Birthright inspires freeco-friendly trip

Hundreds of Jewish American teenagers, including several Wesleyan students, participate each winter and spring in the Birthright Israel program. These young men and women are sent through the program, free of charge, to Israel for 10 days in an attempt to familiarize them with the country and foster solidarity among Jewish young adults throughout the world.

Tim Devane ’09 has spent months designing and launching an organization that applies the concept of Birthright Israel to the growing problem of environmental destruction. (Full disclosure: Devane is a Sports Editor for the Argus.)

The result is Birthright Earth, a non-profit organization whose slogan, “See It 2 Save It,” provides a handy summary of its principal mission. Participants will be sent, free of charge, on a 10-day trip to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, or Ecuador. According to Devane, the first projected trip will be a trial run this summer, with a group of 20 participants traveling to one location.

He hopes that on-the-ground contact with exotic, fragile, and endangered ecosystems in South America will inspire participants to pursue a career in the field of environmental conservation, or at least develop a strong interest in the fate of the environment.

“You have to see it to save it or at least care about it enough to do something, so we hope to facilitate this and also educate young people through direct exposure,” Devane said.

Devane began Birthright Earth in collaboration with his father, Richard, who is the director of an eco-tourism company that has two facets: Tropical Nature Travel, which is a for-profit eco-tourism business; and Tropical Nature, the non-profit sector of the organization. Birthright Earth will adopt certain activities and aspects of the itinerary that Tropical Nature has already established and modify them to fit the organization’s purpose.

Throughout the summer, Devane partnered with another Wesleyan student, Eli Bronner ’10, whom Devane now refers to as his “second in command.”

“It originally just started as me being enthusiastic about the cause and wanting to help a good friend out,” Bronner said. “It then turned into a project which I became extremely passionate about.”

Over the summer, Bronner helped Devane plan benefit events to raise money and met with people who they thought might be interested in the organization. They also spoke with the president of Birthright Israel for guidance on their business model.

Devane has not yet solidified the itineraries for the trips, but he plans to travel to Lima, Peru over fall break to work on putting daily activity plans together as well as to actually see Peru for the first time.

“It’s really important that I get down there as soon as possible,” Devane said. “I want to be able to tell people I’ve been there and it’s fantastic.”

Devane is still working on raising money to fund the trips. He estimates that each trip will cost $2,000 per person. So far, the $7,500 raised for the organization has come from fundraising events, which also provided an increased level of public awareness.

“The fundraising events this summer were more for publicity than funding,” Devane said. “Four months ago Birthright Earth was a name that didn’t exist, so it was important to get the name out and get people to remember it.”

Devane hopes that the increasing appeal of a marketable “green” image will inspire businesses to invest in Birthright Earth. He also has tentative plans to hold inventive fundraising events, such as video game competitions on college campuses, and organizing fundraising contests in which universities compete to secure a certain number of spots on a Birthright Earth trip.

Professor Barry Chernoff, the director of the Environmental Studies Certificate Program as well as professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, gives Devane “two thumbs up” for his efforts. Chernoff is offering a course in the spring that is based upon the same idea of learning through first hand experience. The centerpiece of the course, entitled “Tropical Ecology and the Environment,” is a trip to Guyana during spring break in which students will build knowledge and appreciation for the diverse interactions between tropical organisms and their physical environments.

“A large part of the impetus for the ’Tropical Ecology and the Environment’ course is to give students first hand experience to be there and research and get information to lead them to understand the impacts of climate change,” Chernoff said.

Chernoff agrees with Devane that first hand experience is critical in the fight against climate change and hopes that participants in Birthright Earth will come back as effective spokespeople for the environment.

Devane credits his inspiration to begin Birthright Earth partly to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s call for public service during his May commencement address at the University. Devane feels that climate change is the issue of his generation and hopes to use Birthright Earth to address this issue.

“There are more important things to do in life than corporate jobs,” Devane said. “There’s nothing wrong with big ideas and ambition.”