Gulf oil spill volunteering

Peter Greenberg Worldwide has a comprehensive guide for Gulf oil spill volunteering.

Volunteering is a noble way to spend a vacation but during this oil spill disaster make sure you have a solid volunteer offer before going to any of the areas affected.

Each state has its own resource where potential volunteers can register their information. Registration does not mean you’re guaranteed a volunteer position. Participants will be contacted only on an as-needed basis and local candidates will be considered first. If you do reach out to an organization to offer help, please make sure it’s connected with its state service commission.

• United We Serve/National: www.serve.gov/oilspill.asp
• Mississippi: www.volunteermississippi.org
• Alabama: www.servealabama.gov
• Florida: www.volunteerflorida.org
• Louisiana: www.volunteerlouisiana.gov

While local officials appreciate that visitors want to come and help, there is logic behind the limitations. Louisiana Service Commission Executive Director, Janet Pace, explains, she does not want to “put a good-hearted, well-meaning volunteers in harm’s way,” without a better understanding of the health hazards associated with the oil.

PGW also gives alternative ways to help like: coastline monitoring, adopting a pelican, and helping out the people affected.

Read the full story: BP Oil Spill News: Volunteer Guide - Helping Gulf Oil Clean-Up Efforts

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Meet Hitesh Mehta: ecotourism pioneer

Peter Greenberg Worldwide interviews Hitesh Mehta (pic left), an eco-tourism pioneer:

"Fifteen years ago, I felt strongly that I needed to take all my interests—architecture, landscape architecture and conservation—and combine them into one. I noticed the striking disconnect between architecture and the landscape on which the safari lodges were built: ugly, modern buildings that were anything but timeless.

In 1995, I wrote what is considered the first research paper on ecolodges in the world. I decided that my calling was to go deeper than simply helping to control the aesthetic features of my residential house projects. As such, my focus in landscape architecture moved to pristine and fragile natural areas where tourism was uncontrolled, and had large social and environmental impacts and required a new planning paradigm to protect the sanctity of those places."

Read the full story: An interview with an eco-tourism pioneer

Photo from Peter Greenberg Worldwide