We had the chance to sit down with one of Pha Tad Ke’s own this week. David D’Angelo is an award winning social entrepreneur who has been featured in forbes and matador network. He came to Pha Tad Ke with firm beliefs about the importance of sustainable travel and conservation. Here, he tells a little more about himself and the values that drive his life.
How has travel inspired you to become a better person?
I firmly believe that we can’t better ourselves unless we curiously confront difference and challenge in this world. For me, travel is one of the greatest sources of opportunity for confronting these two domains, and it has had a remarkable effect on the openness, gentleness and ambition I share with humanity.
Through the trials and errors I’ve experienced through my international adventures, I have come to understand the important role we can play in eliminating bias, hatred and bigotry. Travel has reinforced the importance of being involved in that movement, to bridge divides caused by perceived differences and make people come to understand how similar we are to each other.
As I connect with more of the world, I recognize how much reliance the world has on us to help sustain it. Travel has inspired me to give more to the world than anything else, and I am forever grateful for the impact it has had me.
What one travel experience changed your life and why?
There were a handful of entrepreneurs from Utah back in 2014 who motivated me to sell all of my possessions, buy a one way ticket to Nepal and start a social venture focused on providing renewable energy to rural villagers. Spending over a year in Nepal had a profound effect on my approach to life and business. I went through the devastating 7.9 earthquake a month after arriving. I battled through a 7-month long supply crisis that left us without petrol, medical supplies and food. I witnessed countless political protests. I saw practical civic engagement result in new social initiatives launched and successfully grown. We built schools, helped set up hundreds of medical clinics, and supplied energy to thousands of people who were left in the dark in the aftermath of this historic disaster.
This experience taught me that it is often the people who have the least who find it in their hearts to give the most. It taught me that hardship has a unique ability to unify groups typically divided by difference, and that small groups of people with vision and commitment can have tremendous impact on the world.
Why should people care about conservation?
Those fortunate enough to freely explore the world around them come to understand that our actions can have a negative impact on the environment if we aren’t intentional and careful about every decision we make. It’s a gift to explore our surroundings, and what we can take from those experiences we should be inspired to pass on to future generations.
Yet this passing of the torch can only take place if we firmly commit to protecting and preserving the world around us in ways that allow humanity and our environment to prosper in the years ahead. We need to take a stand for nature, and we need to do it for ourselves and those who still haven’t been lucky enough to fully experience its beauty and magnitude.
What does the word ecotourism mean to you? And how do you play your part in that movement?
For me, ecotourism is a pledge. It’s a pledge to be intentional about the actions, values and companies we associate ourselves with. It’s a pledge to ensuring that we take a sustainability-first approach to every travel experience we pursue. Every time I travel, I try to give back to the community by supporting local initiatives financially, encouraging youth to chase after ambitious dreams, and ensuring that I leave the environment around me better off than when I found it.
What three pieces of advice would you provide to someone who is about to start an international tour or experience?
Stop being constrained by uncertainty, fear or preconceived notions. You won’t know what you are getting into until you are there and experiencing it for yourself.
You have to take risks to grow and learn, so become comfortable with doing things that force you outside of your comfort zone. My life’s defining moments have always been in times of hardship. And even though I hated being consumed by discomfort, I look back at those hard experiences and realize how important they were to my own development.
Be spontaneous and disconnect from the technology world. Sometimes it is okay to move on with your day without a preset itinerary. Take one day at a time, be patient and seek to try things that you wouldn’t normally do. Leave your cell phone behind and try to connect on a deeper level with the people around you and the local community. In many ways, you came on your international trip to escape the routines and noise of home, so breakaway, listen to your surroundings, and find peace with what is in front of you.
Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden is the first of its kind in Laos dedicated to biodiversity conservation and ecotourism. Why is their focus important to you?
It is a moral imperative to align the world with a value system that prioritizes the conservation of our planet. To be a part of Pha Tad Ke represents a unique opportunity to accelerate the world into committing to this desired value system. We need to ensure that people become increasingly conscious of everyday decisions and the impact those decisions have on our environment.
I am very proud of the work we are doing at Pha Tad Ke because we are so focused on saving humanity, and I hope more people can see that angle of our work. I look forward to connecting with more people who feel similarly about the importance of conservation, because we can’t do it alone. Change happens when we create communities built on momentum.
Thanks for reading my interview. If you ever want to connect with me, I can be reached at david@pha-tad-ke.com.
Pha Tad Ke recently launched Green Thumb to enable people to participate in a crowdfunding tournament that supports conservation efforts in Laos. You could also have the chance to spend 3 months as a social impact CEO with our team if your tournament team does well. So, what are you waiting for? Click here to learn more.