Explore Without Impact

My name is Ashley Hartzler, I am the owner and sole founder of Ecotravel Adventures. This company is a decades in the making culmination of experiences, passions, and dreams rolled into a nature-first ecotourism company. The only way to truly describe our mission, values, motivations, purpose, passion and dreams for this company is to describe the journey that led to the company's creation… but first I'd like to share how your donation to Ecotravel Adventures will benefit the future of our natural world on a global scale!

We plan to use the capital from the 'Explore Without Impact' Fundraiser to further expand our global reach and support ecotourism industry growth. The money would support site-scouting research to locations with underdeveloped conservation practices with the goal of launching tours for our clients in these areas. By establishing ecotourism in areas lacking in green initiatives we filter project funding into the area’s economy through the use of local eco-partners, participation in carbon-neutral activities, and inclusion of sustainability volunteer projects on each trip. This extended reach would directly impact the success of our eco-partners across the globe due to our standing sales-based donation agreements.

In short, financial support acts as a nest egg that would be compounded exponentially year-over-year to 1) assist sustainability-deficient areas by funding local companies and projects, 2) provide our clients with diversified volunteer experiences through new location offers, 3) support our conservation partners through increased sales-based donations, 4) extend our knowledge-sharing ability through green-company marketing, and 5) demonstrate the importance of ecotourism through positive action and leading by example.

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A bit about the Founder:

As a small child I was fortunate to travel extensively with my family and experience the many wonders of natural spaces, wildlife habitats, culinary varieties, and cultural diversity. I quickly developed a love for adventure, recognizing in my teenage years the impact of global connectivity and the ability of travel to offer knowledge of things otherwise unknown to me. I saw the potential of that knowledge to break down barriers, decrease fear, and encourage cooperation. But I also recognized that trash often littered the waterways, travelers commuted mainly in cars, busses, airplanes, and trains, cities were growing upon each return visit to a favorite location, and the animals I saw the most were now domestic dogs and cats – the natural beauty I had known as a small child was diminishing with each trip I took. I developed a strong interest in conservation and sustainability, searching for others who saw what I saw. I threw myself into volunteering on any trip I went on, working on farms for board to help decrease the negative effects of monocropping, participating in underwater clean-up when going scuba diving, raking campsites for leftover litter from uninformed visitors. The protection of the places I visited became equally important to me as visiting them at all. Conservation became my adventure.

I nurtured the effects and outcomes of my travel experiences, compounding on them while backpacking in college, carrying them through adulthood to careers in animal rights and maritime law, leaning on them during social struggles and emotional instability, arriving finally on the precipice of creation.

The joy and perspective that travelling volunteer work has given me is the greatest gift I could have ever received from the world – it is a lifeline that has built the foundation for my purpose in life. It has allowed me to grow both emotionally and spiritually and now, after many paths followed, endless conservation hours, 50 extra passport pages, extensive research and perseverance, and the undying support from the many friends I’ve made along the way, I have been able to create a living, breathing entity that improves upon both the existence of our natural world and the lives we lead within it.

Looking back on 25 years of nature, culture, and conservation I know how lucky I am to have had and to continue to have these experiences – forever teaching me to live purely, appreciate the moments, embrace differences, desire variety and cherish all inhabits of our Earth.

Ecotravel Adventures is my heart and soul recognized in giving back. It exists not only to build amazing tours and life-changing trips for our clients, but to promote the endless benefits of travel while encouraging and even insisting on a dedication to sustainable tourism. I hope to one day lead our industry in carbon-POSTIVE travel, and to champion those who strive to leave the beautiful locations we visit better, greener, and wilder than they were before we arrived.

Thank you for your consideration,

Ashley B. Hartzler