Good things are often hiding in plain sight. Sometimes it only takes a slight shift in the way we are looking at things to see benefits that were previously invisible to us. And sometimes ideas that were previously left by the wayside are shown to be worthy of reconsideration in a new context.

Decades ago I read a book called Design for the Real World by an industrial designer named Victor Papanek, the dean of the California Institute of the Arts. Papanek saw through standard conventions and came up with radically new ways to do things. He was also one of the early advocates of what we now call sustainability. He was always looking for ways to do things that were less wasteful, less polluting, and more benign for people and the environment. One of the ideas that struck me in his book was the idea of reviving the use of airships for transportation.

Airships, blimps, dirigibles, and zeppelins are like giant balloons. A huge aluminum chamber is filled with a gas that is lighter than air, so it pulls the craft up into the sky with no propulsion required. It flies the way a carnival balloon flies Read the rest of this entry »

VIA Rail is transforming into a vehicle for change in Canada! On April 19th, we reached another milestone towards that objective as we unveiled our five-year sustainability plan and announced our participation in the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, the United Nations Global Compact.

So what are we doing to be part of the solution in helping create a better tomorrow?

Zero-Waste Train is on its way

We want to reduce our environmental footprint at every step of your journey. That’s why as part of this plan we will focus on minimizing waste generation, ensuring products and packaging are reused and recycled. The goal? Welcoming you on board zero-waste trains in the Québec City-Windsor corridor by 2025.

Reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

By choosing to take the train, you are already using one of the most environmentally friendly modes of transportation. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop here: as part of our plan, we aim to reduce our GHG emissions by 30% or more by 2030, compared to 2005.

Sustainability is at the heart of the future we are all building together, and these are only a few examples of the ten goals we have set. Click on the link below to learn more about our plan.

https://corpo.viarail.ca/en/sustainability

New five-year partnership to establish ambitious, measurable sustainability goals for groundbreaking progress across ship, sea and shore.

Royal Caribbean Group has announced its new commitment to the next phase of its ongoing partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for guidance and counsel in establishing environmental goals and sustainable business practices.

“Healthy, sustainable oceans are paramount to our mission of delivering the best vacations responsibly,” said Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty. “Our partnership with WWF encapsulates our belief in continuous improvement and our commitment to advancing our environmental, social and governance (ESG) work. The support and assistance of WWF will be invaluable to realizing this mission as we work to set and achieve our sustainability goals.”

Royal Caribbean Group first partnered with WWF in 2016. Since then, WWF has advised Royal Caribbean Group to embed sustainability into the core of the company’s business and across the industry, promote responsible tourism in priority coastal destinations and help protect the oceans by investing in conservation programs globally. This included establishing bold 2020 sustainability goals that the company has met or exceeded, with the exception of the sustainable seafood sourcing target, which was impacted by global suspension of service from the pandemic.

The cruise industry has seen repeated calls for more progress on sustainable travel, particularly in relation to the use of fuel and waste disposal.

The next five years of the partnership will focus on setting ambitious, measurable sustainability targets around the reduction of carbon emissions, the sustainable growth and development of the business, sustainable commodity sourcing and tourism, the elimination of single-use plastics and waste management, among other areas.

“Scale matters, particularly in the face of global challenges like climate change and ocean conservation. We’re grateful for the progress Royal Caribbean Group has made toward achieving its sustainability goals since 2016, and we’re energized by an ambition for even greater things to come,” said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF-US. “Our work together is grounded in the reality that people everywhere – from local communities and Indigenous peoples to urban residents and tourists – rely on the ocean for food, livelihoods, and enrichment. We’re committed to doing everything possible to keep ocean ecosystems thriving for the benefit of all people, as well as the many other creatures for whom the ocean is their home.

Royal Caribbean sets forth its sustainability mission and goals on its website. There, the cruise line stipulates its endorsement of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) standards, focused on making destinations and shore excursions more sustainable by working with tour operators and local governments, and offering GSTC-certified tours to our guests.

This year, WWF and Royal Caribbean Group will work together to establish sustainability goals across three key areas of Ship, Sea and Shore:

• Ship — Continuous improvement of operational sustainability, including emissions, marine mammal protection, seafood sourcing, plastics reduction, and food waste.
• Sea — Investing in ocean health through targeted philanthropy; engaging with a global science-driven agenda and consumer-facing education and fundraising campaigns.
• Shore — Embedding principles of sustainable development in projects and increasing sustainability and certification of tour operators.

Royal Caribbean Group will also continue to provide financial support to WWF’s global ocean conservation work through a $5 million philanthropic contribution and collaborate with WWF to build global awareness about ocean conservation issues among Royal Caribbean Group’s millions of guests.

The renewal of the partnership with WWF builds on Royal Caribbean Group’s broader decarbonization strategy, focused on establishing Science-Based Targets (SBT).

Offering up the best of the best in travel isn’t easy; this takes tenacity, an open mind to the traveler’s wants and needs, and a healthy perspective on what a destination has to offer. And Intrepid Travel is a supplier that prides itself on these attributes. They have been a tour provider for 30 years with sustainable travel focused on local perspectives, an expansive list of countries, and even a not-for-profit foundation that has raised millions of dollars.

Intrepid Travel offers up more than 1,150 trips, in 23 countries, on every continent. These include family-friendly vacations, wildlife and polar tours, a journey through local foods, adventure cruising, and adventures like cycling and touring. The destinations of these tours span the world, from seeing Read the rest of this entry »