Tonight Mathew, we're going to be... ENVIRONMENTAL.
Impossible you say (and you're not without reason), especially considering we are talking the travel industry. I mean, the words 'global travel' and 'environmentally friendly' = irony, surely. Some would even say to the point of being like rain on your wedding day, or that free ride once you've already paid.
In this day and age, travel and the mere act of boarding a plane is frowned upon to a large degree and quite understandably too - there are not too many things out there that top the carbon emissions incurred from air travel and the associated anti-green images that go with it. However, as a result the travel industry has had to pull its socks up along with the rest of the world's industries (bar BP clearly) and despite intention and whether it's because you care or simply just want to jump on the sustainable bandwagon to look good, bettering our operations and being conscious of the old 'footprint' is surely a good thing.
To be honest, it's been quite the mental barrier getting this whole 'green initiative' up and running, to the point where as of the end of May and after our successful audit, Kiwi Does It Ltd is carboNZero!!! A very proud feeling indeed with that 90's little framed certificate to go with! Yep, here at Kiwi Does It our office and operations are green friendly (and we're working on our itineraries too) which means we do actually care. And it's not just that token care where you pay some money and get a certificate - it's that care where you have to measure your emissions (and we learnt all about these as we went), put a plan in place to manage them, and then where possible, mitigate and offset them. Did we hear you say 'that's great'? Thanks, we think so too.
Did I also hear you ask 'but what does it all mean?'
Well, it means that from here in on we will be looking at all our emissions sources (like power, gas, vehicle usage, printing costs, travel costs etc) and making sure they are reduced where possible, excluded where we can and offset if they are a must (like flights needed to create the itineraries). As the years go on, Landcare Research and the carboNZero rope gets tightened to the point where we have to be really into it to maintain our stamp. Tough eh?
But... the point behind it all is guilt-free travel for both our travelers and ourselves (which means we can have that extra bar of chocolate if we want).
Now it's up to us to help encourage those operators and events people we use for our itineraries to think about their options for sustainability and keeping the travel industry the amazing place of work that it is...
Choice.
