7 Ways to Live Your Best Life While Saving the World

See the world, visit remote places, and make an impact. What’s not to love?

While I originally wrote this as a sample writing piece, I thought posting it might help spark some vacation goals.

While you’re busy dreaming about foreign countries or brushing up on world lit, you might lose track of the fact that you can make your vacation globally impactful. Here are a few ecotourism opportunities that can take your trip to the next level while you help save the world:

Make friends with elephants while you maintain their habitat.

Photos courtesy of Kindred Spirit’s website.

Elephants often suffer from the tourism trade. Training them for the ever-popular elephant rides is often injurious and inhumane.

Instead, you could help rehabilitate elephants and help communities move away from their reliance on the more abusive parts of the elephant trade. Check out Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary. Located in otherworldly mountain forests outside Chiang Mai, Thailand, visitors can learn about elephant social behavior, support their habitat and rehabilitation, and give local elephant trainers a new, self-reliant source of income.

Find Nemo and give him a healthy home.

Photo courtesy of CoralVita’s website.

We’ve all heard how climate change is impacting coral reefs. You can do something about it.

Visit the Seychelles, some the most crystal blue water and white sand you’ll ever see, and help restore coral reefs while you’re snorkeling. Outfits like CoralVita give guests the opportunity to plant coral alongside scientists and conservationists. Enjoy drinks after a hard day spent swimming in paradise.
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Get your diving certification for the good of the planet.

Photo courtesy of the GV Visa website for tour.

If you’re already a diver, skip the Seychelles adventure for Fiji, where you can catalog endangered and new species while you stay on a research base on the remote and lovely Caqalai Island. Travel to traditional Fijian villages to interact with the Fiji that others are missing.

Live your renaissance festival dreams in a remote French Village.

Photo courtesy of the La Sabranenque website.

​If you’ve ever dreamed of escaping into your favorite Skyrim city, now you can. Stay in La Sabranenque where you can learn to collect herbs and to cook using traditional techniques or help restore the village using renaissance-era methods.

Visit hundreds of happy dogs in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Photo courtesy of Territorio de Zaguates website.

Costa Rica is a country of unparalleled beauty filled with rainforests, white sand beaches, and incredible food. If that’s not enough, it’s also home to the Territorio de Zaguates, aka the Land of the Strays. This no-kill, volunteer-run, free-range sanctuary houses over 1300 dogs. Book the happiest walk of your entire life or take home your next best friend (but only if they pick you first).

Check out a video of a happy hike in the Territorio de Zaguates here. Look at all those happy tails!

Take a long-term stay in a beautiful forest that you help create.

Photo courtesy of the Sadhana Forest website.

A stay at Sadhana Forest means great people, incredible home-cooked vegan meals, and, of course, a commitment to reforestation. Their program emphasizes not only their commitment to the environment, but also the personal health and wellbeing of their participants –including workshops, avoiding waste, and personal dedication to purity.

As I mentioned, this is a long-term stay option, so if you’re looking for a larger commitment, this is a great choice.

Join the biggest party on earth.

Photo courtesy of Sérgio (Savaman) Savarese — Flickr, CC BY 2.0. More info on the volunteer effort here.

Non-stop music, food, and the largest parade in the world await you in Rio de Janiero’s Carnaval celebration. Volunteer to build floats or construct costumes for local samba schools in one of earth’s most vibrant cities during its biggest event of the year. While stage and costuming people will likely be drawn to this particular opportunity, organizers say no experience is necessary.

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A final note: all these amazing organizations truly run on donations. If you can’t make the trip, still consider donating to these valuable efforts.