BECOMING A VOLUNTEER

BECOMING A VOLUNTEER

The Cousteau Society will focus on working with local community groups and schools with help from teams of international volunteers to reform the Poike Peninsula, recognized as one of the most eroded and degraded areas of the island. Along with the planting of 1,400,000 trees, The Cousteau Society has prepared an environmental education program for children and a training program for adults so they learn how to best care for their land. Volunteering for the Cousteau Society program in Rapa Nui will allow them to demonstrate that what they can do “for the small island in the middle of the big Ocean,” we can do for “the little planet Earth in the middle of the big Universe.”

Restoring Easter Island and saving the coral from sure death by planting 1,400,000 trees to stem the tide of erosion is happening right now with the Cousteau Society. Environmental volunteers conduct a range of activities including environmental monitoring ecological restoration such as re-vegetation and educating others about the natural environment located off the coast of Chile. There are numerous opportunities to get involved in places all over the world. It’s possible to participate in community based projects, improving footpaths, open spaces, and local amenities for the benefit of the local community and visitors. The uptake of environmental volunteering stems in part from the benefits for the volunteers themselves, such as improving social networks and developing a sense of place. Like other types of volunteering, environmental volunteers are motivated by a range of different factors, some of which are altruistic and others are for personal interest and development.