Feeding the Never-Ending Quest for Knowledge
Your learning journey is just beginning.
One of the greatest gifts in life is learning from others. And, for better or for worse, there’s always something more to learn.
This is your invitation to continue that learning journey.
In this vetted and curated external resource library, you’ll find dozens of resources, including books, podcasts, articles, toolkits, and downloadable guides. They span a wide variety of topics, from sustainability storytelling and finding hope in challenging times to developing carbon labels and decolonizing tourism.
Dive in for big ideas, interesting questions, and helpful suggestions to upskill your travel-related career, deepen your personal knowledge, and support your efforts in becoming a better traveler.
(Please note: There are some affiliate links in this resource library.)
Jump to a preferred section, or browse the entire library.
Storytelling, Marketing, and Communications
BOOK
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek
Most organizations can explain what they do and how they do it, but only the very best can clearly articulate why – and those with a clear vision also have an opportunity to lead and inspire.
ARTICLE
I Never Thought Of It That Way
Ingrid Elias | Indeed Design
This step-by-step process details how to use storytelling to create compelling case studies so they are interesting, accessible, and memorable.
BOOK
The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind
Jonah Berger
Well organized, intuitive, and relevant for everyone from individuals to international corporations, this book outlines the principles behind simple nudges that can encourage action.
ARTICLE
Effectively communicating regenerative tourism
Tourism CoLab
There is a lot of pressure for tourism professionals to communicate about their sustainable and regenerative efforts transparently while engaging people, but this isn't easy to do. This article offers seven tips for integrating these efforts into a tourism marketing strategy.
BOOK
I Never Thought Of It That Way
Monica Guzmán
Guzmán provides actionable tips and ideas for when and how to approach conversations with people who have different opinions, perspectives, and lived experiences that result in different political leanings than we do — regardless of what side of the aisle you sit on.
GUIDE
Stories to Save the World
Futerra
Climate change is the story of our present day, yet we've not yet done a great job of sharing that story at a scale that catalyzes action and change. There is a great need to use the magic of stories to weave a world of solutions underpinned by science. This guide offers 10 frames from which we can shape the climate narrative.
BOOK
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Chip Heath and Dan Heath
This book puts forth a compelling formula that explains why some ideas catch on and others do not, using the convenient acronym SUCCES: They are Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotional, and create a compelling Story.
GUIDE
Words That Work
Radley Yeldar
Communicating about climate and sustainability issues is complicated, but choosing appropriate words is only part of the challenge. This guide looks at the root causes of why these urgent problems are not being heeded by society at large and how communication and storytelling approaches can best be harnessed to reach the masses.
GUIDE
The Anti-Greenwash Guide for Agency Leaders
Creatives for Climate
An important resource for anyone developing sustainability-related messaging, this guide explains what greenwashing is and how to avoid it with a helpful "how not to greenwash" checklist. It also contains several case studies illustrating what greenwashing looks like in practice.
RESOURCE
Climate Visuals
Climate Outreach
This evidence-based and impact-focused photography bank houses imagery that acknowledges the reality of the climate crisis rather than glorifies it.
BOOK
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. Cialdini
An accessible explanation about why we’re influenced in certain ways backed by science and packed with real-life, applicable examples.
TED TALK
The Danger of a Single Story
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
There is never only one perspective. Yet people have blinders on to anything that doesn't align with the story they believe or know. Remaining ignorant to more than a single story reinforces stereotypes and fails to fully embrace the complexity of people and places, as noted in this TED Talk.
Tourism Toolkits and Building a Better Travel Ecosystem
REPORT
Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism
Travel Foundation, Cornell University’s Centre for Sustainable Global Enterprise, and EplerWood International
This comprehensive report details the unrealized burdens travelers place on destinations (such as waste management and increased cost of living) along with tools and systems to address them.
GUIDE
Conscious Questions
The Conscious Travel Foundation
Conversation starters and questions of inquiry for anyone in tourism interested in working with partners that align with a sustainable ethos. The guide touches on questions related to the environment, local community needs, accessibility and inclusion, measurement and data, culture and heritage, conservation, and the economy.
ACADEMIC PAPER
Transformative roles in tourism: adopting living systems' thinking for regenerative futures
Loretta Bellato, Niki Frantzeskaki, Carlos Briceno Fiebig, Anna Pollock, Elke Dens, and Bill Reed
"Regenerative tourism" is thrown around as the buzzword of the day, but there's minimal understanding about what it means. This academic paper offers clarity on what a tourism living systems framework looks like, the role stakeholders have in such a framework, and real-world applications for destinations interested in adopting regenerative tourism approaches.
GUIDE
How to Develop Carbon Labels & Calculate Carbon Emissions: An Open Source Guide
Intrepid Travel
This guide takes the guesswork out of one of the most complicated tasks for travel-related companies today: calculating the carbon emissions created by doing business. In addition to providing detailed information on how to do this, the guide goes one step further by explaining how to communicate this with travelers via carbon labels.
ARTICLE
9 Tips for Hosting a Climate-Conscious Press Trip
JoAnna Haugen | HMI Marketing
Travel service providers hosting content creators must keep the climate crisis in mind. Avoiding the issue is not only an irresponsible business practice, but it’s also tone-deaf in a world acutely attuned to global warming. These nine tips challenge previous practices and offer new ideas for promotion with a climate-focused lens.
GUIDE
Breaking Down Barriers: Sustainability Accessible to All
The Long Run
A tourism-centric resource focused on all things sustainability. It contains easy access to dozens of other resources related to business planning, resource efficiency, decarbonization, collaboration networks, biodiversity, and more.
GUIDE
Regenerative Travel Principles for Hospitality
Regenerative Travel
This white paper features case studies and insight from properties embracing regenerative principles in their design, operations, supply chain, and connection to nature and local community members.
GUIDE
SDG Action Manager Technical Guide
B Corporation | B Lab
This detailed guide walks companies through the details of aligning their business practices to the Sustainable Development Goals. For any companies considering pursuing B Corp certification, this can be a particularly helpful tool.
REPORT
A Regenerative Approach to Tourism in Canada
Destination Canada
A detailed framework for why and how tourism can more fully support people, place, and prosperity in Canada, with case stories, principles, and indicators of progress providing inspiration for destinations beyond.
RESOURCE
BehaviorSMART
A tourism resource that taps into natural human behaviors to encourage sustainable action by default. The tourism solutions put forth by the company through its platform acknowledge the reality of how people actually think, decide, and act in order to drive real change.
RESOURCE
Meaningful Travel Map
Tourism Cares
This interactive, accessible initiative highlights tours and travel initiatives surfacing social businesses and frequently overlooked, unheard, or oppressed stories in popular destinations around the world.
RESOURCE
Discover the Carbon Footprint of Your Website
Kakadu Creative
Most people are surprised by how much carbon a website consumes, but knowing is the first step to reducing. This company offers a free carbon audit for websites.
GUIDE
Rethinking Single-Use Plastic Products in Travel & Tourism
UN Environment Programme and World Travel & Tourism Council
Millions of tons of plastic waste end up discarded into landfills and the ocean every year, and tourism's transient nature makes it susceptible to the use of single-use plastics. However, there are many ways that every business operating in the tourism industry can begin curbing plastic use. This guide offers compelling information on why and how to do that.
GUIDE
The Green Seat Guide
NationSwell
Practical guidance from leaders working in sustainability roles on crafting strategies, building teams, and co-creating and collaborating with internal stakeholders. This comprehensive guide includes several accessible and practical tools as well.
Environmental Issues and the Natural World
BOOK
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
Peter Wohlleben
It's clear we know so little about the natural world around us — and there is so much more to learn. This is an eye-opening book for anyone with even a passing interest in the natural world (and that should be all of us).
BOOK
Silence: In the Age of Noise
Erling Kagge
What is silence? Where do we find it? What does it mean, and why does it matter? Kagge, an adventurer who has literally traveled to the ends of the earth, explores these questions, reflecting upon what poets, philosophers, and researchers have suggested about the topic.
GUIDE
Climate Justice in Tourism: An Introductory Guide
Travel Foundation, Center for Responsible Travel, Tourism Cares, Cuidadores de Destinos, University of Waterloo, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Examining climate justice through a travel and tourism lens offers an extensive look at how a warming world impacts tourists, travel-related businesses, host communities, and the ecological and cultural assets that attracts people to places.
BOOK
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Paul Hawken
A must-read for anyone working with climate change and environmental solutions. It is incredibly thorough, packed with data, and leaves nothing behind when it comes to addressing every possible solution for addressing global warming.
BOOK
No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies: A Lyric Essay
Julian Aguon
Compiled during the pandemic, this collection of short essays reflects Aguon's life experience and reflections as a social justice advocate, environmentalist, and Indigenous person living in Guam.
BOOK
The World Without Us
Alan Weisman
Weisman’s book examines the past and present to postulate what a world without humans looks like. It is a grounding reminder that we are very small in a very big world, but what we do while inhabiting this planet makes a difference.
BOOK
The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future
David Wallace-Wells
Wallace-Wells doesn’t mince words. This book brings into sharp focus the climate challenges that loom large if massive, all-encompassing changes aren’t put into place right away.
BOOK
The Overstory
Richard Powers
A work of fiction, this book is a linguistic metaphor for trees and the perilous condition Mother Earth is in.
BOOK
Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
Simon Winchester
This sprawling book is a deep dive into what it means to “own” land, and how that came to be a flawed concept.
BOOK
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Florence Williams
Many people likely know nature is good for our health, but the book’s in-depth review of experiments, studies, and cultural norms reinforces its restorative properties in elevating happiness, peace of mind, creativity, problem-solving skills, and more.
Innovation and Disrupting the Status Quo
BOOK
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin
Rubin's book is like a delicious snack tray, where you can dip into any section and come up with a tasty morsel meant to be savored. Anyone expecting a secret recipe for success won't find it here, but that's exactly the point: No single thing forms the backbone of art or creativity, and we can each take from this book the bits that best feed our personal needs.
PODCAST SERIES
Capitalism
Scene on Radio
Systemic change requires understanding of the systems that underpin society. This 12-episode series provides a comprehensive background on the seeds of capitalism while examining its harmful aspects. It then goes on to explore different — and reimagined — frameworks that could take its place.
BOOK
Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All
Tom Kelley and David Kelley
Children may have unbridled creativity, but by the time people become adults, many have boxed themselves into conformity, convinced they don't have any creative spark available at their disposal. This book dispels that myth by offering numerous case studies as well as ideas and exercises for kickstarting creativity.
BOOK
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry Into the Mystery and Art of Living
Krista Tippett
This book is filled with wisdom and insight focused on five key themes (words, flesh, love, faith, and hope) Tippett has collected over decades of work and through hundreds of interviews as an internationally renowned broadcaster.
BOOK
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
Adam Grant
Grant's book offers compelling reasons for "re-thinking" those things we think we know, and accessible, sound advice for how to begin re-thinking right away in our lives and through our work.
BOOK
How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
Jenny Odell
In response to our 24/7 availability, Odell offers an action plan for resisting capitalist narratives of productivity and constant tech connectivity while reacquainting ourselves with the world around us.
BOOK
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World
Melinda French Gates
This book, born out of many difficult and intimate one-on-one conversations, is testament to the power of engaging local communities in order to empower all women in all communities everywhere.
BOOK
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
David Foster Wallace
Initially delivered as a commencement address, this piece of writing offers a poignant reminder that it takes conscious effort to live with attention, remain grounded, and achieve compassion.
BOOK
Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.
Brené Brown
This book is based on countless conversations and years of research in which Brown uncovers a common thread among those who lead, innovate, and overcome challenges: The importance of embracing emotion and a willingness to lean into discomfort along the way.
GUIDE
Future's Happening: A Nonpartisan Playbook for Sparking Civic Imagination and Creative Possibility
d.school at Stanford University
Creating a sense of community is at the heart of collaboration and co-creation. This guide — designed for civic leaders, community organizers, and anyone inspired by the power of collective action — offers strategies, activities, and approaches for building a more joyful and generative future, together.
Travel Writing and Travel Content Creation
ARTICLE
10 Responsible Practices in the Ethical Influencer’s Toolkit
JoAnna Haugen | HMI Marketing
Actionable ideas for traveler influencers to create more environmentally, socially, and culturally mindful content.
BOOK
Writing an Identity Not Your Own: A Guide for Creative Writers
Alex Temblador
We are all unique individuals with specific (if often interconnected) identities. Writing from the perspective of someone unlike yourself can be challenging, but it's important to do it right. Though written with fiction writers in mind, this book is a handy resource for thinking through the complexities of intersectionality and biases.
BOOK
The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers
Karen Yin
A must-have guide on choosing and using inclusive, respectful, and empowering language. This book provides in-depth information on navigating potentially problematic language, critically thinking through language choices, creating accessible content, and more.
RESOURCE
Solutions Journalism Network
Educational resources and support for approaching travel writing work with a solutions journalism perspective.
ARTICLE
Focus on These 3 Pillars to Be a Responsible Travel Writer
JoAnna Haugen | Wanderful
These are the three areas every travel writer must consider in developing more responsible travel stories and content.
BOOK
The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure
Larry Smith
Through a kaleidoscope of media, dozens of creatives pinpoint the single moment that redirects the course of their lives – for better or worse.
Sustainable Development and Urban Design
BOOK
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
Charles Montgomery
A highly readable, research-based explanation of how and why high-density, walkable cities make people holistically happier and healthier.
REPORT
Life at Home Report 2023
IKEA
Based on a decade of research and conversations with more than 250,000 people in dozens of countries, IKEA’s expansive report highlights the feelings people have about their homes. This surfaced eight essential needs, three big tensions, and three possible futures as we consider this place called “home.”
BOOK
What We Owe the Future
William MacAskill
This is an introduction to the concept of “long termism.” This is the belief that creating the conditions for a viable future is a moral obligation. This book takes several aspects of this into account, including population growth, cultural evolution, and environmental issues.
GUIDE
Business Reporting on the SDGs
United Nations Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative
Guidance for businesses on how to understand, measure, and disclosure work related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
REPORT
Cities Alive: Towards a walking world
ARUP
Compiled by a global sustainability collective, this report shines a light on walking and investigates the role walkability plays in developing more livable, sustainable, healthy, safe, and attractive cities.
BOOK
This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are
Melody Warnick
Part memoir, part social commentary, this book dives into the behavioral science of what connects people to the places where they live.
GUIDE
Motivation Profiles of a Sustainable Lifestyle
Sitra
This guide identifies the motivating factors that get people to make choices that are both important to them and that align with environmental sustainability. Looking through the lens of seven profiles, we better understand what motivates certain types of people and how that should influence the way we design and deliver products and communication.
BOOK
The Ideal City: Exploring Urban Futures
Gestalten and SPACE10
As more people move to cities, there is an urgent need to make them greener, healthier, safer, and more inclusive. These spaces contribute to a higher quality of life, foster community, encourage collaboration, and are more resilient and economically productive. This book lays out five principles that should guide urban planning moving forward.
GUIDE
10 Tools for Systems Change
Future Stewards
Transitioning to a zero-carbon future can feel overwhelming. Having a framework from which to think about and pursue this work can be incredibly helpful. This resource from Future Stewards offers 10 ways to consider various aspects of this transition and the best scenarios for using each tool.
Social Impact and Hopeful Solutions
BOOK
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong about the World — and Why Things are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund
An extended Ted Talk of sorts, this book challenges preconceived notions, makes you question what you think you know, and encourages you to walk away a bit more thoughtful (if not a bit smarter). Also included are strategies for recognizing and thinking beyond misconceptions.
BOOK
Humankind: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time
Brad Aronson
Aronson weaves stories about acts of kindness in a wide and varied collection of similar acts that show thoughtful actions — big and small — exist all around us. This book's format makes it ideal for picking up and reading a feel-good nugget or two whenever you need a pick-me-up.
ARTICLE SERIES
Minister For the Future
Nesta
A thought-provoking set of articles focused on designing, dreaming, and testing long-term solutions to society’s biggest challenges. Written by many esteemed experts in their fields of expertise, this collection dives into the wider forces that will likely change and shape our society, economy, and environment in the coming years.
BOOK
Humankind: A Hopeful History
Rutger Bregman
Despite the fact narratives would have us believe people are mean-spirited and selfish, Bregman digs into the research and demonstrates that, generally speaking, society is more hopeful and kind than we’ve been led to believe.
BOOK
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times
Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
This book, written in the form of a conversation between the authors, is a journey through the reasons why Goodall continues to have hope in the face of our many global challenges, including the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.
GUIDE
Collective Intelligence Design Playbook
Nesta
A helpful and insightful guide designed for innovators around the world working on today's most complex social, environmental, economic, and political challenges. This playbook helps users design and deliver a collective intelligence project by harnessing information and offering activities to guide the pathway to creation.
BOOK
Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power
Rebecca Solnit
This book makes the case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable, while keeping in mind that change isn’t always immediately seen, directly known, or measurable.
Becoming a Responsible and Sustainable Traveler
BOOK
Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World
Anu Taranath
Highly recommended for anyone interested in investing the time to unpack the complexities of justice, race, inequality, and privilege in the travel context. Though written with people studying and volunteering abroad in mind, this book is a treasure trove for anyone living abroad or simply traveling abroad — especially for longer periods of time and in places drastically different than their home countries.
RESOURCE
Tomorrow's Air
Adventure Travel Trade Association
Tourism has a large carbon footprint. Travelers can minimize their environmental impact in a lot of ways, including actively funding carbon removal programs and the development of sustainable aviation fuel, which can be done here with a one-time payment or monthly subscription.
BOOK
Travel as a Political Act: How to Leave Your Baggage Behind
Rick Steves
Travel doesn’t happen in a bubble: This book dives into the wider implications of travel-related decisions, which impact issues like globalization, human rights, and access to financial capital.
E-BOOK
Pathways to Equity: RISE Travel Institute’s Decolonial Guide to Travel for the Conscious Traveler
Vincie Ho, Jillian Spratt, and Aline Moura
The act of travel encompasses power dynamics and privilege tied to colonialism and neo-colonialism. This e-book unpacks the complexities of decolonization through a travel lens so that people can make better travel-related decisions.
GUIDE
Sustainable Travel: A How-To Guide for Making a Positive Difference to the Planet
Lindblad Expeditions
This 18-page guide provides guidance on six questions travelers should ask travel companies to determine the depth of their commitment to sustainability.
ARTICLE
What is 'greenwashing' and how can we avoid it while travelling?
Juliet Kinsman | Conde Nast Traveller
This excellent 101 article from Conde Nast Traveller cuts through the buzzwords and explains how to identify legitimately ethical tourism businesses.
PODCAST
Curious Tourism Podcast
For several years, podcast hosts Erin and Kattie have tackled the most challenging issues related to tourism in a highly accessible manner for the casual traveler. Past episodes have covered topics like dark tourism, privilege, voluntourism, zoos and wildlife encounters, and much more.
GUIDE
A Slow Art Guide
Thinking Museum
If you, like many people, feel overwhelmed by museums, this short, accessible guide is for you. It offers six simple steps for slow looking, so you can appreciate and immerse yourself in select pieces at a museum without succumbing to the pressure of trying to experience everything
BOOK
The Wander Society
Keri Smith
This unconventional book, designed to dip in and out of over time, is an invitation to wander, dream, and discover in a very real and tactile sense.
RESOURCE
Cruise Ship Report Card
Friends of the Earth
Cruising is notoriously bad for the environment, despite the fact that many cruise lines say they are eco-friendly. This annual report compares some of the largest cruise companies’ and ships’ environmental initiatives.
BOOK
Sustainable Travel: The Essential Guide to Positive Impact Adventures
Holly Tuppen
This accessible guide offers practical advice for travelers interested in traveling more responsibly from a woman who has traveled around the world without flying.
RESOURCE
Leave No Trace
According to Leave No Trace, 90% of people don't realize the environmental footprint of their actions. This website is a wealth of information on sustainable environmental practices primarily focused on its seven principles.
