There's trash on Mount Everest in Nepal and Machu Picchu in Peru is crumbling under the weight of 2,000 visitors a day. The Costa de Sol in Spain is paved over with concrete, while Cambodia has a full-time job shielding its children from sex tourists. It's easy to despair when thinking about the effect of mass tourism on the planet.

But believe it or not, travel can also be a force for good even in some of the world's most remote beauty spots. Gabon in West Africa is setting an example in how to do it right with Africa's Last Eden in Loango National Park.

In this case, tourism is small scale, low-impact and directly funds conservation. As Rombout Swanborn, director of Loango National Park, says: “We will never have 20 Jeeps around a waterhole shining lights into animals' eyes."

Until recently, the country was not on the tourist radar at all but in 2002, Gabon's forward-thinking president set aside 11% of his country as national park. With the ethos that “ecotourism pays for conservation," the government started a small pilot tourism project in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society and a private investor. Loango National Park officially opened for tourists in 2007 and the park is also used as a base for ...Read More

Feel guilty about reading books because they are made out of paper that come from trees? Well, there's something you can do about it. And I don't mean give up reading.

Read up ...Read More

6 million trees can't be wrong, especially if they are all being planted in one day by thousands of people joining together, united by visionary, inspired activist and opera singer, Boris Trajanov - and even more so if they are replacements to forests that have been claimed by ...Read More

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) wants to mobilize Canadians to do One Million Acts of Green.

Defining an Act of Green as any opportunity to help the environment by reducing your greenhouse emissions, the ...Read More

When disabled daughters of India are deemed unfit for marriage, many are condemned to a life of suffering. Unable to support themselves, they struggle to survive in a culture that does not accept their differences. In 1994, a group of Franciscan nuns founded Assisi Garments to help these women find their place. In this supportive atmosphere, they ...Read More

When the late Father Arnold Grol first encountered a parking boy in Nairobi, the boy's story broke his heart. Grol learned that many children spend their days guiding motorists to parking spaces for tips and rely on the small change they accept to survive.

Vowing to aid these street children, Grol set up a number of youth recreation ...Read More

As green and lean as my diet may be, I have one bad habit that I simply can't kick: soda. But, to tell you the truth, I don't go to any lengths to hide my sugary beverage obsession. In fact, it's more the opposite. I carry it in my hand for all to see, wear it on my sleeve (with my cozy Pepsi t-shirt) and now I can hang it on my tree, too.
...Read More

Most of the inhabitants of Alasora, a small community in Madagascar, rely on work in the rice fields to support their families. Unfortunately, their primary source of income is seasonal, and they struggle to make ends meet for the remainder of the year.

To combat poverty and help their neighbors generate extra revenue, three women ...Read More

Take one glimpse around your home, and you'll realize that cotton is everywhere: in your clothes, bedding, curtains, tablecloths...the list goes on. But, did you know that this resource is often grown in disadvantaged countries that still rely on toxic pesticides?

Agrocel Industries was appalled ...Read More

Are you thinking of a local, organic Thanksgiving this year? Well, thanks to the Eat Well Guide and the Consumers Union, it's a piece of cake (or pumpkin pie). These two groups have teamed up and created the ...Read More