◊ 2007 Winner

DTRW Fellowship 2007 Runners-Up:

Stephen Douglas Alexander: Rainforest Revival

While most of his classmates recently finished their degrees and walked across the proverbial university stage in cap and gown, Stephen spent his final semester of university life abroad in Australia. In additional to the semester spent Down Under, Stephen has studied at Oxford University in England, spent a semester in Spain and participated in a Southeast Asia Study Tour venturing through Malaysia, Thailand, Tibet and China.

Now that his final semester in Australia is complete, he is embarking on a six month journey through South and Central America beginning with a research fellowship comparing international volunteer organizations to local grassroot organizations, specifically with regard to how they use ecotourism as a vehicle towards sustainable development. This research will largely take place in Ecuador and ideally come full circle when Stephen returns to a small village in the depths of a Costa Rican rainforest.

In the summer of 2006, Stephen volunteered more than three months of his time and energy in this rainforest helping the tiny community, El Sur de Turrubares. This was done in an effort to assist the locals with establishing a biologically friendly, small scale ecotourism industry that would eventually become sustainable enough to support the sixty-one villagers that live in the midst of the Parque Nacional Carara.

His plan is to continue work with the local grassroots organization (EcoSur) that has been established there in an effort to better develop the ecotourism project that is underway. In the short three months that was spent there, the locals became like a second family to Stephen, and it is in his greatest interest to see that they succeed in their aspirations of becoming a sustainable, locally operated organization.

While he understands that university graduation brings the pressure of entering the real world, this adventurous soul has done his best to delay the nine to five grind and will not settle for a job that compromises his enjoyment of life. He would like to remind everyone in every walk of life that everyday we should do our best to make every journey an adventure!

Mary Pawlak: Vegetable Oil Road Trip

From November 2006 through June 2007 Mary Pawlak took a 6500+ mile road trip around the three coasts of the U.S. in a vegetable oil powered car, stopping to speak to students along the way. Her goal was to raise awareness of alternative fuels and public health concerns surrounding the use of petroleum fuels by visiting classrooms, speaking with locals, and posting her experiences on her website.

Mary’s background is in health and for as long as she can remember, she’s been conscious of the environment and the need to tread more lightly. The idea for this trip originally began with the idea of visiting friends but evolved to be much more. After obtaining a diesel car that had been converted to run on waste vegetable oil, she began to learn more about alternative fuels and cars. Then the realization came that if she were to incorporate these disparate interests into one trip, it would be a real adventure.

Mary and her friend Sacha traveled around the perimeter of the United States starting from Madison, WI, visiting all three coasts in a clockwise loop, ending in San Francisco, CA. They then visited 24 states including Washington, DC, Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA and natural habitats from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to the Mojave desert. They chose to explore the United States because during Mary’s last international trip, she realized what little time she’d spent exploring her own country. The more Mary read about this country, the more she realized how unique each region is, and how much there is to explore.