Today we celebrate Earth Day
At Adventures in Preservation (AiP), we believe history, communities, and sustainability have a big role to play to protect the environment.
Each year, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. That year, on the very first Earth Day — April 22 — millions of Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies.
According to the Earth Day Network website, on April 22, 1970, “Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.”
Today, almost 50 years later, Earth Day is celebrated by more than a billion people around the world. It is a day of action. It is a day to embrace the environment and celebrate what planet Earth has to offer. It is a day to support and honor the many people who fight every day to protect our Earth, to inspire changes in human behavior, and to nurture policy changes.
At Adventures in Preservation (AiP), we believe history, communities, and sustainability have a big role to play to protect the environment.
AiP’s mission is to connect people and historic, cultural preservation through sustainable tourism and hands-on, volunteer travel adventures that safeguard heritage and foster community sustainability.
Our vision is a world where people use, understand, and appreciate historic buildings and sites that are vital to economic and environmental sustainability and help preserve cultural identity.
This is why, every year, we join millions of people around the world to celebrate Earth Day. And with the same spirit, every year, we work alongside volunteers and partners on projects that offer a compelling combination of travel, education, and adventure, topped with a healthy dose of cultural and architectural heritage conservation and respect for the environment. What we do is fun, sustainable tourism!
We have many examples to contribute to the yearly celebrations of Earth Day. And Armenia is one.
Armenia is a country facing many challenges, and this is especially true in Gyumri, where AiP has been active for a long time.
Disaster struck in 1988 when Gyumri was devastated by the Spitak earthquake. Half the city was destroyed, 25,000 people died, 140,000 were injured, and16,000 were rescued from the rubble. In 1991, the country suffered an additional blow when the Soviet Union dissolved and all of Gyumri’s industries collapsed.
AiP has supported building conservation efforts in Gyumri’s Kumayri historic district since 2011 through travel volunteerism projects.
Historic architecture is one of few resources available in Gyumri to create sustainable economic development through heritage tourism. Once historic buildings are destroyed, this path to revitalization is lost.
Although 2018 marked the 30th anniversary of the earthquake, Gyumri is still in a transitional state with conditions worsening. The city is losing its battle against job loss, depopulation, and economic decline.
This year marks AiP’s eight year in Gyumri with a group of volunteers that care about history, community, and the environment.
Learn more about our programs here: adventuresinpreservation.org
