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By
Julia Scott
Sea
Stuff
Lifeworks takes 14-19 year-old volunteers on four well-established programs
to the British Virgin Islands, Australia, Galapagos and Thailand that
look more like vacations than service adventures. Students work five
days a week: with Australia's Tiwi aboriginal community, living at a
campsite; restoring mangrove systems in the British Virgin Islands,
living aboard a sailing yacht, with plenty of chances for snorkeling
and wilderness exploration. Volunteers also work in coordination with
local chapters of the Red Cross and marine research stations.
Most
programs are 21 days; cost is about $3,500.
www.lifeworks-international.com
Great
Grunt Work
Landmark Volunteers is like the Marine Corps of American volunteeringÑbut
for high schoolers. Volunteers live and work together doing grounds
beautification (house painting, clearing trails, fence building) for
two weeks with one day off. While the Landmark site reminds visitors
that it's "not a camp," some of the work locations look pretty cool—like
creating a new trail for Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts (and
attending their shows), landscaping a real elk refuge in Wyoming, and
restoring old buildings on Staten Island. Registration is $875; some
scholarship money is available. Plus, you can earn community service
credits. www.volunteers.com
Earth
Friendly
Motivated, self-reliant teens and college grads who think they'd like
to work on an organic farm should check out the Organic Volunteers site.
This is where organic farmers from all over the country go to post information
about their farms and the workers they need. In addition to the more
typical fruit-and-vegetable places, some farms are also serve as spiritual
centers, grow exotic fruits, or raise free-range fowl. You'll probably
work full time and live at the farm. Depending on what you choose, you
could also earn a stipend.
You
can search by state, by farm specialty (dairy, orchard, permaculture),
or by category of work (internship, apprenticeship, etc.) Click on the
WWOOF link (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) for the most
complete general database. Feel free to write to the farms with questions
and see what they say, especially about age limits. www.organicvolunteers.com
The
Outdoors Life
Not up a month-long trip? How about a five-day work week with Wilderness
Volunteers? It's a group that collaborates with public land agencies
like the US Fish & Wildlife Service to do trail maintenance, wilderness
beach clean-up and fence construction. Projects are ongoing as weather
permits, so at any given time, you could be removing Tansy Ragwort plants
in Washington State's gorgeous San Juan Island National Park, canoeing
around wilderness lakes in Minnesota, or doing beach clean-up in Hawaii
near active lava flows (!).
Trips
are open to students 18 and over, and don't cost more than $220, excluding
transportation fees. They're listed according to level of challenge,
so you can decide how hardcore you want to be. www.wildernessvolunteers.org
Water
Work
If you like marine science but don't want to sit behind a desk all summer,
check out SeaCamp. It's a summer program based in the Florida Keys,
near the only living coral reef in the country. Needless to say, you'll
be spending a lot of time in and on the water, studying all the mysteries
in its depths. 12 to17 year-old campers scuba dive and snorkel for specimens
to bring back to the laboratory. Get certified in sailing and windsurfing,
and take photography and art courses. Join one of three 18-day sessions
over the course of the summer, from June 24 through August 20. It's
$2,750 a session and an extra $300 or so if you'd like to scuba dive.
Scholarships are available. www.seacamp.org
More Links, More Action
Looking for more eco adventures? Check these sites out too:
www.ecotravel.com
An online magazine with an EcoDirectory with an impressive list of travel
'operators' by region. |
