Last month, I participated in a Leave No Trace Master Educator course on behalf of Sustainable Summer. Over the five days, four of which were spent paddling and portaging canoes in Adirondack Park, I joined eight other leaders in the outdoor industry to discuss techniques for teaching Leave No Trace principles within our respective organizations. […]
7/1: Setting out for our last full day at Huasquila, we got into cars to go out to the famous Gran Canon hike. The hike was just 4km, but descended a muddy jungle trail through primary and secondary forests. We arrived at our first destination: a bridge along a beautiful river, decorated with walls of […]
I’ve been looking for an excuse to #deletefacebook since day 1 of Sustainable Summer as an organization. Conventional wisdom among marketers is that Facebook is an essential platform for customer acquisition. As an organization that works with the high school demographic, this is perhaps doubly true for us. So, begrudgingly, one of the first things […]
Environmental Leadership: A Students Perspective On Sustainable Summer and Why It Isn’t Easy To Explain What It Is We Do We recently published the 2017 issue of Amaranthus: The Journal of Youth Environmental Leadership. In it, one of our alumni, Layla, now a college student at Bucknell University, reflects on her experience in the Ecuadorian […]
Advancing Student Learning Outcomes Through Pre and Post-Program Readings Working as a Global Learning Program Facilitator for Sustainable Summer, I have been afforded the opportunity to engage with bright students from across the globe. Our programs focus on educating for sustainability by examining social, environmental, and economic forces that are topical to the destination. Our Global […]
As I write this, Donald Trump has been the 45th President of the United States for all of five hours. In a blog post the day after election day, I made no secret of my disappointment in his election and my concern for the future of our country and the planet. But I also expressed […]
Mr. Trump, I did not vote for you, and today like many progressives I am trying to come to grips with the unimaginable. I am filled with sadness and trepidation about the future of our country and planet for so many reasons, but no reason looms larger in my mind than the impending global crisis […]
We’ve been getting a lot of phone calls lately from people who are concerned about traveling to the Galapagos or the Ecuadorian Amazon following the devastating April 16th earthquake on Ecuador’s coast. Here are a few things we think families should know about Ecuador and why we think traveling there this summer is one of […]
Cuba is at a pretty unique moment in time. Obama was there a few days ago. Travel restrictions have been and continue to be loosened. Private enterprise is blossoming and an influx of foreign investment will accelerate the shift towards a market economy. Everything is changing very rapidly. This is without question a good thing for the average Cuban. […]
Colleges aren’t looking for well-rounded students; they are looking to cultivate a well-rounded class of individually and uniquely talented students. Institutions of secondary education, on the other hand, are largely structured to “output” well-rounded students – a little math and science, some humanities and social sciences, a dash of the arts (if you’re lucky), and […]