The Pastoruri glacier is located in the Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes at 5,000 meters above sea level. In recent decades, approximately 30-40% of Andean glaciers have melted, and only few tropical glaciers in South America, such as Pastoruri, remain. In the last 20 years, the size of the Pastoruri glacier has shrunk in half due to rising temperatures. In fact, it is no longer…
It’s estimated that in 1900 there were 100,000 elephants roaming Thailand, while today there are only 4,000 (half domestic, half in the wild). Elephants in Thailand traditionally worked in the logging industry until it was banned in 1989, and now work in the tourism industry. In trekking camps catered to tourists, the elephants work 10-14 hours per day without being given substantial meals, which…
Since the economy was destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia, one of the least developed countries in Southeast Asia, has had difficulty improving infrastructure. Although water is abundant, access to clean drinking water is one of these hardships. Tap water is not potable, and groundwater is frequently contaminated with arsenic. More than 40% of the rural population uses unimproved…
Taken in and around Cambodia’s capital at the market, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (and former prison during the Khmer Rouge regime), and the Killing Fields. From 1975-1979, Cambodia’s communist party, the Khmer Rouge, overtook the nation in attempt to reconstruct it as an agrarian, classless, and communal society. The educated and business classes were eliminated, and the economy was…
Chambok is community of 9 small, rural villages inside of Kirirom National Park, Cambodia. Chambok strives on a community-based ecotourism project that is managed by the local villagers, and aims to provide an alternative source of income by immersing tourists in Cambodian culture by showing them their way of life. The sustainable income, which is kept within the ecotourism community, helps…
Taken throughout Yunnan province (China) in Shangri La, Meile, and Tiger Leaping Gorge.
I am currently volunteering in northern Peru for my gap year, and one of the incredible projects I’m involved in is the Milagro School, which is part of the Malayeka Charity Empowerment Center.
It offers after school programs for children from 3-15 years old on subjects such as environmental awareness, cultural awareness, English, and arts and crafts. The school also provides a safe space for…
Meile is a small town of only one dirt road and one hundred people located in Yunnan, China. A region of extreme poverty, the people of Meile live on about one dollar per day.
The elementary school located in Meile is the only one in the surrounding 5+ kilometers. Every Sunday, kids as young as 4 years old walk up to 3 hours to the school, where they live in the same set of clothes through Friday.…
Beijing: The Forbidden City, Wan Fu Jing street food, Hou Hai, Tiananmen Square, 798 art district performance, and the Temple of Heaven. September, 2015- the beginning of 3 months travelling through Asia.
