Familiar as well as Casa Familiar’s own website.

Attending a surf trip in Papua New Guinea in 2007, Zack Parker’s life was changed when he initially arrived at the village. Greeted warmly by the locals and staying at a family home for five weeks, Zack realized how bereft the local sanitation and water supply was. Through his travels to this community in search of an isolated surf, he realized that he can enact positive change in a community he travels to.

The Walu International Foundation founded by Zack, works to allow villagers in Papua New Guinea’s coastal communities an opportunity to take the future in their own hands. Walu International employs a “Community Led Total Santitation” approach which allows villagers to become educated in hygienic techniques, thereby empowering them to start their own local projects to develop sanitary installations using their local resources and manpower.

Check out Walu International’s website and their page via iJourneyGreen!

Hi there,

I hope you all are having a wonderful 2012 so far. It is a new year, and a time for resolutions. I, myself, resolve to post regularly every Friday. Let me know in the comments if there is any particular region of the world you wish to read more about.

In addition, iJourneyGreen has recently revamped our travel credits page, so go check it out and see what’s new!
Last month, iJourneyGreen posted about the Armenia Tree Project. I figured that instead of describing the worth and scope of this project myself, I would show one of the deputy directors of the project describing the importance of environmental activism in Armenia.

Could a Forest be worth more than a Gold Mine?

Enjoy and continue to travel sustainably this new year!

Willis Phu

One of the driving factors in the Dominican Republic’s economy is tourism. If you have ever been to one the lush green hills or mountains in the Dominican Republic, you would enjoy part of this island nation’s many attractions. Sprawled around the island are resorts that promote the natural scenery and refreshing environment that is seemingly untainted by industrialism. In one of the nation’s major resorts, Playa Grande overlooks cascading cliffs as a golf course extends along the coastline. Near the beach, surfers enjoy the clear waters that comb over the fresh sand with nice waves. The palms and natural fauna set a dramatic flair that is desired by any tourist.

Although the tourism industry is large in the Dominican Republic, the façade of a grandeur nation that contains all these wonderful sights overshadows the fact that some of the Dominican Republic’s communities are fighting against a disparaging income disparity and poverty. In fact, some communities of women have a hard time receiving a proper education. One of iJourneyGreen’s partner projects, the Mariposa DR Foundation seeks to invest in the Dominican Republic’s girls’ education and health. By providing and investing in quality education, the Mariposa DR Foundation allows adolescent girls to have an opportunity to develop their leadership, get regular check-ups, and become better prepared for their future. The Mariposa DR Foundation’s mission is “Empowering and educating young women to create community based solutions to end poverty.”

More information about the Mariposa DR Foundation can be found on their site:

http://www.mariposadrfoundation.org/Welcome_to_the_Mariposa_DR_Foundation.html

I recently got a chance to interview revolutionary blogger and UCSD alumnus, Sui Solitaire. Sui’s blog, Cynosure, serves to challenge her readers to love themselves and grow into astounding individuals. She gives us remarkable insight on sustainability, slow food, and travel.

What are your thoughts on sustainable travel?

It’s necessarily slow. What I mean is, train or bus is, relatively speaking in the United States, slower than car, which is slower than air travel. Air travel actually has a huge impact on your carbon consumption, which a lot of people aren’t aware of. I was surprised myself when I first realized that even though I reject using a car as much as possible, my traveling was the biggest contributor to my carbon footprint.

Perhaps one day we could create solar-powered jets. That would be awesome, especially since flying in the sky means you’re close to the sun. 8D

How has your engagement with food impacted you?

My history as a disordered eater actually inspired me to become interested in healthy foods, and along with that, sustainable foods. I’m passionate about sustainable farming and food choices. I’ve subscribed to a CSA (community-supported agriculture). I went vegan not because I was passionate about animals but because I couldn’t stand the environmental impact of meat (and they say that going vegan is the #1 best way to reduce your carbon footprint– more than even switching to a hybrid or never driving at all). I mainly shop at farmer’s markets and buy organic. I came to these decisions after reading a lot of books (Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) and educating myself about the impact of food not only on the planet but on the people and the animals.

What are your thoughts on building community?

Building community is important because a lot of the times, people think that their individual actions don’t matter, so they just give up or never start changing their choices to become more sustainable. However, the impact of one person can be really great because that one individual can inspire others to act and therefore have stronger impacts as a team. Ironically, though we can’t effect lasting change without a community, it means that we have to start with one person– ourselves– and then build that community.

Do you feel like sustainability is reachable in the future?

I believe sustainability is reachable NOW. Yes, now. The future doesn’t exist, and life doesn’t start tomorrow. What we can do is make changes– big or small, on individual or worldwide levels– today. If we keep on thinking of sustainability as something in the future, we will never get there because we will never reach this mystical future that never comes! So what we can do is act now. It doesn’t matter if we’re not perfectly sustainable now. A little sustainability now is always better than “perfect sustainability in the future.”

What do you think people should do to become more sustainable and green?

- Eat less meat. It’s not necessary to go completely vegetarian if you feel like you can’t handle that (but you could at least try one day a week!), but eating less meat is always beneficial. Mark Bittman, New York Times writer and cookbook author, is “vegan until dinner.” He eats all vegan for breakfast and lunch, and then eats his dinner however he likes– with occasional meat, etc. – Drive less! Take the bus! Once again, you don’t have to completely let go of your car, but carpool more often and cut down on unnecessary trips. – Turn off lights in rooms you aren’t using, turn off electronics, and unplug your electronics if you’re not using them. Your electronics still use energy if they’re plugged in, even if they’re turned off. – “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” Flush the toilet only when you really need to. Every time you flush your toilet, you’re flushing 1.5 gallons of water down the drain. – Give up the plastic water bottles and get a reusable water bottle. (You only need one reusable bottle!) It takes THREE gallons of water to make one gallon of water bottled in plastic. Terrible, huh? Plus, bottled water is often reconsituted tap water at 1,000x the price of tap. Did you know there’s absolutely no regulations for bottled water (unlike tap water, which has strict regulations), so you could be drinking filtered sewer water and not even know it!?

- Use reusable shopping bags. Never take plastic bags. Even the paper bags are harmful to the environment because it takes a HUGE amount of energy to create paper– even recycled paper. So bring your reusable shopping bag wherever you go, leave one in your car, etc., etc.! – Get a utensil set and bring it in case there’s plastic utensils. – Bring your own take-out containers when you go out to eat. (For more on cutting plastic use, check out http://plasticfreeguide.com by Beth Terry of My Plastic-Free Life, a friend of mine and an inspiring plastic-free crusader.)

The number one thing you can do is be mindful. Simply consider how your actions affect the world– other people, animals, the environment. We’re not killing the planet, we’re killing ourselves if we don’t take responsibility for our actions. You don’t have to do any of these changes overnight. Go slow and be gentle on yourself, but think of the earth, too. Act with love and kindness.

Sui Solitaire is passionate about helping people empower and love themselves, love others, and love our planet. Click here to get inspirational posts via RSS or email, follow her on Twitter, Google+, & Facebook.

How much can one person do? I think this question is something that holds a lot of us back from ever reaching our full potential. When you try to grasp the major issues involving environmental sustainability or with societal coexistence, the scope of these quandaries may feel overbearing for one person to come to terms with.
However, I recently came about an idea from Jane McGonigal’s book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make us better and How they Can Change the World. The idea is that video games can be utilized to create a community that will collectively work together towards solving health issues to creating a better city for citizens through their collective love of games.

This may seem a bit idealistic, but it has been proven that any one person can make a significant difference. In the City of the Eternal Spring, or Trujillo in Peru, there is an environmental project that iJourneyGreen has partnered with called the WindAid Project. This project initially started off with Michael VerKamp, a former Air Force member, who took his experience and knowledge in order to develop and implement green wind generators in Peru.  Because, he realized that Peru had a windy climate and the electricity in Peru was not naturally sustained, he helped start up WindAid to counteract these problems.

Nestled high among hills in Trujillo, these wind generators use magnets and wind to generate energy that is low maintenance and extremely efficient. The project shows that one person’s passion can create and change a reality for others. Although daunting, an idea and even a project such as this can lead to new steps for a more sustainable future. In 2010, WindAid won first place out of 600 projects in renewable energy in the BID Network Challenge in Holland.

Every person can make a difference so make an effort to accomplish one of your goals or projects while keeping in mind sustainability!
Leave a comment about things you have been working on lately.

More information can be found at www.ijourneygreen.org and www.windaid.com.

Hello!

My name is Willis, and I am the new intern at iJourneyGreen. I’m currently a fourth year undergraduate student at UCSD studying Communications and Economics. I’ll be maintaining this blog and giving input on travel, sustainability, and community.

Reports on the riots in London have dominated the news earlier this summer. One of my close friends studying abroad in Sussex was especially shocked by the destruction when passing by on a train ride to Oxford. I offer a quote from Gandhi: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.”

Looking at a more positive aspect of London, iJourneyGreen itself has partnered with Streetlytes Project in a community project, which not only gives the homeless in London a voice, but also provides them with food, blankets and clothing. The project actively seeks to help create a community for the homeless and poor by helping them to rehabilitate and deal with mental health, alcoholic, and drug issues that they may have. Aside from this community project which impacts the London area, the surrounding area is ripe with history and little gems waiting to be discovered by the curious tourist.

One of these gems is The Roof Gardens. According to their website, it is “located one hundred feet above Kensington High Street in central London.” Aside from the Babylon Restaurant, the main attractions are the three inspired gardens, the Spanish Garden, the Tudor Garden, and the English Woodland. The gardens are arranged over an acre and a half of space and a small stream flows through it. For a different look at London and to experience a beautiful area lush with history and an astounding view, check out their site at:

http://www.roofgardens.virgin.com/en/the_roof_gardens/the_garden

Have you visited the U.K. recently? Do you have any tips or secret finds?
Share your thoughts and leave a comment!

I am always overwhelmed by some of the environmental statistics that are out there. However some can spark action in individuals ready and willing to get involved. So today I thought I would share some interesting eco facts to inspire us all to make, at the very least, some small changes:

1. If 10,000 people drink only organic beverages for one week, we’ll avert 32 full cocktail shakers of pesticides from pouring into the environment. (Source: Ideal Bite)

2. The US has less than 4% of its forests left and equally devastating is that 80% of the total world’s forests are gone. (Source: Bikeroute.com)

3. Recycling 1 ton of paper saves: 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of air pollution. (Source: Trash to Cash)

4. The U.S. is 5% of the world’s population but uses 25% of its natural resources. (Source: Environmental Protection Agency)

5. If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water. (Source: Seventh Generation Company)

6. Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. (Source: Eco-Cycle)

7. Recycling collection and processing, and manufacturing with recycled materials employed
952,614 people in 2001, and paid $34 billion in wages. (Source: National Recycling Coalition, 2001)

8. The average American home contains more synthetic chemicals today than the average
chemical plant of 100 years ago. (Source: Windstar Foundation)

9. Globally, 58% of coral reefs are imperiled by human activity such as overfishing, sewage runoff, sedimentation, and dredging. (Source: Environmental Defense Fund)

10. Tropical rainforests in the Amazon store 75 billion tons of carbon dioxide in their trees and plants. When the forests are burned, carbon dioxide is released into the air. It has been estimated that 25% of total global CO2 emissions are from the burning of tropical rainforests. (Source: Rainforest Action Group)