Heifer International

Founded by farmer Dan West in 1944, Heifer International provides impoverished families lasting sources of food in the form of heifers - young cows that supply milk, and, later, female offspring that families can give to other families. Since its inception, the organization has helped 8.5 million people in more than 125 countries through its innovative sustainable-development programs.

To Heifer International, sustainable development means equipping future generations to meet their challenges. It means gifts of livestock as one of the best resources for ending the cycle of chronic hunger and poverty plaguing two-thirds of the world's population. It means teaching women how to improve family nutrition and training farmers to use their land productively while caring for the environment.

Because of these efforts, millions of once-hungry people are now nourished with milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables every day. Families that have only known abject poverty are building homes, starting businesses, and sending their children to school instead of working in the fields. That's what you help support every time you book with netTrav.

Mountainview Conservation and Breeding Centre

Addax antelopes, Masai giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas, Vancouver Island marmots, Oregon spotted frogs, lemurs and other primates, and a range of birds, including the six-foot-tall Sarus crane. They're all among the 50 rare and critically endangered animal species at Mountainview Conservation and Breeding Centre's 200-acre complex.

Based in the temperate rainforest of Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Mountainview is one of the world's leading modern "arks." Its mission for sustainable development is to preserve endangered species from around the world, build them into thriving family units, and return them to their native habitats. Most of the organization's diverse animal population comes from Africa, South America, India, Southeast Asia, and Canada. Mountainview's "re-introduction" process repopulates the wild with previously extinct species, such as the Mhorr gazelle.

Re-introduction programs include joint efforts with local governments and zoological conservation organizations to provide habitat protection for both people and animals while training native locals to be stewards of re-introduced animals.

Another example of what you help support every time you book with netTrav.

TreeLink

Trees are a key indicator species of healthy urban environments, but most communities struggle to keep up with growth and essential services and lack funds for trees. So TreeLink leverages technology to help. Established in 1996 with grants from the USDA Urban & Community Forestry Program and the Eccles Foundation, TreeLink strives to raise awareness and support for healthy urban forests. Urban and community forestry encompasses the art, science, and technology behind managing trees and natural systems in and around urban areas.

Believing the success of urban forestry depends on information, education, and communication, TreeLink uses the Internet to share its knowledge of environmentally and economically sustainable planning. TreeLink also provides technology to establish local community funds for trees - TreeBanks - as a proactive way for anyone to act on their green intentions and support local community planting, care, and education. Dollar for dollar, there is no better investment in the local environment.

TreeLink's goal is long-term impact in cities and towns, where the great majority of people live, by providing cost-effective ways to integrate man-made and natural environments.

And that's more of what you support every time you book a trip with netTrav.