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Media Update: October 2006
The Adventure Travel World Summit is Carbon Neutral
Trade Event Among First to Offset 100 Percent of its Impact on Global Warming
Boulder, CO (October 19, 2006) - Sustainable Travel International (STI) announced today that it assisted the Adventure Travel Trade Association's (ATTA) Adventure Travel World Summit in becoming one of the first travel and tourism industry events to attain carbon neutral status.
By definition, 'carbon neutral' represents the point at which greenhouse gas emissions have been identified, measured, reduced where possible and 100 percent of the remaining emissions have been offset through high quality renewable energy, energy efficiency and or reforestation projects.
"There are a number of tourism-related events and conferences that have offset the greenhouse gas impacts associated with the event facility and others that offer attendees voluntary opportunities to offset, but the Adventure Travel World Summit will be the first carbon neutral event of its kind," explains Brian T. Mullis, President of STI. "As an educational-based non-profit, we collaborated with the Adventure Travel Trade Association on how it could take a leadership position in addressing the issue and offering best practice ideas and options to their members, and they rose to the occasion."
National Geographic Adventure magazine, Virtuoso, a leading global luxury travel network, and VAST! (Virtuoso's Active & Specialty Travel partners) are taking a leadership role in the tourism industry by sponsoring offsets of all carbon emissions produced during the event, including 400 delegates' travel to and from Seattle, their hotel stays, electricity consumption associated with the event facility, and waste generation associated with the event. Offsets will fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the Pacific Northwest and in developing countries through STI's partners Bonneville Environmental Foundation and MyClimate and will reduce carbon emissions elsewhere.
"We believe that introducing people to the world's most pristine places is the single strongest thing we can do to interest people in environmental issues," said National Geographic Adventure Publisher Francis Farrell. "We also understand that air travel contributes in a significant way to global warming. Demonstrating that carbon impacts can be offset sends an important message to adventure travel operators, adventurers and explorers."
"Taking a leadership role in the travel industry means recognizing our responsibility to the world we live in and supporting programs that make it better," says Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch. "Virtuoso, in conjunction with our VAST suppliers, who represent many of the world's best adventure and experiential travel companies, recognizes the value of acting on initiatives such as this. We commend STI and ATTA for taking such significant steps to combat global warming."
The ATTA, which hosts the annual event, also has rented hybrid vehicles through Flexcar, which reduces the exhaust from its fleet of shared vehicles, to shuttle delegates to and from Sea-Tac International Airport. In addition, the trade association is focused on reducing waste and improving energy efficiency associated with the event as well as encouraging its members to integrate carbon offset programs into their operations and commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Travel is a primary contributor to global climate change. Though voluntary carbon offsetting is not the solution in and of itself, it is an important part of a comprehensive strategy for addressing the problem," said ATTA Director Chris Doyle. "By encouraging our members and the adventure travel industry at large to take a holistic approach to combating global warming, together we can become part of the solution. ATTA selected STI for this year's Summit because they've a stellar track record and because they're raising the impact bar in real-world sustainable travel practices."
About Sustainable Travel International (STI)
STI, recently featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, CNN.com, and Condé Nast Traveler, is regarded for its due diligence in selecting the 'best of the best' offset partners, including MyClimate and Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). BEF Green Tags are certified by Green-e (www.green-e.org). And, MyClimate projects are developed in accordance with procedures, criteria and methodologies from the clean development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto protocol and the criteria of The Gold Standard (www.cdmgoldstandard.org). All STI projects are inspected, verified and certified by independent, third-parties. STI's most recent notable offset efforts include the 2006 FIFA World Cup, HSBC (one of the largest Banks in the world), Ben & Jerry's, Whole Foods Market, World Wildlife Fund - all in conjunction with MyClimate (www.my-climate.com).
About the Adventure Travel Trade Association
The Seattle-based Adventure Travel Trade Association (www.adventuretravel.biz) is a strategic membership organization dedicated to raising the profile of adventure travel globally. Established in 1990, the ATTA provides services, knowledge, and connections that help its members succeed in their businesses and contribute to responsible industry growth. The ATTA also is host the annual Adventure Travel World Summit (www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com).
About National Geographic Adventure
Published by the National Geographic Society, Adventure is a magazine for active, imaginative people who like to try new outdoor pursuits and want to travel to wild corners of the planet. Adventure inspires readers through profiles of remarkable explorers, past and present; travel narratives to amazing destinations; stories of exhilarating excursions closer to home; and accounts of ambitious expeditions. Through adventure-guide sidebars, how-to primers, and detailed maps, the magazine provides the tools readers need to set out on trips of their own.
About Virtuoso
Virtuoso is an exclusive network comprising more than 6,000 elite travel consultants, associated with 309 agencies in 22 countries throughout North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand. With annual sales of $3.8 billion, Virtuoso's member agencies make the group the most powerful in the luxury travel segment. Their relationships with the world's best travel companies provide the network's affluent clientele with incredible values, rare experiences and privileged access. For more information, please visit www.virtuoso.com.
About VAST
VAST! Virtuoso Active & Specialty Travel, is a collection of 26 smaller, unique & active companies within Virtuoso. These companies have joined forces to focus attention on agent education, create a greater awareness of products within the Virtuoso network and collaborate on joint marketing efforts. By collaborating, the VAST partners are able to affordably participate in major marketing initiatives that would be difficult to do on their own, thereby creating awareness amongst the Virtuoso agent community of the many upscale, off the beaten path travel options available to the consumer today.
Media Contacts
For Sustainable Travel International
Brian T. Mullis, President
800-276-7764 brianm@sustainabletravel.com
For the Adventure Travel Trade Association
Chris Doyle, Director
916.847.0261 cdoyle@adventuretravel.biz
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Sustainable Travel International and Bonneville Environmental Foundation Collaborate To Offer Carbon-Neutral Solutions to the Travel and Tourism Industry
Leading Travel Offset Organization Expands Portfolio of Market Driven Solutions for Addressing Climate Change
Boulder, CO (October 19, 2006) - Sustainable Travel International (STI) announced today that it has added Green Tags from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to its portfolio of programs designed to help travelers and travel-related companies address global climate change.
Travel-related greenhouse gas emissions are one of the fastest growing contributors to global warming. STI has focused on partnering with leading businesses and non-profit organizations to support Green Tag sales and carbon offsets in the tourism industry as the most effective market-driven solutions available for addressing global climate change attributed to travel.
"BEF's high standards for Green Tag sources and its non-profit status fits in well with STI's current carbon offset product offerings in the travel and tourism industry," said Brian T. Mullis, Co-founder of STI. "Our clients have been demanding that we provide them with opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects in the United States. Now they can choose to invest in projects that are closer to home, in developing countries, or a combination of both."
BEF Green Tags, also called renewable energy credits, offset the greenhouse gas impacts of air, water and ground travel. Green Tags are created when renewable energy sources - such as solar and wind power - are substituted for energy generated by burning fossil fuels, which are linked to global warming. Each BEF Green Tag offsets the carbon produced by 1,030 miles of air travel, and is equivalent to 1,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy.
All of BEF's Green Tag products are independently certified by Green-e® as coming from 100 percent new renewable energy projects. As a national non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, BEF reinvests all the net revenues from Green Tag sales in support of its mission, which is to develop solar power systems for schools, wind power systems for farms and ranches, and restoration efforts for salmon-bearing streams.
"BEF is one of the country's most innovative social enterprises, combining the business and the mission of supporting renewable energy," adds Tom Starrs, BEF's vice president of marketing and sales. "STI is focused on providing individuals and business travelers with the tools they need to protect the places they visit, and the planet at large. Collaborating makes great sense, and we are delighted to be working with STI."
Green Tags are the latest addition to STI's existing programs, which include booking travel with sustainable travel operators, eco-certification for travel and tourism providers and professionals, and an eco-directory aimed at helping travelers to choose environmentally sustainable travel choices.
For more information on Green Tags and other STI carbon-offset programs, please contact Peter D. Krahenbuhl at STI, 303-448-0967 or email peterk@sustainabletravel.com.
About The Bonneville Environmental Foundation
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was established in 1998 to restore watershed ecosystems and further the development and use of new renewable energy resources. Through revenues generated from the sale of green power products such a Green Tags, BEF funds initiatives that restore damaged watersheds and support new renewable energy projects. BEF pioneered the sale of Green Tags in 2000 and has helped establish national standards for their certification and trading. Visit www.b-e-f.org or www.GreenTagsUSA.org.
About Sustainable Travel International
Sustainable Travel International (STI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was established in 2002 to promote sustainable development and eco-friendly travel by providing programs that help travelers and travel-related companies protect the environmental, socio-cultural and economic needs of the places they visit, and the planet at large. Visit www.sustainabletravelinternational.org or call 800-276-7764.
Media Contacts
For Sustainable Travel International:
Peter Krahenbuhl, Vice President
303.448.0967 PeterK@SustainableTravel.com
For Bonneville Environmental Foundation:
Michelle Hirschhorn, Director of Business Development
503.248.1905 MicheleHirschhorn@b-e-f.org
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Adventure Travel Tour Operator
Sets New Precedent
Escape Adventures' Triple Bottom Line Benchmark
Boulder, CO (October 19, 2006) - Sustainable Travel International (STI) announced today that it helped Escape Adventures become one of - if not the first adventure travel company in the U.S. to attain carbon neutral status.
"I want this to set a standard and an example for other businesses to follow including our competitors," explains Jared Fisher, co-owner of Escape Adventures. "Money cannot be the only factor to measure a businesses' success. By adding social and environmental dimensions to the traditional economic benchmark, business can accurately gauge their performance across the triple bottom line, which benefits everyone."
Escape Adventures, which specializes in hiking, biking and multi-sport tours throughout the western United States, took a bold step when the company proactively offset all of its greenhouse gas emissions for 2006 through STI, including its waste generation, electricity consumption, employee flights and land travel. "We felt it was important to make a high level contribution to addressing global climate change, so our guests would know how important the environment is to our business," Fisher concludes.
Though carbon offsetting is becoming an important tool for addressing global warming, it wasn't enough for Escape Adventures. The company set a new precedent when it committed to investing almost a quarter of a million dollars in mitigating its other environmental impacts. Specifically, the company invested $101,000 in solar cells to power its retail bicycle shops and bike tour warehouses in Las Vegas and Moab, $121,000 in diesel vans and trucks, and $10,500 in Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) conversions, fuel holding tanks and pumps to run its vehicles off of WVO and bio-diesel. The company has also reduced its waste by almost 90 percent and only prints its marketing materials on 100 percent post consumer recycled paper using soy based inks. An employee incentive program has also be implemented which gives each employee a $5 per day bonus just for riding their bicycle to work.
"Numerous research studies prove that managing waste and improving energy efficiency result in direct cost savings and that doing the right thing through corporate responsibility initiatives attracts conscientious consumers whose purchasing decisions align with their values," offers Brian T. Mullis, STI's President. "Though this might be what it takes to get the mainstream travel and tourism businesses to support the triple bottom line, Escape Adventures makes it clear that profit isn't always the underlying motive, and that's extremely encouraging."
For more information about Escape Adventures, contact Jared Fisher at 800.596.2953 or visit escapeadventures.com. For more information on Sustainable Travel International, contact Brian T. Mullis at 800-276-7764 or visit sustainabletravelinternational.org.
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