Heartspring was founded in the summer of 2005 by Tehani Pestalozzi. A prior visit to Ladakh, India left her both inspired by its beautiful land and people, and perturbed by the environmental degradation that was taking place as a result of its rapid development. Part of the problem was obviously a lack of infrastructure and resources. But it also seemed like there was also a general environmental awareness that was lacking. She thus decided to put together a summer camp addressing environmental issues for some local children.
   After about a year of preparations, including developing a curriculum, recruiting volunteers and fundraising, Heartspring opened its doors on July 8th, 2006 to 57 students from the Tibetan Children’s Village in Choglamsar. The camp was extremely well received both by the students and the greater community. This summer camp was the first of what hopefully will be many more summer camps and environmental awareness programs across the globe.
   The Heartspring Project is currently applying for a fellowship with Echoing Green, and is working on obtaining non-profit status. It is also fundraising and researching possibilities for future projects. The vision for the five years to come is to continue providing environmental summer camps for children in developing communities, create environmental youth leadership programs for Heartspring alumni and set up a study abroad program for U.S. college students to gain NGO experience and an in-depth academic exploration of development issues.