Professional Certification in Sustainable Tourism

I am excited to announce that I earned the GSTC Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism! The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is the international organization established by the UN to research and create the global standard for “sustainability”. It was a humbling experience to be a student in the GSTC Sustainable Tourism Training Program this Fall, alongside some incredible people doing exciting work around the world.

We dived into the social and economic impacts of travel on people who live in the places we travel to, the science of environmental conservation, the strategies of cultural preservation, and the business frameworks of management in these areas.

With my careers in journalism and in teaching at the university as a solid foundation, I am working with organizations involved in areas of travel, health, and environmental conservation. With a growing desire to be involved with civil rights, Indigenous culture, historic preservation, and a downright demanding need to go exploring and learning in the world, I have begun a project which is at the early stages of its journey, TheLostCompass.ca. The Lost Compass works with tour organizations and educators to connect travellers with exciting ways of travelling for good! As well as being a creative hub for writing, photography, art & storytelling. Discovering the GSTC has helped shape that direction, so thank you to Travel Massive for pointing me their way.

It was an honour to connect to fellow students in the course Annika Gustafsson, Manisha Soti, Fred Lizée, Chris Doyle, Joe Diaz, Karma Tshering, and course teachers and guest lecturers Ayako Ezaki, Antje Martins, Randy Durband, Jeremy Smith, Justine Dillon, and Leonie Bowles. Thank you! For me this isn’t just about tourism. Travel is the incredible vehicle thru which I can explore passions I’ve had for a long time: wildlife, human rights, history, photography, education and exploring!