#myGLA - Part 5

November 25, 2015 by Brett Scuiletti

GLA & The President’s Volunteer Service Award

Global Leadership Adventures has partnered with the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for years to deliver the President’s Volunteer Service Award to dedicated student volunteers.

The award is issued by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. This council was originally convened by President George W. Bush, and has continued under the administration of President Barack Obama. It is designed to help foster and encourage a culture of volunteer service and civic participation among Americans.

As a Certifying Organization for the award, Global Leadership Adventures takes on the responsibility for verifying service hours, nominating potential recipients and delivering the award.

Each of our programs offers a set number of service hours that you can apply towards the PVSA. Check out each of our destinations to see how many service hours you’ll obtain.

As the organization explains, “Presidential recognition sets you apart from your peers. It is a tremendous honor. Even though you may not seek recognition, your example can deliver a powerful message that encourages others to take action.”

The PVSA recognizes U.S. citizens and lawfully admitted, permanent residents of the United States who have achieved the mandatory number of hours of service over a one-year period, or as the result of lifetime cumulative hours.

There are bronze, silver, and gold levels of the award, based on the number of hours earned. For those student volunteers who contribute more than 4,000 hours of service in their lifetime, the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award may be given. This is the highest honor provided by the PVSA.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the award criteria here. You can also visit Global Leadership Adventures for more information on our Certifying Organization status.

November 22, 2015 by The Young Leader

Why Preserve Our Forests, Oceans and Islands

All of our amazing new technology and machinery has become so distracting that we forget to think about our environmental impact. Most of us don’t stop to think about how our habits and actions effect the environment on a daily basis. But, why should we? We have professionals whose jobs are to monitor the earth and tell us what we’re messing up and how to fix it. So, in case you too need more motivation, here are three habitats that are diminishing due to a lack of environmental caution and why it is crucial to preserve them.

1. Forests

Forests and wildlife make up for just under half of the oxygen produced across the planet. What most of you didn’t know however is that forests provide the key to sustaining rivers and ecosystems that allow water to travel freely from place to place. With out forests, land begins to dry up as there are no roots to lock moisture into the ground. This causes land to dry up and die which leaves the land to barren of nutrients for plant life to grow. By planting new forests and allowing for life to flourish, you can strengthen climates to a state of intense growth allowing for higher oxygen production and Carbon filtering. Forests allow for massive amounts of naturally and unnaturally produced carbons to be filtered at massive levels.

2. Ocean

You may be thinking that the ocean obviously needs to be protected, but what you probably aren’t thinking is that the Ocean is the biggest factor in keeping surrounding climates from changing. The ocean acts as the worlds largest carbon dioxide filter which means that the ocean is constantly preventing global warming while at the same time producing over half of the oxygen that we breath. As new technologies develop allowing research to be conducted at greater depths, scientists are finding that the ocean may hold the most promising source of new medicines to fight cancer, pain and bacterial disease. This being that we know the sea to contain a number of undiscovered plants and animals with completely different chemical make ups than those on land.

3. Islands

We all know that islands offer some of the most beautiful landscapes and habitats for us to spend our time, but there are more important reasons to preserving these natural undersea mountains. First, some islands known as Barrier Islands actually act as a natural current diffuser that can help lessen the blow or completely crush the power behind a tsunami or other large scale waves. Isolated islands also allow for unique species to grow and evolve due to a lack of predatory life. Islands also serve as popular hot spots for fishing and fish habitats as they are usually surrounded by large reef systems allowing for massive communities of fish to form. These large gatherings of fish also attract whales who use the large floating masses as landmarks while traveling.

Contributed by Josh Schwartz