Our Environment Policy is key. Please do take the time to read the information on this page.
We rely on the mountains for so much. Our sport, our livelihood and our physical and mental well-being. So, it’s no surprise that we are passionate about protecting our wilderness areas for the future. Infact, it is one of the key reasons we are in business. We believe the most important practice for any outdoor business is that they are committed to sustainability.
We operate a range of environmental initiatives to try and minimise the impact of both our business operations and personal activities. Our focus is on the precious Peak District National Park that is both our home and business base, but we also operate across the world. The climate emergency is very much a battle that needs to be tackled globally. It’s very easy for businesses to ‘greenwash’ their environmental credentials but this doesn’t stack up for us. We are very firm believers in walking the walk and we hope, by having a glance through the information below, you’ll feel us a company worth doing business with.
Sustainable Outdoor Activities Provider Of The Year 2021
We focus on protecting the environment because it is the right thing to do, but it’s always great to have our efforts recognised and rewarded. We were delighted to be chosen as the Sustainable Outdoor Activities Provider Of The Year 2021 in the Midlands Enterprise Awards. These awards are focused on small to medium sized enterprises and nominations are judged by an expert panel. We couldn’t be happier when our commitment to sustainable practices is recognised in this way.
Carbon Literacy Standard
Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are at the highest ever recorded. This is key. Carbon emissions cause global warming and, ultimately, drive climate change. In order to minimise the impact of our operations we knew that a better understanding of the effect carbon has on this cycle was important. With this aim, Paul recently undertook an extensive programme of carbon literacy training.
Carbon literacy is an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis. We are now proud that we have met all the requirements of the Carbon Literacy Standard. To meet the standard we were required to produce individual and organisational pledges to reduce our carbon output. We have explained some more about achieving carbon literacy accreditation here.
Litter Collection Initiatives
We live and work in the heart of the UK’s most popular national park and are committed to protecting. A key part of our environment policy is working with several local conservation organisations. Among other initiatives, for the last six years we have run a free annual litter collection and outdoor activities event. We are proud of how popular this has become. Participants help clean up the park (last year 150 volunteers collected over 140kgs of rubbish). We then provide a selection of free outdoor activities as thank you.
We are proud to work closely with the Peak Park Conservation Volunteers on this event. We’ve also helped them with other litter collection activities. This has included using our climbing expertise to clear up some very challenging difficult to access litter hotspots. Details about our Pick & Play day are available here. We value the significant help of sponsors Rab, Lowe Alpine, Nikwax, Hydro Flask and Osprey Packs in running these events.
An offshoot of our Pick & Play is our Pick & Play Summer Tour. We trialled this in 2019 and it was a great success. The concept is being expanded for 2020 and beyond. The concept for these events is simple. Participants join us for a free evening outdoor activity session and in return spend a bit of time collecting litter. Last year we ran climbing, abseiling and a navigation training session. Each event is sponsored by an environmentally responsible business. We thank Rab and Lowe Alpine, Aquapac and Hydro Flask for supporting this year’s series. Details about our tour events and sign up details are available here.
Finally, we have recently introduced a Litter Collection Equipment Loan Scheme and we welcome everyone to get in touch. We have a selection of litter grabbers and gloves available to loan and invite Peak District visitors to help clean it up. It is a simple and fun way to make a difference and help educate others to the litter problem that we all face. Details on loaning the equipment are available here and the service is absolutely free. This facility is available thanks again to the generous support of Rab and Lowe Alpine.
Travel
No one can pretend that travel isn’t a major contributor to climate change. The scientific evidence is undeniable. As a travel business we constantly battle with the ethics of us travelling to venues and of others travelling to attend our courses. We are aware that we need to find a way of balancing the damage caused by travel with the life enhancing opportunities we can offer people. We also see that we can have a key role as educators.
So, if we are going to travel at all we need to find ways to offset the damage caused. We have implemented a range of strategies which go at least some way to mitigating the impact of our operations.
We are members of environmental advocacy organisation Mossy Earth which means, as well as making an annual commitment to their tree planting and re-wilding projects, we also purchase carbon credits to minimise the impact of the emissions for the flights taken both by ourselves and by our trip participants. As far as we know we are the first guiding company to run this scheme and, although we know it doesn’t address all the damage a trip causes, it is fantastic way of reducing our impact.
For UK operations we offer discounts to clients travelling to courses by public transport and also offer a free pick up and drop down service to help them get around the area. Not exactly transport, but we’ll even lend camping equipment for anyone wanting a low impact accommodation option.
For our own transport we consider each journey and assess the most sustainable way to travel. It can often be difficult to use public transport as we often have to carry large amounts of equipment and travel to remote locations, but we try and car share when possible and always look to minimise mileage. We are also looking at purchasing electric or hybrid vehicle options for our next vehicle changes. This is a key development point of our current environment policy.
Other Considerations
Finally, the devil of our environment policy is in the detail. As a responsible company we always try to look at the simple ways we can minimise our environmental impact. All our business energy comes from green energy sources. On our first aid courses we use ‘real’ mugs rather than disposables and reduce the amount of paper we use by issuing course documents and certificates electronically.
We align ourselves with outdoor companies producing clothing and equipment sustainably, have our t-shirts printed onto organic cotton, use recycled packaging and strive to reduce our energy output as much as possible. But perhaps the most important thing we aim to do is provide good role models through our work with everyone from young people to the wider community.