"Since 1900, the United States has polluted the atmosphere with nearly 700 times more carbon emissions than Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras combined. Instead of recognizing any responsibility, the United States (and other heavy greenhouse gas emitters such as the European Union) have chosen the route of border fortification. The climate crisis comes on top of many years of US political and economic domination in places like Central America. Poverty levels in rural Guatemala exceed 75 percent, the result of a long-standing system of marginalization that has favored an elite economic oligarchy and corporate monoliths like the Boston-based United Fruit Company, all kept in place with a repressive iron fist." Click here to read the full article (By Todd Miller)

"Increasingly, those displaced seek to relocate in other countries as 'climate change refugees,' but there’s a problem: the 1951 Refugee Convention, which defines the rights of displaced people, provides a list of things people must be fleeing from in order to be granted asylum or refuge. Climate change isn’t on the list." Click here for the full article.

"These trends have led experts at the World Bank to claim that around 2 million people are likely to be displaced from Central America by the year 2050 due to factors related to climate change." Click here for the full article.

"Families face an impossible choice: stay and risk starvation, or gamble everything on the perilous migrant trail. 'They risk their lives if they stay – and if they go...'" Click here for the full article.

Focus Trips

Focus trips

Focus Trips offer impactful and immersive experiences accompanied by guided cultural analysis as we delve into various social, political, and environmental issues throughout the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Take a look at the following Focus Trips that are ready to be customized to your group.

The Depths of Division

Syncretism of Traditions

"Storming the Wall"

Focus Trips offer impactful and immersive experiences accompanied by guided cultural analysis as we delve into various social, political, and environmental issues throughout the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

Take a look at the following Focus Trips that are ready to be customized to your group.