When you, our travelers, return from your journeys, we look forward to hearing the stories of each trip.  Many of you share how travel has impacted you — by a special event or encounter, by a travel drama that transformed into a positive experience, and most frequently, by the opportunities you had to observe guides and hosts who practice their profession, culture and humanity in an exemplary and profoundly inspiring manner. We understand. One of the reasons we love our jobs is that we, too, enjoy these gifts.

It is striking to us that expressions of appreciation, and observations of human generosity and kindness, come to us not just from our travelers but also from the guides and hosts on the other end.  It’s not just that we add to the financial well-being of the people and communities we visit, although of course this is vitally important; we also bring the gift of our openness to connection, our eagerness to learn, and our appetites for honest conversation.

In the midst of this season of giving, we remind ourselves that there are so many tangible and intangible ways to give as a traveler.

We give tangibly by…

• Tipping thoughtfully for good service
• Bargaining playfully but not to strike a hard deal
• Giving business grassroots operations
• Supporting the charitable projects of lodges and communities we visit
• Leaving behind usable clothing, books and equipment you will not need after your trip
• Visiting schools and donating supplies
• Offering friendly suggestions about improving locals’ operations
• Encouraging friends and family to support causes that inspired you during your travels
• Making a contribution to the most important local institution in the community you visit

And we give intangibly by…

• Offering warm greetings and words of appreciation to hosts
• Demonstrating openness to new perspectives
• Being courteous to everyone we meet
• Taking time to talk and discuss with local professional peers about common interests
• Sharing news about the world and information about our country with people in autocratic countries with no access to these stories
• Indulging school children (and others) in their efforts to practice English
• Supporting ideas of conservation, and non-consumptive appreciation of nature and traditional culture
• Listening attentively to the ideas of locals and of fellow travelers, and following up with thoughtful questions
• Being a model of tolerance toward all people and religions
• Sharing stories of our own lives, family and work with guides and hosts
• Being respectful of local cultures by learning about local customs in advance of arrival, then honing this knowledge throughout the trip
• Letting guides and hosts see their worlds through our eyes by articulating our responses to new experiences
• Retelling the stories of our trip after we return home, to raise global awareness of the joys and challenges of lives in all different places

In this season of giving, please help us build these lists.  Share with us the ways in which you have seen the gifts of travel.  This spirit of giving can carry us from this season into a year of generosity and gratitude.

There is currently a United Nations Climate Change conference taking place in Cancun, Mexico.   Notables like Ted Turner, founder of CNN and UN benefactor; and Richard Branson, entrepeneur and founder of many enterprises including Virgin Airways, and others are urging prompt and dramatic action. The biggest unanswered questions are not whether the globe is warming or to what extent human activity is the cause, but rather why the United States seems to be so uninterested and uninvolved in contributing to solutions. As travelers we have seen the melting glaciers and observed the effects of droughts and unseasonable storms. We have spoken with guides, farmers and villagers who observe that what were once predictable seasonal patterns. Shannon Stowell of the Adventure Travel Trade Association addressed the conference with ideas about how adventure travel can contribute to awareness of climate change and how our interests as travelers align with those most concerned about finding solutions and climate stability. His suggestions center more on the value of awareness than on actual reduction of the global temperature, which is the most enormous common property resource management problem ever faced by humanity.

We, as travelers still have this fundamental problem of the carbon profligacy of mechanized travel.  Ted Turner does not bicycle between and around his many far flung ranches.  Richard Branson,  is not yet running his commercial jet fleets on biofuel or hydrogen.  I guess they justify their outsized personal  carbon footprints by  the compensatory effects of their political advocacy that other people (families, cultures, nations) not create such large carbon footprints. It is kind of like using a megaphone to urge a crowd to keep the peace by turning down the volume on their ipod headphones.
Everyone  I have ever met in the nature-eco-adventure travel industry is aware of the problem of global warming and would like to participate in an effective solution, if they can afford it and if it is presented convincingly.  At least we are beyond denial and open to ideas.  As far as I can tell we are still lacking in truly effective good ideas and especially lacking in an estimate of the cost.   Adventure travel may be less damaging to the global climate than some other types of travel, but we should be cautious in suggesting we are more a part of the solution than part of the problem.