A New Path

A water purification demo during the Introductory Backpacking Course in October 2021.

For the past eight months, I elected to suspend Origin Expeditions and its operations. With uncertainty around the pandemic, this year presented an opportunity to reflect on the progression of the organization and consider which path to take moving forward. With some new perspective and the pandemic seemingly nearing resolve, I am eager to share some new foundations of our organization.

Moving forward, Origin Expeditions will continue to operate as a "wilderness education nonprofit." We will continue to conduct wilderness education courses and workshops, and learning objectives will remain core to each program. Programs will also continue to focus on collecting raw data on the impacts of time spent in nature.

A new focus will be communicating information about human impacts on the environment. Information will include original research on environmental topics such as climate change, sustainability, degradation, outdoor recreation, and more. We will publish contributions from Origin staff and guest writers alike, providing those with valuable, well-researched information the platform to share it. I also intended to create online guides for outdoor recreation destinations, trip planning tools, and trip consultation.

With that, outdoor recreation and research will be Origin's brand moving forward. Why is this change valuable?

Much of the new content and features will drive organic traffic to our website. It has been an ongoing challenge, especially during the pandemic, to connect with individuals who wish to participate in our programs and learn more about outdoor recreation. An optimized website that offers information in addition to programs will attract more people to our organization. Subsequently, this will help us connect more people to the wilderness and conduct research.

Additionally, credible information about our environment and our impacts isn't always easy to find. Inaction to address our world's needs stems from a lack of knowledge that action is needed, and a lack of understanding comes from a lack of exposure. Thus, I see tremendous value in doing the busy work and sharing what information is out there to individuals who don't know how to find it. After all, despite modifying our brand, our mission remains the same: to cultivate values of sustainability, personal growth, and community in the Great Lakes region through exposure to the natural world and our impacts on it.

Over the next month, I will develop new content, programs and overhaul the website. During this time, nothing on the website will change, and applications for programs may still be submitted. The new website with new content will tentatively launch by the end of August, so be sure to subscribe to our email list to stay informed when this happens.

Thank you all for your continued support,

Joe Napolitan