The Environment and Responsible Tourism
Here at Out There People, we’re lucky enough to have a beautiful, world class environment outside our front door. We want to share that with others, but at the same time, ensure it’s properly protected for future generations.
This special environment is fragile so we strive to ensure our activities are sustainable. Acknowledging our social and environmental responsibilities means for example we purchase local goods and use local services, as well as encouraging our clients to do the same. It also means ensuring we do simple things like maximising use of electronic communication and emailing course material rather than using paper.
Nurture Lakeland
We are proud to be members of Nurture Lakeland, an organization that inspires people to care for Cumbria’s natural environment through responsible tourism. They help make our tourist industry sustainable by creating ways for business and individuals to donate to conservation and ensuring that projects and campaigns that support the environment are supported.
Putting something back
Just talking about sustainability isn’t enough at Out There People, we’re committed to doing something about it! We donate to Nurture Lakeland 1% of every booking fee received, in order to support projects that help protect our local environment. At the same time, we provide clients with the opportunity to make their own
On top of that, we commit to getting our hands dirty, providing voluntary support every year to some of the many projects and campaigns that help the mountains and wildlife within the Lake District.
Transport
Many of the roads in the Lake District were laid down before the invention of the car and they don’t cope well with heavy traffic and neither does the local environment. We don’t want to unnecessarily add to that so we’re happy to provide you with information about public transport as well as local walks, bike rides and activities that you can undertake that can help minimise car use during the rest of your stay.
Where possible, courses are designed to minimise travel. Where it’s necessary to move between venues, we encourage participants to car share and we’re happy to facilitate this.
Our approach to running a sustainable and responsible tourism business is as follows:
Economic responsibility
* Encourage the use of local services (accommodation, transport, crafts, food supplies & pubs/cafes)
* Buying locally produced goods (meats, bread, produce)
* Any sub-contracting of services to be done on a local basis through local providers
* The use of a variety of local venues spreads the economic benefit to the wider area
Social responsibility
* Promoting local culture and traditions through education
* Encouraging local participation in our courses
* Using venues where interaction with locals is encouraged
* Introducing clients to the local community by arranging meetings with local farmers and conservation workers as part of our courses to encourage interaction
Environmental responsibility
* We promote education in, about and for the environment
* We ensure our courses have as little environmental impact and promote the 7 principles of Leave No Trace’: Plan ahead & prepare, Travel & camp on durable surfaces, Dispose of waste properly, Leave what you find, Minimise campfire impacts, Respect Wildlife, Be considerate to other visitors
*We promote environmental awareness and understanding as an integral aspect of our courses
* Develop links with environmental charities and encourage participants to find out about their work i.e. John Muir Trust, Nurture Lakeland
We’ve put in some links to organisations who are connected to the protection or promotion of the natural environment. We’d encourage you to have a look at some of these and see what you might be able to do to play your part in helping the natural environment:
The John Muir Trust – www.jmt.org/
Nurture Lakeland – inspiring business and individuals to contribute to the dynamic conservation and enhancement of the Lake District and Cumbria for current and for future generations. www.nurturelakeland.org/
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers www.btcv.org.uk/
Wilderness Foundation UK – dedicated to preserving the last of the worlds wild places. www.wildernessfoundation.org.uk/
Cumbrian Wildlife Trust – the only voluntary organisation devoted solely to the conservation of the wildlife and wild places of Cumbria. www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/
Natural England – whose purpose is to protect and improve England’s natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get involved in their surroundings. www.naturalengland.org.uk/