Earth Day is a day that is commemorated in order to bring about awareness as well as sensitivity among people about the environment. This is a day that has been conceptualized as a symbol of the earth’s commitment to environmental issues by the US Senator Gaylord Nelson, who started off the Earth Day movement back on April 22^nd, 1970. Earth Day is now celebrated by more than 175 countries worldwide, and it falls in the season of spring in the Northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere. This was an event that started off in the US primarily, but its relevance is so widespread that countries around the globe have adopted it as a day to remember the needs of the earth and the need to fight various effects of pollution as well as many of the other deleterious effects of environmental degradation and pollution.

A lot of countries also spend one week as Earth Week, which are dedicated to a number of events as well as lots of initiatives to make this event meaningful and also impactful in terms of things done to bring about lots of improvement in the environment. It is only required that the initiatives be more long reaching to be able to create huge impact on the globe.

Adventure travel destinations in the Western Hemisphere.?

I am looking for somewhere with numerous hiking options, waterfalls, forests, nice beaches, and rich culture. If you have travelled to any such places, which stand out to you as the best?

There are a lot of folks who are taking to hiking in this day and age. This is not surprising given the fact that people need a lot of thrills as well as even chills when they go on outdoor trips. Using special hiking equipment and gear is an important part of the experience that no serious hiker should ever neglect or ignore. For one, it is imperative to use proper hiking boots that can help a lot in terms of protection of feet from various causes of damage as well as injury. These are found easily as hiking has become quite popular. Similarly the use of hiking poles is also very important as it helps it changing the rhythm as you walk and with the use of hiking poles you will be able to keep your balance in places where you can possibly go off kilter.

Hiking apparel is also quite unique, these are well weathered for helping you face various kinds of climatic conditions such that you are well protected from the elements. These also need to be very durable so that there are no hassles or fear of the stuff tearing mid-way. Apart from this you would also need hiking tents as well as backpacks of various kinds.

There are a lot of folks who are taking to adventure travel and this is quite an encouraging as well as welcome phenomenon. After all, adventure travel is also an important sport that needs to be promoted and encouraged around the globe. Adventure travel is growing not only as something that is a sport or passion but also as a business that is expanding by leaps and bounds around the globe. As global prosperity rises, people get time off from the humdrum of work and take time and make the effort to indulge in adventure travel is various kinds. At the same time, the sport avenues and infrastructure is also rapidly expanding which means that people have so much more to choose from. It is no wonder then that people are quite excited by its prospects and many folks have also benefited immensely from this in an economic sense.

Some of the common forms of adventure travel are trekking and hiking, mountain climbing, rafting and bungee jumping or maybe canoeing to name a few.  There are others who prefer less extreme activities like camping or biking which suits them and their families better. In any case adventure travel is on the rise and this is certainly good news.

News from the Everest Base Camp is always interesting and awaited eagerly by people who love adventure news. One of these highlights is that teams have made their way up to the Everest Base Camp and since the teams now have permits as well as visas they can go from Kathmandu and cross the border up to Tingri as well as some other Tibetan villages. These teams will get up to the Everest Base Camp where you have the Altitude Junkies as well as SummitClimb making their way to the Everest Base Camp in the recent past.

Now when the teams get up to the Everest Base Camp they experience what is known as a Puma or a religious ceremony. It is here that a Lama or a priest performs the ceremony where he asks the ’mountain gods’ to protect the climber and also asks the god for permission for the climbers to make their way up to the mountain peak. Forgiveness is also sought for any damage that the mountaineers may inflict on the mountain that is being climbed.  The effects of these Pumas are quite different on different climbers which mean that some people are quite indifferent about these ceremonies, whereas some others do consider these as being important.

Getting up to the Arctic is not a joke. There are so many dangers as well as arduous circumstances that face anyone who wants to get there and come back in one piece. This is one of the main reasons why Christina Franco had to abandon her trip up to the North Pole as part of her North Pole 2010. The fact of the matter is that the region has huge ice fields and also negative drift that can easily take their toll on the adventure travelers who want to get to the North Pole. Christina had to abandon her trip after she spent around three days in the ice, unable to find her way around a water filled area. She was also painfully aware of the fact that time was less and as the drift was negative and quite against her, she had no fair chance of achieving her goals of the North Pole 2010 trip. So she called it a day and has to take a ride on a resupply plane, thus abandoning the trip altogether.

The pilots of the plane that rescued Christina Franco agreed that she was stuck up so bad in that place that there was no way she could have gone any further.

Getting up to Kilimanjaro on the last day of the climb is not so tough. It is the earlier days that pose a lot of problems along the way. The route is easy as you just have to come out of the camp at Mweka and the it goes down quite rapidly and then off the mountain side. This is a very busy route at some times of the year given the fact that it is used very commonly by so many folks as they want to make their way down the mountain. It takes around there to four hours as one makes their way to Mweka Gate. There are some places that are quite steep and the guide does caution you against these as the trails are quite narrow as well as steep at some points.

In the Cloud Forest, the trail can be quite wet and cloudy which means that you need to be careful of slippery rocks as well as trails. As you go down, the trail is seen to get more and wider and it almost becomes like a road. This is quite a simple road and navigable also and you will have no problems descending down this slope.

It has been 40 years after the first Earth Day was kicked off. But things do not seem to have turned much for the better over these 40 years or so. The climate change has become the biggest challenge of our times as global temperatures rise by the year. As the global ice caps melt it is true that the waters of oceans will also rise and make sure that so many low lying areas get inundated. The Earth Day is one of the ways in which we reiterate our commitment to saving the environment and making a different to how we live such that we are more responsible in our actions. The Earth Day 2010 is supposed to be a kind of turning point to bring about change for the better.

There is so much to be done in terms of energy efficiency, sustainable and renewable energy as well as green jobs. So much remains to be done and Earth Day is one way to take the challenge head on and make an appreciable difference. But all of this needs a commitment as well as a need for concerted action. Unless people get serious about this, it would be tough to make a difference on the ground.

Information about AAVE summer camps?

I would like to go to an AAVE camp (probably ultimate hawaii) this summer. Can someone tell me what the AAVE camps are like?
Are they safe, how big is the group, are the teens nice and how are the activities? Tell me everything!

Thank you,
Donna.

Getting to the North Pole in a hot air balloon seems like a wonderful notion. French explorer Jean Louis Etienne, who is also a doctor, has started on his arctic adventure, where he wants to go solo over the North Pole. He started his journey from Spitsbergen in Norway amid good weather and low winds as well as pretty warm temperature. It seems as if the exploration had the blessings of the elements that went along with it. This is something that Jean has been dreaming of, and also preparing for years. He has been to the North Pole earlier, but getting up on a hot air balloon and making a solo trip all the way there is a different ball game altogether. In 1986 he has spend 63 days on ice and he has gone to the North Pole on foot which his sled, alone and in 2002 he had drifted alone in the Arctic Ocean for 4 months taking scientific readings.

There are some people like Jean who specialize in taking the road less taken and who make their mark on the adventure travel circuit. These are the real heroes who are celebrated and all so inimitable in any age.