It has not escaped anyone lately that the climate change announced for decades was seriously beginning to take hold. If indeed, the phenomenon is no longer reversible, there is always time to do your part and adapt.
Do your part?
The “hummingbird legend” says that “One day, […] there was a huge forest fire. All terrified animals, aghast, watched helplessly disaster. Only the little hummingbird was busy, fetching a few drops with its beak to throw them on the fire. After a while, the armadillo, annoyed by this ridiculous agitation, said to him: “Hummingbird! You're not crazy ? It is not with these drops of water that you will put out the fire! And the hummingbird replied, "I know that, but I'm doing my part." »
Indeed, who are we in the face of the big polluting groups, the giants of globalization, the millionaires who think they are Buzz Aldrin... to hope to have an impact with our small eco-gestures? A drop of water on the fire, it's true, but at present every ton of CO² counts, so there is no small contribution, every eco-gesture counts!
Soft mobility
For the tourism industry, which today contributes to 11% of greenhouse gas effects in France, the first lever is mobility.
We have to make sure that our visitors come by train, by bike or stay longer. To do this, SNCF has worked with local tourism players to come up with ideas for train travel, which can be found here: The Charleville–Givet line | TER Fluo in the Grand Est (sncf.com).
Your first step? You can tell your customers how to come with public transport and offer bicycles for hire.
Local and seasonal products
Another effective lever is played by the food supply.
For example, here is the CO² impact of a kilo of tomato according to its origin and the season:
To find out more, you can download a presentation from the Ecotable association on eco-responsible catering here: https://www.ardennes.com/app/uploads/2022/06/ce-quil-faut-retenir-formation-ecotable-ardennes.pptx.pdf
Your first step? Offer a local and seasonal breakfast: butter, jam, fruit juice, breads made with local flour, charcuterie, milk, cheese, yoghurt, fruit… you can find all of this in the Ardennes!
As far as coffee, tea and chocolate are concerned, this is not (yet) possible, but for these products, prefer fair trade products. Or those who have crossed the Atlantic on a sailboat, a new form of merchant shipping is on its way: Our cargo sailboat – Carbon-free maritime transport – Grain de Sail , an initiative to follow!
Save water and energy
Your customers are on vacation, and often, according to what I was able to observe during my visits to members at Ardennes Ecotourism Club, they put their good habits on hold… radiators on maximum and windows open, 30-minute showers, lights never turned off… You have to make them aware of course, and for that, you can benefit from the customer awareness kit for eco-gestures but you can also limit losses with a few investments (also subsidized by ADEME via the Sustainable Tourism Fund):
Your drop of water to save energy? Insulate your premises to maintain coolness or heat (depending on the season), install open window detectors on radiators and presence detectors in hallways or toilets.
Your drop of water to preserve water? a little reminder, a French person consumes an average of 150 liters of water per day, this same person on vacation will consume up to 100 liters more per day! So, do not hesitate to equip the taps with flow reducers, the tap will always be open for as long as possible but you will save up to 4 liters of water per minute thanks to these small pieces of equipment (from 3€ to 10€ per unit ).
For the shower, you can raise your customers' awareness with hourglasses, or even luminous shower heads that turn red when the shower is too long.
Reduce and better manage waste.
Regarding waste, the 5 R rule should be kept in mind when shopping and then when disposing of an object:
We can see on this diagram that the sorting of waste only happens in 4e position, this is the last resort because it takes a lot of water and energy to recycle.
When we know that it takes 3 liters of water to produce the plastic that will contain 1,5 liters of mineral water, we see the interest of offering customers to fill their water bottles.
Your drop of water? You can join the network for free Gourd-fnothingly and remove plastic bottles or remove all individual wrappers from the breakfast table.
Communicate !
Finally, if you have implemented eco-gestures, let them know! More and more customers are looking for eco-responsible accommodation and activities, they should find this information on your website, your social networks... for an equivalent service, this can make the difference in choosing a customer.
Your drop of water? Join the free Ardennes Ecotourism Club and benefit from advice and better visibility!
[1] Source: The legend of the hummingbird – I do my part with the ecoloHumanists (lesecolohumanistes.fr)
| Contact: Stephanie Drothier Sustainable tourism project manager Ardennes ADT 24 Place Ducale 08000 Charleville-Mezieres Tel .: 03 24 56 68 67 drothier@ardennes.com |