The Global Basecamps Blog

For those of you who sometimes get a feeling that you should be contributing more to charity, giving back to the community, or supporting non-profits but tend to justify the lack of involvement with the age-old age old excuse of what can just one person do, you may be inspired by this small non-profit from San Diego, California.

The Sidelines Club is an organization founded by a former baseball player and enthusiast who volunteers his expertise for helping local underprivileged athletes. Members of the organization help aspiring students to achieve their dreams by providing scholarships, equipment, and free sporting clinics. The organization is very small in size, but that does not stop them from reaching out beyond Southern California to Mexico and even as far as Haiti. For several years now, Sidelines Club has been sending delegations of volunteers to countries where help is most needed.

We are excited to announce the relaunch of our website with brand new features to make booking the world's best hotels, ecolodges, and sustainable adventures easier than ever! When redesigning our site our top priorities were making our sustainable travel and ecotourism resources more accessible, while also simplifying travel planning on even the most complicated of itineraries.

Here is a little round-up of our website's coolest new and redesigned features:

Machu Picchu hardly needs an introduction – the ancient Inca city is one of the most popular destinations in South America, and while the trail leading to the spectacular "Lost City of the Incas" is strenuous, even the most inexperienced hiker can do it. As the area is one of the most treasured and unique archeological sites in the world, permits to the Inca Trail that ascends to Machu Picchu are limited to ensure the conservation of the habitat and the ruins.

Yet not all tour operators organizing Inca Trail treks are equally committed to preserving the environment and ensuring that local communities and economy are allowed to prosper from tourism.

Celebrity charity efforts can be easy to disregard merely as publicity stunts, but you have to give credit for Kenna, Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch for their latest effort to raise awareness for clean water in Africa. On tuesday, the group of musicians and actors, accompanied by a team of scientists and activists (including Alexandra Cousteau, Jacques Cousteau's granddaughter) reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro after a 6-day hike and 19,340-foot elevation gain. While climbing Kili, Africa's highest peak and one of Tanzania's main travel destinations is not considered an experts-only trek with an approximate success rate of 75%, it most certainly is a challenging one. The celebrity group reached the Kilimanjaro peak without serious complications, but encountered harsh weather conditions such as rain, snow, strong winds and even hail.

While we’re busy forgetting our new year’s resolutions and recovering from a string of holidays when travel is too often limited to visiting the folks and local destinations, we should be getting ready to plan another year’s worth of sustainable travel adventures. Floating on a riverboat in Vietnam’s Cai Be, huddling around a wood-burning stove in the exotic but cozy White Pod Camp in the Swiss Alps, and hiking through the mesmerizing Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, Chile were among the highlights for 2009, but green travel destinations abound, and the most breathtaking views, elegant boutique hotels, and overpowering wildlife adventures are yet to be discovered in the new decade.