Earthfoot is a
very different kind of Non Governmental Organization. The organization
of Earthfoot does not actively practice sustainable tourism itself.
Earthfoot provides a service. It is a not-for-profit organization with
the goal of furthering "environmental education and cross-cultural
sensitization." It plans to accomplish this by promoting very small
ecotours for free.
Earthfoot does this by offering a chance for Ecotours to advertise on
their Website, at no cost. The site is a free, public forum where individuals
such as naturalists, guides, historians, and community activists invite
travelers to come visit and participate in small-scale programs that
they have developed themselves. All programs have a focus on areas such
as local plants, animals, or ecology, as well as traditional cultural
aspects. Earthfoot chooses the fit candidates based on the following
criteria:
- The ecotour
offered is low-impact on the environment and is conducted near where
the host lives;
- The host is
an individual, family, or traditional community who can be designated
and profiled on their host biography page;
- The host is
willing to receive at least as few as four visitors at a time, deal
with visitors on a one-on-one basis, and not merely add them to pre-existing
packaged tours.
It is Earthfoot's
hope to be able to promote the proposed programs of thousands of independent
ecotour operators for free. Currently, Earthfoot is not considered non-profit
since they make no money at all. In the future, they hope to gain non-profit
status, so they will be able to invest in the community-based ecotourism.
Tour operators from Samoa, The Solomon Islands, Grenada, Trinidad and
Tobago, the Bahamas, Belize, and Guyana are just a few that have used
space on this site.
Earthfoot is constantly looking for help form anyone that is willing.
Here are some of the things they need help in:
- Locating new
ecotour hosts;
- Informing others
about the Earthfoot Website;
- Sending Earthfoot
your favorite quotes on Earth-friendly travel and living;
- If any dead
links are found on the site;
- Since they are
non-profit, they need help looking for funding, or even will accept
donations.
Information
provided in this section can be attributed to the following:
Earthfoot Website
Jim Conrad,
Director