carbonneutraltourism.co.uk

Mark Lynas’s Six Degrees - Our Future on a Hotter Planet has received The Royal Society Science Book prize.  Mark Lynas commented “I am delighted to be receiving a science writing prize from one of the most pre-eminent scientific institutions in the world. With climate change such a politicised issue, recognition from the Royal Society is hugely welcome and a tremendous honour for me.”

A short note from Shauna Chapman the Founder of Quail.

Quail By Mail is a new clothing label located in the South West which specialises in organic and Fairtrade cotton clothing which has been designed and made in England. Quail is operated by a husband and wife team in the historic seaside town of Brixham, South Devon. The business idea sprang from their desire to leave London for Devon and have a green career to accompany their already green lifestyle. Shauna Chapman, Founder commented, We were already fans of local and organic food and moved onto cosmetics and soaps made in England and certified organic by the Soil Association, but we wanted to buy ethical and organic clothes as well. It was difficult for me to buy green clothes that didn’t look like I stepped off a beach in Bali, as lovely as they were.

To introduce truly unique clothing designs I decided to work with pattern cutters and graders and design the clothes from scratch and source my own ethical and organic fabric, Shauna said. Quail believes in British ingenuity and only commissions British fashion graduates. Design elements such as functioning pockets, pleats, generous cuts etc are Quail’s speciality. Our aim is to add maximum design value to the organic and Fairtrade cotton fabric. We also source sustainable haberdashery such as wood, coconut or shell buttons. Recently we discovered that larger sizes were needed to include a wider audience so we will begin to introduce sizes up to 20 before the end of Summer 2008.

“Product Provenance” is a phrase Quail has been using to show customers exactly how their fashion purchase came to be. The cotton used in 92% of the clothing line is from a single co-operative in India. The cotton starts as a non-GM seed sown in the Kutch area of Gujerat in Northern India. There, the agricultural process is certified organic by the Dutch inspection body, Skal and the agricultural and harvest practices are also certified as Fairtrade. Once harvested and processed the cotton is dyed using non-Azo (non-petro chemical dyes). The cotton is hand-loomed by a weaving community in southern India, which again is overseen by the Fairtrade Foundation. The fabric is exported to the UK.

Since it was important to Quail’s founders that rural and traditional manufacturing is revitalised in the UK, Quail only utilises small, independent Cut, Make and Trim units in Devon (97%) and London (3%). In the1980’s the decline of British clothing manufacture was caused by the lure of cheap labour overseas. It’s that same cheap labour that is coming back to haunt us with impossibly priced £3 jeans and the reality of textile machinists in developing countries working under appalling conditions. I think that producing a British product for the British market has an alluring quality to it! Reduced transport miles might also be a green factor not yet realised.

Quail has sourced local models to represent the brand and marketing material for retailing online. The mail order packaging used is recycled and recyclable brown kraft paper and a raffia bow. The entire lifestyle of the Quail founders at the live/work studio in Brixham is devoted to energy-saving, buying local, organic produce, fairtrade, traditional, reuse, reduce and recycle.

Having produced clothing with provenance, which is also ethical, green and British it is Quail’s aim to grow the business sustainably and create artisan, limited edition clothing items.

Defra’s (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) website has a whole range of information about carbon offsetting which may be of interest to readers.

The 2008 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards, founded and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with several partners has recently opened their website to nominations for the 2008 awards. If you want to nominate an individual working in the field of tourism or company from the tourism sector which you believe has made a significant contribution to improving the environment click here. There are 13 categories from best small accommodation through to best for low carbon transport or technology.

Justin Francis, Managing Director of responsibletravel.com commented: “The Responsible Tourism Awards is now the largest and most prestigious Awards scheme of its kind in the world. More and more destinations, travel ventures (both large and small), tourist boards and travellers around the globe, are signing up to the concept of responsible tourism. Not only is it a more enjoyable and authentic way to travel but it is also the only way forward if travel is to have a sustainable future.”

NESTA has announced the 100 competitors in their Big Green Challenge programme.  The Big Green Challenge focuses on developing new ideas to tackle climate change. To find out more about NESTA click here.

Tesco the UK market leader in terms of ‘grocery stores’ is starting to introduce ‘carbon scores’ on some of their products to highlight how many grams of CO2 were produced during their production, packaging and disposal (source: Daily Telegraph).

Hello Scotland Is First UK Destination Management Company to Win Accreditation for its CarbonNeutral® operations

A Scottish destination management company has become the first in the UK to be given CarbonNeutral® operations accreditation.

Hello Scotland, which offers handcrafted, luxurious packages to corporate groups visiting Scotland, is working hard to tackle offsetting its carbon footprint in a number of ways, and has been now been awarded CarbonNeutral® operations status by The CarbonNeutral Company.

Although business travellers have come particularly under fire for their carbon footprint, Hello Scotland believes it has found a way of addressing the balance of continuing to offer unique elite and exclusive incentive packages to the corporate sector, while tackling the concerns of impact upon the environment.

Ambassador for Hello Scotland, Bill Thomson, explains: “Being a destination management company, we have no alternative but to use coaches to transport clients, and it’s out with our control as to how clients get to Scotland, but we now record every mile that our trips cover across the country and we then offset this through a number of selected initiatives to promote sustainable energy through The CarbonNeutral Company.”

Bill reveals Hello Scotland was awarded this status after submitting company data to The CarbonNeutral Company, including all of Hello Scotland’s commuting figures, mileage, number of clients, where they were all staying and so on. The company’s annual operations carbon footprint was calculated - and they’ve now managed to offset this for two years running.

A key part of offsetting their carbon footprint was mitigating changes within the company, such as reducing paper wastage by more than 40% over the past year and introducing a rigorous double-sided printing policy, as well as allocating ‘Green Champions’ on a monthly basis to take responsibility for waste disposal each week.

Further targets for this year are to not only invest in more recycled stationery, but to also reduce paper usage by a further 30% by creating greener client facing concepts, and Bill says a priority is to communicate with suppliers to look at ways they can work together to promote greener options.

By bringing their efforts to the attention of suppliers – and clients - Hello Scotland hopes to at least make them more aware of reducing their carbon footprint, with the aim this will encourage more people to do their bit to preserve the environment and make Scotland a sustainable destination in ecological terms.

“We certainly don’t want to push what we’re doing into people’s faces and we know there’s a lot of scepticism over CarbonNeutral® operations status, but small changes make a big difference - it’s simply not about paying a nominal figure to offload the guilt.

“On our trips, our clients get to see in practice what sustainability is all about – for example, the whisky distilleries that use natural resources but re-use and recycle wherever they can.”

For those clients that are keen to do their bit and get involved with Hello Scotland’s efforts, they’ll soon be given the choice of a ‘Green Upgrade’.

Bill explains: “We’re going to be offering options that are more ecologically friendly, such as using hotels that are more ecologically aware, and we’ll be able to let clients know the difference they’ll be making by upgrading to this level.”

In receiving carbon neutral status, this has also had a knock-on effect in Hello Scotland becoming much more involved in a national awareness campaign, highlighting not only the benefits to the environment, but the cost-savings that businesses can make.

Another big step for the company this year, as well as finding new ways to reduce their own carbon footprint and offset those made by their clients, is a grading from Green Tourism Business Scheme.

“This is really important for us and we’ll be working to meet the criteria of the scheme and the assessment it entails.”

So what set Hello Scotland on this challenge in the first place? “Through one of our team (Project Manager, Claire Scott), we have close links with an environmental board in Canada,” says Bill, “where they’re well ahead in terms of being ecologically aware – and that was one of the stimuli that gave us the idea of going doing this route.

Bill concludes: “We recognise that we have an integral responsibility in tackling the ever-present threats of climate change - and we’re very proud of the fact that we’re now recognised as being a CarbonNeutral® operation.”

Natur Cymru presented by Iolo Williams is a new six part series being shown on S4C.  Viewer will be taken on a wildlife journey across Wales‘ inspiring wetlands, mountains, forests and coastline.

“The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate former Vice President Al Gore. Our ultimate aim is to halt global warming.” Find out more here.

Online Entries Accepted Until April 16th

WASHINGTON (March April 3, 2008) — The National Geographic Society and Ashoka’s Changemakers are inviting geotourism innovators to enter a global online collaborative competition. The Geotourism Challenge: Celebrating Places, Changing Lives recognizes entrepreneurs that aim to sustain or enhance the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.

The challenge is accepting entries until April 16, 2008. Everyone is invited to review and discuss applications and help innovators refine their ideas. The finalists of the competition will have the opportunity to present their innovations at a Geotourism Challenge Summit and three winners will receive $5,000 each.

The competition includes a unique nomination process where travelers worldwide are invited to submit their favorite example of geotourism at www.changemakers.net/competition/geotourism

More than 95 innovations from 46 countries have already been submitted. For example, 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking employs Nepalese women to become adventure professionals. Blue Ventures brings groups of paying volunteers to supply the man power needed to protect threatened marine resources in Madagascar. In the U.S., The Rolling Rains Report increases access to tourism for people with disabilities.

“Tourism can be a positive force to help alleviate poverty, educate the public, and motivate preservation and conservation of cultural, natural and historic resources. When done poorly, tourism fails to provide local benefits and may destroy the distinctive assets of a destination. This Geotourism Challenge invites transparent discussion about ways to manage tourism better,” said Jonathan B. Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations (CSD). “The Challenge will recognize effective innovations that can be replicated elsewhere. It’s a catalyst to seek ways to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy and experience great destinations.”

The Geotourism Challenge is the first of three annual collaborative competitions in partnership with Ashoka’s Changemakers. “Ashoka’s vision is to build an ‘Everyone a Changemaker’ world,” said Bill Drayton, Ashoka’s founder and CEO. “National Geographic’s commitment will ensure geotourism innovators, decision-makers and enthusiasts can gather together to inspire a global community to care and to act.”

The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

Ashoka’s Changemakers is building an “open source” online community that competes to surface the best social solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. To date, Changemakers has attracted more than 2,000 solutions from more than 125 countries. www.changemakers.net.

Ashoka is the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs - creating a world of change by building an Everyone a ChangemakerTM society. Visit www.ashoka.org.