At Spirit of the West Adventures, we understand that many of our guests come on our kayaking tours around BC to participate in a style of trip that has minimum impacts on the environment. While we follow established minimum impact practices during our tours, our ideals don’t stop at the back door. We firmly believe that a business can operate successfully and still have a minimal or positive impact on the environment in which we all live. Our practices are summarized below, and feel free to contact us to discuss any specific questions you may have.

We at Spirit of the West aim to raise the bar in terms of environmental commitment and sustainability in the Eco-tourism industry. We are not looking for a pat on the back for our efforts, but we hope to set new standards that encourage other tourism/business providers to also clean up their organizations and become co-leaders in sustainable and environmentally sound practices.

 

We are a Carbon Neutral Certified Business!

As a company we also purchase offset credits to help minimize our impact as a business on the environment. Purchasing carbon offsets means that a financial contribution is made by an individual or organization to projects that help sequester or prevent the release of carbon dioxide into the environment. Examples of projects include investing in 'green' or alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass energy and technology and community based projects. While we recognize that 'paying for our sins' is not going to solve the problems of pollution and climate change, we believe that we are taking a step in the right direction and raising awareness about the issue. We are currently working with Planetair to become a certified carbon neutral company by 2009.

We encourage you to help offset your environmental impact when traveling to and from your Spirit of the West Adventure. Click on the Planetair logo below to offset your air or vehicle travel.

 

 

1% For The Planet

Spirit of the West Adventures is a proud member of 1% For The Planet. As part of our commitment to the environment, we donate 1% of our sales to organizations dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment.

1% For The Planet is an alliance of companies that recognize the true cost of doing business and donate 1% of sales to nonprofit environmental organizations worldwide.

Please visit http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org

 

 

Office Practices
In order to decrease our ecological footprint we have over the years introduced to the following office and administrative practices:

We use only 100% recycled, unbleached paper for our printing needs, including our brochures. We also ensure that we use both sides of the paper before recycling unneeded sheets.

We have lots of natural lighting in our office space to lessen our dependency on artificial lighting. When we do use the lights, our light bulbs are compact fluorescent bulbs which are much more energy efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs.

We ensure that all of our computers and printers are turned off each evening and when not in use.

We do not have air conditioning and instead chose to let the breeze in through our windows.

Food
We try to use local and organic products as much as possible on our trips. This helps ensure a healthy environment and supports the local economy.

Our coffee is locally roasted, fair-trade organic coffee from Aroma Specialty Coffee Roasters on Quadra Island.

We buy fruits and vegetables from local organic farms and Audreys Organic Produce.

Our bread is from the 'Lovin' Oven', a local bakery.

We buy many ingredients for our meals in bulk from a Quadra Island shop called The Yellow Dog Trading Company, which specializes in organic products. This helps us to minimize packaging waste.

All salmon that we serve on our trips is locally caught Wild Pacific Salmon.

We compost all organic waste and use the soil for the Spirit of the West organic garden in which we grow some of the delicious foods we eat while on kayaking trips.

Part of the harvest from this garden is donated to the local community kitchen, which provides healthy nutritious meals and opportunities for socializing to all residents of Quadra Island.

See our food philosophy.

Staff/ Spirit of the West Team
We encourage healthy staff by choosing mostly organic food for all of our trips.

We also provide returning staff with a $250 credit and new staff with a $50 credit for a health treatment of their choice, i.e., massage, naturalist appointment etc.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on sex, race, class, sexual orientation etc.

We pay fair and competitive wages, which ensure a quality standard of living for all of our staff.

We are investigating ways to provide year-round employment for those who are interested.

We encourage staff to ride their bikes or walk to work. We also provide our staff with safe bike storage tools to maintenance their bikes.

We have a shower at work so that our staff can shower after their commute to work.

We provide safe bicycle storage facilities and a bike maintenance station with tools.

Our strong focus on environmental education and personal development means we provide our staff with free instruction from professional naturalists and historians, in order to learn about the areas in which we operate. We also offer grants to help offset the cost of continuing education courses and certification.

Our staff participate in local environmental and community events such as beach clean-ups, roadside garbage collection and social functions.

We like to think of our organization as a community. We support each other and try to encourage independent thinking and freedom of choice/expression amongst our staff. Our staff works with us, not for us.

Staff are encouraged to take home left-over unspoiled food from trips to ensure we have very little waste and to keep their living costs in check.

The Spirit of the West Building
Our base of operations is located on beautiful Quadra Island BC. Here we are surrounded by a wonderful community that strives to work together to keep the island an incredible place to live.

We operate our business from a small property in a quiet neighborhood on the island. We have made our property and home reflect our business practices and ethics.

The lawn is a collection of wild flowers and pre-existing grasses. We cut the lawn using an electric lawnmower.

Trees on the property help to provide shade in the summer, a natural buffer to the road, and some even provide us with tasty fruits and treats.

We use only organic gardening techniques in our vegetable patch and flower gardens.

We collect rain water for watering our garden and cleaning kayaks etc.

We have a UV water treatment system on our water to ensure clean and safe water for our guests and staff.

The interior of the house is painted with low volatile organic compounds (VOC) paint which helps to keep the air we breath clean.

We use a front-loading washing machine for our laundry needs. This machine uses 13 gallons of water per load, versus a top loading machine which uses apx. 45 gallons per load. Our machine also spins more water out of the clothes making the drying time shorter (we however just use the clothesline and wind to dry our laundry).

We have a dual flush toilet. This toilet saves water by giving you the option of using a smaller 3.4 litre flush and a larger 6 litre flush. Older toilet models can use upwards of 15 litres of water per flush.

We have dimmer switches installed in the house which allows for the light needed to be adjusted therefore not using more energy than we need.

We are working to seal all the windows and trim in the house with caulking to minimize drafts and energy/heat loss.

We have installed a wood stove from Quadra Fire that is a top of the line clean burning stove which minimizes pollution.

We get our firewood from locally managed, sustainable woodlots on Quadra Island.

We have a low-flow shower head and aerators on all of our taps to minimize water usage.

We plan to install a cistern which fills slowly from our well in the wet season for use during the summer months.

On-trip Practices

While kayaking we practice minimum impact camping in order to preserve the nature of the coast. Human waste is dealt with in the most appropriate manner for the location we’re in, soap use in freshwater lakes and streams is not permitted, and at our campsites we keep our “footprint” as small as possible by keeping to established tent sites and trails. Our food is stored out of the reach of any curious animals so as to not alter their natural behavior. We respect the wildlife and believe in their right to exist without harassment, and while we treasure all sightings, we maintain a healthy distance.


We abide by all whale watching guidelines and try not to ever disturb wildlife from their normal behavior.

We source our kayaking and paddling gear from reputable manufacturers and when possible from within Canada.

We use only biodegradable and phosphate free dish soaps

We send cloth napkins on our basecamp trip, which are then washed and re-used.

We offer our guests the free use of re-chargeable batteries while on trip.

Every guest of Spirit of the West receives a re-usable mug to use while in trip, but to also encourage using a travel mug once back at home versus disposable cups when enjoying their daily coffee or tea.

We recycle everything that we can. BC is lucky to have a great returnable drink container program in which we participate.

We respect all the guidelines for operation set forth by Parks Canada, BC parks and the Marine Protected Areas.

We are working to establish protocol agreements with all First Nations groups who consider the areas we travel in traditional territory.

We were founding members of the North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association (NIMSA) which was established to ensure responsible self regulation of tourism operators involved in wildlife viewing. This organization helps to ensure the protection of the many mammals which we are so fortunate to have on the British Columbia coast.

We support the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve Warden and Research program which aims to educate boaters about the Marine Reserve and the very special Orca whales which frequent this area. We supply the program with donations of food and support whenever possible. They also help to cut down on our food waste, buy eating excess unspoiled food that we have from our kayak tours.

Community

We care for our community and support it through our business. Through purchasing locally and hiring local staff where possible we support those around us. Our business is based year-round on Quadra Island, BC

We are members of 1% for the planet and through this organization donate to non-profit environmental groups such as the Sierra club of Quadra, the Quadra Island Salmon Enhancement Society Etc.

We volunteer our services and recourses for community events.

We work with local accommodation providers ensuring that the money generated by the stay of our guests benefits the local community.
We have arranged for the B&Bs our guests most often stay at to allow guests to chose to use the same sheets and towels from their pre-trip stay, after their trips as well, eliminating the need for washing them after only one night of sleeping in them.
We pick-up our guests at their accommodation, carpooling to our various trip destinations.

These are all little steps towards becoming a responsible member of the business community and community at large. This is an on-going process which we hope is always improving and changing

Most of our sea kayaking British Columbia tours start from beautiful British Columbia. To kayak Quadra Island, please have a look at our kayaking Quadra Island pages to see what to do when visiting Quadra Island including our fantastic kayak Vancouver Island Day Tours. kayaking British Columbia with Spirit of the West.

Sea kayaking Canada day tours on Quadra Island

Book your 2009 sea kayaking tour today online

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