Mar

Mexico in March—Monarch Butterflies Take Wing

by Sheron Long on March 24, 2015

Students photographing monarch butterflies at their winter home in central Mexico, illustrating the impact that global citizens can have against the threats to the monarch butterfly. (Image © Carol Starr)

Documentary filmmakers meet a golden subject in the central highlands of Mexico.
© Carol Starr

Global Citizens Fly High, Too

Any day now, the eastern monarchs will leave their winter home in the Sierra Madre mountains of central Mexico and begin their epic journey across the US to Canada. Theirs is a know-no-boundaries flight pattern.

These pollinators are crucial to a continued food supply. Yet, like the honeybees, their numbers are dwindling: the 2014–15 estimate is about 56.5 million, a fraction of the 1 billion monarch butterflies that wintered in Mexico in 1996–97.

Who can help these fragile long-distance travelers? Global citizens, who work for monarch conservation with a know-no-boundaries fight pattern. Read more...

Sheron Long Comments

Cultural Symbols/Mexico/Nature Discovery

Mar

Countless Connections in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest

by Eva Boynton on March 2, 2015

Two ants on the edge of a tropical leaf, illustrating one discovery on an experience in the Amazon rainforest that proves why study abroad is important. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Each species, big or small, has a part to play.
© Eva Boynton

Why Study Abroad Sticks Like Glue

My t-shirt was soaked in sweat from heat and humidity. Diverse shades of green were my landscape and horizon. Howling monkeys and buzzing cicada bugs echoed in the distance.

The Amazon rainforest was unlike any classroom I had ever known. What was once a distant place, the subject of textbooks, now came to life in accentuated brightness and flavor.

It became my home for a winter semester. And, as it changed the way I understood our interdependent and connected world, it answered the question, “Why study abroad?” Read more...

Eva Boynton 2 Comments

Nature Discovery/Peru/Study Abroad

Jan

Found in Costa Rica: Best New Year’s Resolution

by Sheron Long on January 8, 2015

Pristine Costa Rica beach with no footprints, illustrating the idea of a clean slate ready for a New Year's resolution. (Image © Robert Long)

Unburied on a Costa Rica Beach Walk

Travel busts up routines and sends you off in new directions. Travel over the New Year does even more: it inspires you to set a new direction back home.

My New Year’s trip took me to Costa Rica—a democratic country with no standing army, a 79.9-year life expectancy (higher than the US), and an environmental record unsurpassed in the hemisphere.

Map of Costa Rica, showing its extensive coastlines and beaches. (Image © Peter Hermes Furian/iStock)

Costa Rica, smaller in size than West Virginia, has 933 miles of coastline and beautiful beaches for finding insights to treasure.
© Peter Hermes Furian/iStock

And there’s more—Costa Rica has a free and mandatory education system with a literacy rate over 96%. I was sure to learn something!

I did. All the adventures of the week came together in the world’s best New Year’s resolution. It occurred at the end of the trip as I walked down an isolated, untouched Costa Rica beach on New Year’s Day. Read more...

Sheron Long 5 Comments

Costa Rica/Nature Discovery/Secrets to Life

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