Ecoteer

Pavin looks back

Below is an excerpt from a blog which Pavin the ‘awesome’ Ecoteer House village facilitator wrote after he had left the Islands.  The islands touch many with no exception.

It is weird …
I look out of the window and I don’t see the clear ocean no more
Instead , I’m overwhelmed with the sight of buildings and the ever deafening vehicles
I see people walking on the streets with an obsession to a fast paced society
I wonder what is going through their heads right now
They don’t look at ease but they sure are walking it

I miss the hills that stood high on the island
The mist that subsides at dawn
And the bats that used to fly narrowly missing my face
The locals who walked by greeting me
As I sat there smoking on my bright blue porch

One season passed and many friends made
Memories that one would cherish
But could never chase
Grab your snorkels to the tide that we embrace

I now sit humbly on the corner of my bed
Fuck me , the world is getting smaller
But time seems to be pacing
Dare to dream and dare to live
Are you in a rush to get somewhere
Why do we even bother

It’s been a good run of faith and dedication
Snap back in the real world
Kickin’ it like a rock and rolla
Dreams are made for a reason
And the reason is nothing but a bare self confession

The Ecoteer House Project is based in the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia.  The project aims to conserve through education be it the diverse marine environment or the  Malay culture.  To find out more about the Ecoteer House Project please go to www.ecoteerresponsibletravel.com.

Follow Pavin’s rock and roll life by reading his blog at Trippy and Twisted.  He is currently building his own Eco adventure Park in Ipoh, Malaysia.  Good luck Pavin we are all behind you 200%!!!

EcoHab – our future home

Ever since we first saw the EcoHab units we had to find out more. Ecoteer interviews the designer of these space age homes which are a reality in 2010.

1) what inspired you to do this? what was the defining moment?

Buildings and structures have always inspired me (Aidan Quinn – Managing Director and Designer). I have always been fascinated by the great domes of Rome, Venice and Florence. Being a product designer, I have always wanted to build my own house but I wanted to step away from conventional architecture and build something that would appeal to me in every sense. I wanted something that offered me a sense of space without being too extravagant. I wanted something that offered me a sense of style without being too expensive. I wanted something that was efficient, well lit, economical and comfortable; a home that was future proofed against energy costs and CO2 emissions.
2) what is the largest EcoHab you have built and how much did it cost?

Right now, we’re constructing our largest to date, a 3 domed pod for a prestigious client in Cheshire.
This order is to the value of approx £80,000.00. It’s total floor area is 88sq Meters.

3) do you have one?

(Aidan) I have lived for 4 months in one of my dual level prototypes if that counts, but no, I live in a conventional house unfortunately!! I must sell each Ecohab I produce to generate enough funds to continue the project. I do plan on installing one in Spain which I can retire in when the time comes.

4) whats the worst bit about living inside them?
Our office is a 4m diameter dual level EcoHab and the only downside is that you cannot buy standard furniture because of the curvature of the internal walls. The internal furniture must be built and curved bespoke to each build. Fantastic if you love to be different, but it may not appeal to avid IKEA shoppers!!

To find out more speak to Gemma at www.ecohab.co.uk

Soapnuts — Mother Nature’s Answer to Wash and Clean

Have you ever realized that to make our household clean and tidy, free from dirt and dust, we used a lot of commercial detergents and cleaners? For example, we have washing detergents for dishes, laundry detergents for washing our clothes, floor cleaners to clean our floors. Imagine the amount of harmful chemicals and other stuff that we are using just to make sure that our house is clean as well as these products are then dumped into the sewerage and environment after used, multiply that amount by the number of people in the world, that is a very scary and alarming thought.

For people who can really afford it and environmentally conscious, there are many so called natural ingredients based cleaners and detergents that are currently available on the market, but the price of these products are usually a bit pricey for the rest of us. But even then, each of these products has its own plastic packaging and manufacturing process to produce it, this would translate to a significant amount of the carbon footprint and waste just to get that natural cleaner and detergents out to consumers. It has since been a quest of sorts for me to search for the ultimate cleaning agent from Nature and finally after so long, I’ve finally been able to come across what I believe is Nature’s best answer to my quest so far and the best part of it is that it grows on trees. ☺

Soapnuts are actually a kind of berries that grow on the soapnut trees which are usually found in the wild in Indonesia, Nepal and India. Once the fruits have ripened, they are gathered by hand, dried in the sun and with its seed taken out. The scientific name for soapnut is Sapindus Rarak or Sapindus Mukorossi (depending on where it is grown) reveals the powerful magic that gives it the ability to clean and wash, this magic ingredient is called saponin. Soapnut releases saponin when it is wetted, it is the saponin that helps to effectively wash and clean a wide range of items, from doing the laundry, doing the dishes to be used as a pesticide for plants. The saponin from the soapnut effectively replaces the current use of chemical detergents and commercial soaps that are currently found in today’s markets.

If we can replace all the commercial detergents and cleaners in the world, just imagine the amount of carbon footprint and environmental related pollution that would be significantly reduced by just using berries that are grown from trees. For those people who want to have live an eco-friendly and green lifestyle, this is really living the concept of coming from nature, going back to nature.

Soapnut Applications and Uses

1. All purpose cleaner
2. Laundry Detergent (Good for High Efficiency washing machine)

3. Great for washing of batik, silk, linen and delicate fabrics

4. Floor Cleaner

5. Jewellery cleaner

6. Window and glass cleaner

7. Dishwasher detergent

8. Hair Shampoo

9. Pet Shampoo

10. Vegetable wash

Online resources on using Soapnuts

1. How to Wash your Clothes Naturally with Soap Nuts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUm5S6Svomg

2. Soapnut Recipe 1 Making Liquid Cleaner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR2SLj7bZFM

3. Soapnuts Recipe 2 Foam Cleaner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASjw9QYcYFw

http://www.soap-nut.info

1. Bloo Lagoon Village, Bali

2. AIONA Guest House, Bali

3. Balila Guesthouse, Bali

4. Annabel Inn, USA

5. Salon Pacifique, Finland

6. Paskins Townhouse, UK

2010 Volunteers Impacts on Community projects – Kenya

We are proud to have made some positive impacts through our eye-opening volunteer program to local grassroots projects.

As the year 2010 winds up and we look forward to greater achievements, we have significantly changed the lives of both the local communities and volunteers as stated by one of our community project member:

“Volunteers have awakened a new sense of pride to our initiatives in the small forgotten villages of the world, it is a spirit to be upheld” Ann Anam – Uhanga education water and sanitation project, Nyanza Province – Kenya.

Indeed, this is a spirit to be cherished and honoured just like those who have volunteered would testify. There are many other sentiments echoed by volunteers and the communities, such as appreciation, pride, and openness to other cultures… This appreciation and hope calls for the continuation of our programs for the benefit of the local people.

In this Year 2010, we have worked with more than 10 different community projects in Kenya dealing with environmental and wildlife conservation, humanitarian, teaching and healthcare.

In these projects, we have been able to get over 200 international volunteer applicants from all over the world. And this has helped the communities to take the projects to the next level, for the benefit of the whole community, through implementation of ideas shared by the volunteers, skills input and physical labour.

All in all, there is still a lot to be done and many community initiatives to be uplifted. We thus hope that Year 2011 will bring more smiles to volunteer’s faces and thumbs up developmental steps to the community projects we support. We appreciate the efforts that have been put in by our partners, such as Ecoteer, which makes it easier for volunteers to find suitable placements. We also want to thank all the volunteers who have offered their time and energy to community projects. And we welcome any goodwill among the young people around the world, who want to make a difference in development and will thus discover more about themselves.

Thank You for reading,

Please visit our Ecoteer placement page now

Volunteer Kenya

Terengganu Eco and Marine Tourism Conference (TEMCO 2010)

On the 1^st November 2010 Azimi and myself went to the first Terengganu marine and ecotourism conference.  One of the highlights of the conference was listening to Anuar McAfee who told us about the birds of Terengganu. He has seen 8 species of hornbill within a square mile near Tasik Kenyir which is more than the whole of Sarawak or even Borneo has.  I was shocked to hear there were even any species of Hornbill as I thought they only lived on the island Borneo. In fact Terengganu has a large variety of birds due to many types of habitats from montane to island.  We also listened to a talk from my good friend and owner of the world renowned Sukau Rainforest Lodge – Albert Teo.  Ecoteer has volunteer opportunities at Sukau Rainforest Lodge.  He told us about his new venture in the northern part of Sabah in an area near Kudat.  He is doing capacity building and soft skills training with the local communities there with the view to opening a new community based tourism product.  I really like the way Albert is so humble even though his lodge has just been named the best accommodation in Asia at the world tourism awards –you definitely cannot say success has gone to his head.

The second day the event turned to the sea with talks on the coastal environment of Terengganu, an ecosystem named BRIS.  The dominating species of the BRIS ecosystem are Melaleuca which includes the species nicknamed the Tea Tree.  Prof Jamilah from UMT told us about how the local people use the trees for medical purposes and handicraft – this could be a possibility for community based tours.  You can get the chance to experience the BRIS environment if you join the Terengganu Turtle conservation expedition.  After the BRIS talk, Rahayu from WWF Malaysia spoke of the potential for turtle tourism in the state and Clement Lee of Borneo Divers told us how Sipadan Island and Borneo Divers have benefitted from them removing their resort off the island.  It is a real credit that Borneo Divers did remove their resort from the island and the recovery of the island just shows how much damage resorts do to marine habitats.

The conference was wrapped up by a tour of the Setiu wetlands, PEWANIS and ended up with us all planting mangrove trees.  The ladies of PEWANIS are very inspirational and are developing their own cottage industries and conservation initiatives like the mangrove replanting.  Ecoteer through their Terengganu Turtle Expedition are supporting PEWANIS.  As an expedition volunteer you will not only get to meet and dine with the ladies but also join in a mangrove tree replanting session and help them make Kerepek Pisang (Banana chips) which they are famed.

All in all the conference was very interesting and a great success.  We hope this is not the last Terengganu Eco and Marine tourism Conference but the first of many.

Well done to the organisers.

Agro-ecological farm in Costa Rica

Our agroecological farm is located in San Isidro de El General, Costa Rica, near Dominical Beach. We are an Environmental and Conservation Project, or “School Farm,” with education as our top priority. At our farm, students, volunteers, and visitors can participate, learn and help.

We receive volunteers, students, and environmental interns locally and from abroad. Primarily we work with volunteer group organizations that are interested in environmental education, however all are welcome at our farm, from individuals up to large groups.

We are very interested in welcoming volunteers from your school, organization, or program and would encourage you to visit our Ecoteer page, volunteer farm Costa Rica for more information. There you will find a detailed description of our grass roots campaign and a summary of the numerous projects we are currently working on. Please feel free to share our mission and information with your friends, family, and co-workers to help us continue our environmental education. In addition to working at our farm, we also encourage our guests to visit the local sites including Dominical and Uvita Beach and Hot Springs and we are more than happy to organize guided tours.

We offer ideal opportunities for graduate students and researchers to extend knowledge, pursue specific interests, find field work or extend opportunities for thesis material. Undergraduate students who wish to pursue a career in conservation often need volunteer work and hands-on experience as a prerequisite. This experience is an excellent way to verify an interest in a specific field. We provide excellent opportunities for gaining experience and making contacts at the outset of a professional career in conservation. In addition, students with families are always welcome as we began as a family farm.

Our family believes the best way to preserve our Planet Earth is for everyone to become active and lend a helping hand to Mother Nature. We currently have major challenges, including green house gasses and global warming, ever expanding landfills, pesticides in our fruit, vegetables, and meat, and shortages of suitable drinking water to name a few. No matter what town, country or continent you live on, we must all live together under the same sun during the day and the stars and moon at night. If we all recognized the issues and started to change one bad habit at a time it would have an enormous effect on the planet immediately, but we all must work together. So start today and join us in our mission to change our planets course and educate future generations.

Thank you for your time and consideration from the Villalobos family and we look forward to hearing from you.

Responsible Travel

There are numerous accounts of where tourism has destroyed the original reason why people came to the destination in the first place the opposite of Responsible Tourism. The natural progression for a tourism destination involves one of low impact moving into mass tourism then the demand from tourism destroys the main attraction. Examples include the Pyramids in Egypt which are eroding away due to tourists or the great barrier reef which is dying with a large proportion of the blame being laid at the feet of the tourists themselves.

So what is Responsible Tourism???

Responsible tourism is tourism that strives to minimize its impact on the environment, to respect local people and cultures, to offer economic benefit to local businesses and communities, and to provide a memorable experience for travellers and protects destinations for future generations. Using small-scale lodging, local transportation, supporting locally-owned businesses, and incorporating community-based ecotourism projects into tours are some ways travel can work towards sustainability.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) provides a conceptual guide for the sustainable development of all tourism:

Responsible tourism development guidelines and management practices are applicable to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various niche tourism segments. Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability.

The UNWTO provides further guidelines at unwto.org.

Ecoteer Responsible Travel endorses the Global Responsible Tourism Criteria, an international initiative to create a common understanding of responsible tourism. Four main themes drive the criteria: effective sustainability planning; maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community; enhancing cultural heritage; and reducing negative impacts to the environment. To learn more or download the criteria go to the Global Responsible Tourism Criteria website.

How is Ecoteer Responsible Travel practising Responsible tourism?

The Global Responsible Tourism criteria can be segmented into fours easy to answer questions. All Ecoteer Responsible Travel packages must adequately answer the following questions:-

1. Does the project have a clear aim?

Without a clear and concise aim a project will not be focused and ultimately fail to fulfill its intended purpose therefore making efforts by the project largely obsolete;

2. Does the package have a low tourist impact?

Small tourist numbers ensures minimized negative social and environmental impacts. The small group sizes ensures greater involvement and connection time per tourists with the local community and/or environment maximizing enjoyable, meaningful holiday experiences;

3. Does the tour package contribute to the local community?

With each tour locally owned accommodation and restaurants will be sought and a stated proportion of your fee will go towards the local economy ensuring your dollar goes to the hands of the people and animals who need it most;

4. Is there an element of environmental and/or cultural conservation?

On each tour you will be introduced, and where possible, asked to embrace the local culture of the people you visit, building an understanding and respect between the tourist and the host community. On many of the tours, particularly the voluntours, you will actively partake in social or environmental projects helping to conserve the culture and environment which ultimately are often the purpose of your travel in first place.

It is important to know that the projects associated with Ecoteer Responsible Travel are run 100% independently and Ecoteer Responsible Travel are providing them with the opportunity to be able to achieve their aim more efficiently.

Go Rubbish free for a year

Check this video out. It has inspired me to reduce my waste!

Day 9 – Setiu River mouth to Bukit Kelung

Sea turtles are “ambassadors of the oceans”, for conserving these animals means protecting the seas and coastal areas. The collection of nesting numbers is vital for their conservation but has never been conducted statewide in Terengganu therefore the walk will provide invaluable data which the decision makers wouldnt otherwise have. The Walk for Turtles event is a 10 day walk which will start, annually, on World Sea Turtle Day (16th June), in 2010 from Dungun to Kuala Besut, visiting every beach along the way (mainland and islands). The team will be collecting invaluable sea turtle data during the walk, visit conservation projects and give awareness talks. The data will be used to identify potential new areas for sea turtle nest conservation in Terengganu. The walk will be further extended in 2011 to cover all beaches in the State of Terengganu resulting in a thorough annual monitoring of sea turtle nesting densities. Raising awareness is the second objective of the walk with the team hosting presentations, meeting turtle conservation experts and visiting conservation projects. The event will be broadcast via the worldwide web, television and newspapers raising awareness throughout the world. The third objective of the walk is to raise RM100,000 for sea turtle conservation projects throughout Terengganu. The funds will be used to support sea turtle conservation in Terengganu, Malaysia.

To find out more walk for turtles

Day 8 – Kg Mangkok

Walking to Kg Mangkok

Surveying terrapins with the Turtle Conservation Centre

Visit to the Turtle Conservation Centre House

Lunch with PEWANIS

Sea turtles are “ambassadors of the oceans”, for conserving these animals means protecting the seas and coastal areas. The collection of nesting numbers is vital for their conservation but has never been conducted statewide in Terengganu therefore the walk will provide invaluable data which the decision makers wouldnt otherwise have. The Walk for Turtles event is a 10 day walk which will start, annually, on World Sea Turtle Day (16th June), in 2010 from Dungun to Kuala Besut, visiting every beach along the way (mainland and islands). The team will be collecting invaluable sea turtle data during the walk, visit conservation projects and give awareness talks. The data will be used to identify potential new areas for sea turtle nest conservation in Terengganu. The walk will be further extended in 2011 to cover all beaches in the State of Terengganu resulting in a thorough annual monitoring of sea turtle nesting densities. Raising awareness is the second objective of the walk with the team hosting presentations, meeting turtle conservation experts and visiting conservation projects. The event will be broadcast via the worldwide web, television and newspapers raising awareness throughout the world. The third objective of the walk is to raise RM100,000 for sea turtle conservation projects throughout Terengganu. The funds will be used to support sea turtle conservation in Terengganu, Malaysia.

To find out more walk for turtles