How did Ethical Traveler get started?
The seeds for Ethical Traveler were planted in 1996, when author and journalist Jeff Greenwald — Ethical Traveler’s founder — wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post supporting the boycott of tourism to Burma. In the essay, he called upon the community of travelers to “vote with their wings,” and use their combined power to chastise the military government that had imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi. In August 2002, at a reading promoting his anthology Scratching the Surface, Greenwald was asked about Burma. A lively discussion ensued, and the idea of a travelers’ alliance to address such global issues was greeted with great enthusiasm. The idea was researched by Krista Haimovitch, who discovered there was no such organization in existence. An active and respected member of the world travel community for 23 years, award-winning author of five travel books and hundreds of articles, Greenwald was compelled to direct his passionately humanitarian voice towards creating such a traveler’s alliance.
