This adorable and and eco-stylish coin purse offered by Eco-Handbags is perfect for summer and fall. I love that it’s handmade from a mix of 100% repurposed candy wrappers, soda labels and food packages and it’s fairly traded. Funny, its black and white stripes remind me of the old packaging on Juicy Fruit gum. That makes me giggle. Bonus: It’s water resistant which is perfect for where I live in Portland Oregon. That and its affordable price of $30 bucks.

If I said that I was overwhelmed on Bali it was only because I hadn’t yet been to the island of Java Indonesia. As soon as we landed in Semarang on the north central coast of Java we ceased vacationing and starting traveling. As all travelers know, there is a big difference between the two! With a few exceptions, Java is not a tourist destination like Bali. One of the world’s most densely populated islands, Java is overwhelming in the sheer number of people and what those numbers do to the infrastructure, the landscape and the capacity for anyone to get anything done. We had been warned not to drive ourselves but sometimes found that even being a passenger could be extremely challenging.

The trip from Semarang to Jepara was nerve racking! Jepara (shown at right) is on the Java Sea so there is a lot of fishing and fabulous fish to eat. It is the center for small-scale furniture production in Java with lots and lots of wood depots and furniture workshops. Ornate carvings are the order of the day. This industry and the planet need our help as good wood becomes more and more scarce due to declining forests and illegal log sales to China - where the furniture is made more cheaply and then imported into Indonesia! So, the U.S. is not alone in trying to manage a trade relationship with China that works for everyone!

–Karen LeAnn McKay, Manager of Ten Thousand Villages

Well…a trip to a country of tropical islands for vacation would hardly be complete without a trip to a beach with white sands and turquoise waters. Particularly for my 13-year-old daughter Lydia this was the fulfillment of a long-held dream; to be able to frolic in warm, clear waters that turn from a light turquoise to a deep blue.

The quiet island of Gili Meno off the northwest coast of the island of Lombok was just the ticket. The fastest thing on the island were the little lizards and the donkey carts and the noisiest things were the roosters in the morning and the geckos at night. Gili Meno is quiet in part because there are only about 300 inhabitants, no motorized vehicles and no fresh water. Lodgings are adequate but still fairly primitive and there just isn’t any nightlife. At least not in the nightclub sense! It suited us just fine.

A stroll around the entire island took just over 2 hours with a break for coconut juice at a little open air cafe. A bit of snorkeling revealed an aquarium’s worth of brightly colored fish and a trip in a glass-bottomed boat gave us the thrill of seeing about a dozen sea turtles! Dinner was as much freshly caught fish as you could eat for about $3.00 and, as long as the fan didn’t give out in your bungalow, life was good.

We only had a few days but they were a wonderful few days. As we lined up to splash through the surf and onto the boat that would take us back to Lombok we couldn’t help but think about the future of Gili Meno. Of all the reports and speculation I’ve seen and read about global warming and rising sea levels - small, flat Gili Meno made it very real to me.

Again, I come back to that feeling that all of these places are important to us - to our dreams and imaginations and the idea that, like Lydia, they can one day be realized. What a precious place you are Gili Meno. May you stay safe and be here for us to return to.

—Karen LeAnn McKay, Manager of Ten Thousand Villages Portland

So, Bali… I don’t quite know where to start. Bali is overwhelming in every sense. To the ear, Bali is a symphony of bells, birds, gongs and frogs (not a bad combination!) To the eye, Bali is rice paddies, coconut palms, tall mountains and crafts everywhere. Even I, someone who deals in the buying and selling of crafts, was overwhelmed by the shear amount of carved, woven, printed, cast, painted, drawn, sewn, etc. crafts that lined the roads in and out of our base in Ubud. My family and I didn’t do beaches in Bali - I’ll get to those on the island of Lombok - we did culture and art. And what culture and art! Bali is primarily Hindu. That translates into constant ceremonies and festivals, over-the-top ornamentation and design and amazing music and dance. (Above photo: author on balcony in Bali)

The landscape of Bali is one of the things that struck me the most. You hear about the rice terraces of Bali but it is quite amazing to actually see them! Our beautiful, two-level cottage was set amid the rice fields so we went to sleep with a chorus of frogs and awoke to birds and the chattering of ducks in the flooded paddies. We attended music and dance performances - sometimes by firelight only. And we visited temples around Ubud that were so unlike any place of worship - Jewish, Christian or Muslim - that I’ve ever seen.

Wood worker at Tropical Salvage production facility on the island of Java, hand carving a door made out of re-purposed wood.

The shopping in Ubud (shown at right) is totally overwhelming. Literally miles of wall to wall stone carvings. Followed by miles of wall-to-wall wood carvings. Followed by paintings, followed by batiks, etc. etc. You get the picture. I couldn’t help but think, where is all of this going? And indeed, we have read and witnessed that tourism and the craft export business is down in Indonesia. We worry about high fuel and food prices, well the same thing is happening here and it’s affected tourism on an island that relies on it in so many ways. It’s affecting the price of their crafts as well and their competitiveness in a market often dominated by cheap imitations. So, Bali needs all of us I think. To visit, to learn and to appreciate and buy their crafts. In thinking about it I can’t help but feel that we need Bali too. It is a truly amazing place that adds immeasurably to the fabric of our world - art, culture, religion. If Bali becomes poorer and less able to thrive - so do we all.

For more info on Ten Thousand Villages, click here.

–Karen LeAnn McKay

Oh you Europeans, you are so ahead of us in so many ways. Fair trade travel? Uh, duh. Well, actually what does that mean? Well, to begin with, it’s making sure that employees in the industry are not overworked and are paid a living wage. It takes the same standards that have been used in fair trade organic coffee and goods and applying it to the travel industry. And guess what? A fair trade travel label (now being used in some countries) will allow the traveler to support high ethics in tourism. Europeans are all over it and as in the fashion industry, the U.S. will soon follow.

What can we do? The next time we plan our vacation, let’s do some research and ask some important questions. I know I will.

Check out an example of responsible tourism by clicking here.