These days it is difficult not to be concerned about the effects of climate change, and our own contribution to it. Our day to day lives may be lived with this in mind, but travel can seriously increase our carbon footprint, thereby increasing our impact on the planet.
One thing we can do when choosing to travel, is to offset the CO2 produced. This is actually rather simple, and relatively inexpensive. But there is a bewildering array of organizations and companies offering carbon offsetting, and how do you make sure you are contributing to something meaningful and actually making an impact?
And that is why we have done the hard part for you. We spent time researching this and kept coming back to one organization that we felt confident in – World Land Trust. An organization founded in 1989, with Sir David Attenborough as a patron, working with local people to achieve targets and goals, and providing a range of options of how to ‘offset’, all with additional conservation benefits. We felt this organization ticked all of the boxes of having a history, showing accountability and being supported by respected environmentalists, including local communities in their projects, and options to choose from.
Although we always minimize waste, reduce and recycle where possible, and limit unnecessary mileage, the fact is we are providing a tourism service to birders, that does create additional CO2. So, including all tours from this 2019-2020 season, we are working with World Land Trust to now Carbon Balance all travel and overnight accommodation used during these tours.
In future we will retrospectively audit our tour activities, and offset our annual estimated CO2 emissions through this same process. We are really proud to have formed what we see as an incredibly positive relationship with World Land Trust, and proud of taking this step to reduce our impact. This is all part of our ethos as a Company, to tread as lightly as possible, to do the right thing and operate ethically, and to show our clients the time of their life here in New Zealand.