Volunteer to Save the Planet: How Ecology Project International is Transforming How Conservation is Done

More than ever, people are choosing to spend their vacation doing good - building homes, disaster relief, and environmental restoration. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 22, 2010 - Conservation education non-profit Ecology Project International (EPI) is taking that volunteer-vacation model one step further - giving youth real-world skills that will advance their education and careers.

Youth learn to travel sustainably and leave a place better than they found it. By working alongside professional scientists and contributing to their research projects, youth directly impact conservation and learn that they can make a difference in the world. Additionally, students also do habitat restoration and spend time immersed in the local culture, interacting with local peers. This experience often inspires students to pursue a career in conservation.

Sara Kerosky participated in EPI's Costa Rica Program in the early years of the program, in 2002. Kerosky now works for Scripps Institution of Oceanography, studying whale acoustics, after having studied abroad in Chile, researching cases of environmental and social conflict resulting from economic modernization.

"I fully credit my experience with EPI for kick starting my path here," says Kerosky.

To her surprise, during a visit to Southern Baja California in Mexico on a business trip to help deploy a whale acoustic instrument, Sara met researchers who work with EPI students in Mexico.

EPI has grown rapidly since its humble beginnings in 2000. Starting with a program in Costa Rica protecting critically endangered sea turtles, EPI students can now also go to the Galapagos Islands to restore habitat and help rehabilitate the giant land tortoise; explore Montana, studying the great predators of the Northwest; scuba in Mexico, studying marine life and whales; and of course, protect leatherback sea turtles and learn about rainforest ecology in Costa Rica.

This year, EPI is celebrating its 10 year anniversary as an organization, and is receiving significant notoriety for its work and the transformative results achieved. Executive Director, Scott Pankratz, recently received the 2010 Blanche Hornbeck Award for Excellence in Nature Education, and last week, EPI was featured in USA Today Weekend for its Yellowstone Wildlife Ecology Program in Montana.

Despite its rapid growth, EPI's goal remains consistent - to empower the future generation of conservation leaders. Students like Kerosky, and many more, prove that youth have the power to make a difference.

In the words of Scott Pankratz, "We just want to change the world."

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