Origins of the Green Pasport
By Rodney J. Vargas
Assistant Director for Latin America, Africa and the Middle East
Study Abroad Office, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
Vargas previously worked for Duke University's Organization for Tropical Studies
Many years ago, while visiting a national park in Costa Rica I saw a sign that read: “Take only photos and leave only footprints.” The sign was part of a national campaign to prevent visitors from taking home “live souvenirs,” such as plants, birds, frogs, etc., which was a harmful common practice that was depleting the parks of their biodiversity. Since then, I have been very concerned about the impact of the increasing number of students that go to study all over the world.
Then, in 2007 Daniel Greenberg, Executive Director of Living Routes, created the “sustainability abroad” listserve with the idea of exchanging information around the theme of sustainability in study abroad. When I saw the ongoing discussion, the issues were scary and mind boggling: one million students studying abroad, gas emissions, carbon offsets, peak oil, internal vs. external cost, alternative energy, etc. But, I wanted to do something at a smaller scale. I was feeling a bit helpless because I do not have control over what kind of fuel the airlines choose to use or the cost of airline tickets and all of those complex issues. I wanted to have control over something that everyone would benefit from. I was thinking that we would be fine if at least the majority of the students traveling on our programs stayed within some boundaries, which would benefit both the environment and the people in the communities they visited. Then, the idea of creating a Green Passport came to mind. What if we give our students guidelines for respecting and improving the environment wherever they travel and study? What would happen if we help our students to leave the world a better place after they visit? These were the initial questions that I had.
Fortunately, the idea landed in a most fertile organic ground with Astrid Jirka, of Ithaca College; Daniel Greenberg, of Living Routes; Sherry Schwarz, of The Abroad View Foundation; and Stacey Woody Thebodo, of Middlebury College. Together we crafted a definition, format, code of conduct, and suggested guidelines for the Green Passport Program, which will be piloted in the fall of 2007.
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