Today, I’m chatting with John Bardos — someone I met while in Chiang Mai early last year. In addition to travel, he’s big on social impact and leaving this world a better place, so we share a lot of common ground in that regard. Here’s a bit more about him, from his own mouth…

1) What do you do?

I blog at JetSetCitizen.com and run a teach English abroad portal at YouCanTeachEnglish.com, but I also work on non-profit projects like the UnconferenceforSocialGood.com and ABCfrog.org. Basically, I run several websites and volunteer for various projects around the world.

2) What was your biggest obstacle to traveling and how did you overcome it?

I think the developed world has a responsibility to share our good fortune and abundant wealth with the entire planet. There are still almost 2 billion people that live on less than $2 per day. I think it’s an abomination that developed countries have gotten so rich, while so many go without basic food and water. We have the resources to eradicate abject poverty, we just need the will.

I think a big part of that will be to increase global awareness. While air travel is incredibly polluting, I also think it’s important for more people to live in other countries, particularly the poorest regions of the world.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

I’m pretty excited about the Unconference for Social Good. I’ve been organizing meetups to try to get people to discuss ways to make the world better. I would love these unconferences to spread to more cities around the world.

4) What’s next for you?

My last unconference was postponed due to the state of emergency in Calgary from the recent flooding, it is now rescheduled for September 28th.

I’m also working on a social enterprise that I think has the potential to raise a lot of money for charities around the world and improve global awareness. I’m working to make that a reality now.

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I really like CharityWater.org. Providing clean drinking water to everyone on the planet is such a basic and inexpensive intervention that it’s hard to top in terms of improving the wellbeing of the poorest people in the world.

I don’t think there is any organization that is run more effectively than CharityWater.org. Everything they do is absolutely brilliant, from branding to fund raising to accountability. This is a great cause to help.

A big thanks to John for sharing his successes and projects; if you’d like to connect or find out more about John’s recent travels, you can find him on his OHW profile.

John on Twitter and Facebook
The JetSetCitizen.com blog

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We regularly feature inspiring travelers who have taken the leap into travel as a part of our travel inspiration interview series. If you’re a traveler keen on being profiled here, sign up for an OHW account and fill in your profile — then shoot Shannon an email (shannon at ohheyworld dot com).