University of Wisconsin-River Falls
ER-12: Sustainability Immersive Experience

The Costa Rica Study Tour is built around the theme of Sustainability and Eco-Tourism. Costa Rica is the premier international model of a country focused on the preservation of natural resources for the sake of environmentally-based tourism, both for the study and intimate experience of tropical biodiversity, but also adventure recreation. This study tour is a broad mix of activities and travels. Students experience everything from snorkeling and diving on both the Caribbean and Pacific, as well as zipping along cables in the canopy of tropical forests, to white water rafting, to hiking in preserves and national parks, to horseback riding, to coffee and banana plantation tours, to world-class birding, butterfly, and hummingbird sites, to shopping in traditional arts and crafts markets, to visits with traditional families and indigenous representatives, and one-day excursions. The Spring Break Study Adventure - Rainforest and Reef: The Conservation of Cultural and Biological Diversity program in Belize immerses students in astonishing biological and cultural diversity. The study adventure is based at a jungle lodge for six days, venturing out to climb classic Mayan temples, float rivers, explore caves, hike jungle trails, and observe tropical wildife unparalleled in the northern hemisphere. All activities are led by experienced guides, educators, or researchers who teach students about Belize history, geology, flora and fauna, cultural traditions, and the remarkable conservation-first posture that guies Belize's approach to sustainable development. The goal of the study adventure is to increase each student's appreciation of the importance of the conservation of diversity. In Belize, conservation pays. It is by the very protection of Belize's natural treasures that the government, private sector, and public together strive to achieve a balance between the needs of people and the needs of the ecosystem. Belize does not trade off one for the other. Each visitor to Belize is a witness to the speical bond being created aomng all of nature's beings. The China Exploration & Research Program Trip occurs bi-annually in the summer. The trip is a unique program that combines touring China, including access to areas not usually open to tourists, and the ability to work collaboratively with a UWRF team and students from other countries on projects with the China Research and Exploration Society. The program is an interdisciplinary opportunity to get rare international experience working in the field working on service projects in minority villages on the Tibetan Plateau near Tibet, to conserve the culture and the environment.

http://www.uwrf.edu/GlobalConnections/BelizeProgramInfo.cfm http://www.uwrf.edu/GlobalConnections/YunnanProvinceChina.cfm