JetBlue’s Sustainable Tourism Grant Seeks to Change the Tide of Climate Change in the Caribbean
Originally published on CSRwire Talkback
For all the good-natured and well-meaning conversations about sustainable travel, there is often a fundamental problem. Sustainable travel conversations happen at conventions, think-tanks and events in exclusive locations, command high-fees, and are just plain hard to get to. That means that the people most affected by (the lack of) sustainable tourism, aren’t at the table. Sure, there are NGOs and groups that represent them. But is that truly enough?
For this very reason, JetBlue created an annual Sustainable Tourism Grant that allows students from the Caribbean to be part of the conversation. To launch the grant, this year JetBlue partnered with the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) to bring two students into the conversation for a think-tank hosted by CREST. Although we knew free flights, beachside resort stays and conference passes wouldn’t be a hard sell, l we were blown away with the response. Seventy seven students - Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's & PhD students – applied, representing 41 universities and 17 countries.
