There are a lot of smart people out there with all the answers. I’m not one of them. Me? I’ve got nothing but questions. The Joy Trip Project is my ongoing search to find the answers and discover how to lead a harmonious life in balance with the natural world and the rest of humanity.

As journalist I ask questions. I connect with knowledgeable people who have come up with some kind of a solution. In some cases I just come up with more questions, but they make us think. And hopefully these questions lead us a little further along on the journey.

Every day is a daring adventure, a trip into the joyful pursuit of our full human potential. Along this path we try and often fail. But we persevere. We persist. Only then do we succeed. It’s an on going process without end. Come join me.

Objective:

The Joy Trip Project is a newsgathering and reporting organization that covers outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving and practices of sustainable living.

Method:

The Joy Trip Project produces a regularly occurring online audio feature or podcast on topics related to a sustainable active lifestyle. Through aggressive reporting and creative storytelling combined with contemporary music, still photographs and video the JTP aims to inform entertain and inspire. The podcast is distributed via Real Simple Syndication (RSS) through audio programming websites such as iTunes and Podcast.com. Periodically the JTP program feed is picked up and broadcast by local member stations of National Public Radio.

Audio content developed from the JTP is also made available for distribution through the Public Radio Exchange. NPR stations and news magazines across the country can broadcast prepackaged segments of the project or commission the production of original segments of similar content specific to their editorial needs. It’s the goal of the JTP to develop and audience for stories that relate the experience of people trying lead happy productive lives in the service of others or in protection of the environment while in the pursuit of adventure.

The JTP podcast is supported by a website with that provides media resources and information that demonstrates how ordinary people make healthy lifestyle choices and become actively engaged in political and social actions that preserve wild and natural settings. The Website is strategically linked with a variety of other websites that include those of outdoor retailers, outdoor equipment manufacturers, popular consumer magazines, conservation groups and social networking web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.

The JTP also creates print stories for a variety of different web sites and news organizations. Most recent supporters of my work include High Country News, Elevation Outdoors, The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison Magazine and The Capital Region Business Journal.