Cactus celebrates Green Britain Day
Friday, 10th July 2009
Today, Cactus Language Training is celebrating the inaugural Green Britain Day and increasing its fight against climate change by asking all of its staff to pledge to do something green.
Pledges include everything from dumping the plane in favour of the train where possible to always switching off the computer at night, and sourcing fruit & veg locally to drinking tap water instead of bottled. Why not share your pledges for Green Britain Day in our comments section below?
It’s difficult to know where to start when it comes to discussing the green credentials of a company which is has its roots in the travel industry. But, despite the nature of our business, we are big believers in making every effort to minimise the impact we have on our environment.
We already have a number of initiatives in place which help to reduce the impact we, and our customers, have on the environment (see below), but we can always do more! That’s why everyone at Cactus is making personal pledges in recognition of Green Britain Day.
An annual event, Green Britain Day is a chance for everyone to start working together to cut our carbon footprint in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
So, how is Cactus taking steps towards being green?
We encourage our staff and clients to dump the plane and take the train, and where air travel is necessary, we urge them to consider offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions by contributing to schemes such as those found at Climate Care and The Carbon Neutral Company. Cactus also has a policy where it offers staff a day in lieu for their extra travel time, if they dump the plane to take the train.
From recommending our customers stay with host families, arranging excursions with local providers and working with privately owned language schools where possible, Cactus aims to directly support the local communities in the destinations our customers travel to. By contributing to local economies, we are helping to create sustainable travel and enabling future travellers to continue visiting and enjoying these places.
Our website features interactive route maps giving comparisons between travelling to popular destinations by plane and train, outlining the cost, time and CO2 emissions, to allow our clients to make informed decisions about their travel arrangements. We also provide info to our clients on ways of off-setting their carbon emissions.
Located in the heart of Brighton, we encourage our employees to travel to and from work by bike or on foot where possible. Work-place parking spaces for bicycles is available for cyclists and we also have the government’s ‘Cycle to Work Scheme’ in place to encourage staff to ride to work. For longer distance travel, public transport is a convenient option as bus stops are a few metres down the road and the Brighton railway station is only a 10 minute walk away. When it is necessary to drive, we encourage ‘car sharing’. At the moment 75% of our employees either cycle or walk to and from work, and no one currently drives to work.
Recycling is one of our office routines. We not only recycle the usual cardboard, paper, glass, plastic and tetra packs, we also have a kitchen caddy installed where we put all of our used ground coffee and tea bags ready for composting.
And finally, all of our product information is available online only, meaning no more brochures!
Tags: green tourism, green britain day, event
Posted by Michelle Curtis 2009-07 under Cactus Language Worldwide, Cactus News, Anecdotes,
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