Raising Standards on the Web - A Conversation with John Shores, Colombia RPCV
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Raising Standards on the Web - A Conversation with John Shores, Colombia RPCV
A Conversation with Colombia RPCV John Shores on Raising Standards on the Web
"In 1989 I joined Peace Corps again as a natural resources specialist, but this time I was on the staff at headquarters in Washington. The job was much broader than anything I had hoped for. My boss agreed that I would not be used as just a Latin America specialist, so in the first 12 months of the new job, I made 18 country visits all over the world. Peace Corps was starting new programs in Central and Eastern Europe, and they wanted to have an environmental component. The Pacific Island programs were starting to warm to the idea of environmental education, so we ran a few workshops for teachers, education heads, and volunteers. And I even made a few programming and evaluation trips to Latin America and the Caribbean. Fortunately I didn't have to maintain that pace for too long. It was an exciting but an exhausting pace. "
A Conversation with Colombia RPCV John Shores on Raising Standards on the Web
A Conversation with John Shores
by Ron Mader
December/Diciembre 2000 Planeta.com
John Shores is the kind of practical guru who has used both cyberspace and grassroots forums to discuss and question and develop practical forms of ecotourism, environmental conservation and community work. His essay "The Challenge of Ecotourism" was one of the first features in the print version of "El Planeta Platica," the journal that preceded the Planeta.com website. He now has his own Ecotourism Home Page. Having corresponded with John for a number of years, it was with great pleasure that I got to meet him in the fall of 1999 in West Virginia. Here is the transcript of our online conversation about the Web, ecotourism, the Peace Corps and other topics. - Ron Mader
[Excerpt]
What kind of work have you done in Latin America?
My love affair with Latin America began in 1972. With a Bachelor's degree in park planning in my hand, I joined the Peace Corps in response to a small poster on a bulletin board at the University of Michigan that said Peace Corps/Colombia needed park planners. For the next six years, I worked in first Colombia and second the Dominican Republic as an interpreter, park manager, trainer, and system planner. Both countries were initiating projects to expand their national park systems. My job was to help recruit and train staff, and advise the directors on adding new properties to the park estate. It was a fantastic opportunity.
In 1978 I returned to the US and went back to school. By this time Dr. Kenton Miller, considered by many to be the father of national parks in Latin America, was teaching at Michigan, so I returned to my alma mater and worked with him. After graduation, with a Masters degree in "Resource Policy, Economics, and Management" this time, I returned to Washington DC and worked for RARE, WWF, TNC, and as an independent consultant.
In 1989 I joined Peace Corps again as a natural resources specialist, but this time I was on the staff at headquarters in Washington. The job was much broader than anything I had hoped for. My boss agreed that I would not be used as just a Latin America specialist, so in the first 12 months of the new job, I made 18 country visits all over the world. Peace Corps was starting new programs in Central and Eastern Europe, and they wanted to have an environmental component. The Pacific Island programs were starting to warm to the idea of environmental education, so we ran a few workshops for teachers, education heads, and volunteers. And I even made a few programming and evaluation trips to Latin America and the Caribbean. Fortunately I didn't have to maintain that pace for too long. It was an exciting but an exhausting pace.
My academic training and my primary interest is still parks and biodiversity. Latin America gave me the opportunity to cut my teeth on park planning and system design. Peace Corps provided that grounding in community process and participation. Work with RARE, WWF, and TNC gave me a nice look at the NGO side of the coin. And most of my independent consulting work has been for the bi-lateral and multi-lateral development agencies (USAID, IDB, World Bank, etc.), which gave me some experience with official development assistance.
I see my experience as gradually filling a toolbox with useful tools. To the academic tools for parks and biodiversity, I added community development, NGO development, participation, gender, finance, environmental education, computers, the internet, and maybe a few other tools.
[Excerpt].
John Shores can be reached via email: jnshores@hotmail.com
Ron Mader interviews internet users for the Weaving the Web feature online Planeta.com. He also pens the Mexico on the Web column in addition to other assignments. He is the author of the guidebook Mexico: Adventures in Nature and the Exploring Ecotourism in the Americas resource guide.
When this story was posted in May 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Planeta
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