By Céline Cousteau

World Ocean’s Day is celebrated on 8 June 2021. Our oceans are integral to life on earth, and this is a time to acknowledge that and advocate for our waters. As the ‘Planet’ Ambassador for the TreadRight Foundation, the non-profit organization founded by the Travel Corporation (TTC), the ocean is not just a critical resource to me, but a crucial source of hope for our future.

The ocean is home to some of the world’s most incredible species, which provides endless fascination to me as an environmentalist and as a mother, whose little boy is in awe of it. As an explorer, I find inspiration and adventure in its depths. Now, we’re discovering that it could be key in taking action against climate change.

Protect our Waters for the Future

It’s true that our oceans are under threat. However, rather than scaring readers with doom and gloom scenarios, I prefer to instil hope. Our oceans have the potential to undo some of the dreadful damage that we have inflicted on the environment over the past 100 years or more.

Humanity’s wellbeing fully relies on the welfare of our planet. Although the challenges we collectively face can seem endless, the potential solutions are also mounting. The answers may lie in our waters, if we protect them.

Prevention is paramount for protection of our oceans. We need to prevent eight million pieces of plastic ending up in our waters every single day. Ocean restoration can provide a natural means to decrease our huge carbon footprint and empower climate action.

According to the “Let Nature Help” report by the Wildlife Trust, climate solution could provide more than a third of the CO2 mitigation required until 2030. Our oceans can absorb 20-35% of human-made CO2 emissions every year, which is a huge help in terms of combating climate change. Recently, this has been recognized by the USA and Canada, who have committed to nature-based solutions to fight climate change. The UK have introduced measures to restore nature on the path to carbon removal.

Helping Nature Lead the Way

Each of us can be significant in bringing about a solution. We have big, bold ideas of how nature can heal supported by scientific research. Over the past decade with the TreadRight Foundation, my role has been to highlight the sustainable travel initiatives worldwide that happen with the Travel Corporation’s support.

Luxury Gold recognizes that climate change needs urgent attention. This is why the company is implementing the Travel Corporation’s Climate Action Plan. This five-point plan includes measurable goals as part of a commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.

As part of fulfilling these commitments, TreadRight has partnered with two marine based carbon removal solutions. The first is GreenWave, a regenerative ocean farming organization and the other is Project Vesta, who are exploring the natural capacity of the ocean as a carbon sink.

Natural Solutions

GreenWave are TreadRight’s first carbon removal partner, and members of its organization study how kelp can be added to soil, increasing its carbon storage potential while decreasing harmful nitrous oxide emissions on regenerative land farms. Research has discovered that kelp minimizes the need for fertilizer and also reduces nitrous oxide emissions from the soil. Nitrous oxide emissions are 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide emissions so if GreenWave’s pilot project proves that kelp is effective, this will have a tremendous effect on the fight for climate change. It will also provide the opportunity for regenerative ocean and land farms to work together for the good of our planet.

Bren cranking up the kelp line.

Project Vesta’s plan is to utilize the natural power of the ocean and remove a trillion tonnes of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. On pilot beaches in the Caribbean, they have taken a naturally occurring rock, olivine, crushed it and redistributed it to coastal areas where it can be naturally weathered by the waves. As it breaks down, carbon dioxide is removed from the air, eventually ending up as limestone on the ocean floor. This both reduces the carbon in the air and the level of acidity in the ocean. Recent research proves that the chemistry works and as olivine can be found in abundance, it suggests that we have highly affordable, scalable solution for our seas.

Olivine Weathering Reaction

Olivine has the potential to capture one gigaton (GT) of carbon dioxide per year if placed on just 0.25% of global shelf seas, which is roughly equal to the amount of carbon that 16 billion trees growing for ten years could remove from the air. Project Vesta currently has pilot beaches in the Caribbean and is studying a natural olivine sand beach in Hawaii. Project Vesta aims to establish the validity of the process, while ensuring that it is ecologically sound before it can be replicated worldwide.

MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®

These projects are harnessing the remarkable power of the ocean to benefit humanity and the future of our planet. It’s incredible that nature is providing us the solutions to a problem we have created.

I would ask that the next time you see the ocean, consider the great hope it represents to our climate and future. I invite you to join me and Luxury Gold in taking the pledge to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®. Wherever you go, travel with purpose.

It was announced today that MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences by The Travel Corporation (TTC) and its family of brands has been named an honoree in the Corporate Social Responsibility category of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Idea Awards. Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, inspiring readers to lead with purpose and embrace change. Now in its fifth year, the Fast Company Award honors ground-breaking ideas launched in 2020 that are deeply committed to pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet.

Selected from thousands of applicants, we are honored our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences have been recognized along with the other notable individuals and brands doing incredible, world-changing work. MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences were developed as a tool for TTC’s brands to advance positive change around the world through the direct participation of travelers. They’re meant to transform the way we think about the travel experience, for the mutual benefit of travelers and the people and places they visit. It is our hope this transformation can shift the way we travel for good, through long-lasting and meaningful impact.

Our everyday choices and actions have an impact on the world around us, and the way we travel is no exception. This has never been clearer than in the present era of COVID-19, with the entire world experiencing an unprecedented pause in travel. Never before have people across the globe collectively appreciated the gift of travel in its absence, in addition to its economic value to communities worldwide.

What sets MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences apart from other travel experiences?

MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences are chosen for the ways in which they directly advance the United Nations Global Goals (UNSDGs), widely accepted as the blueprint to address issues such as poverty, inequality, biodiversity and more. Established in 2016, the goals were quickly adopted by governments, businesses and society as those we should all be working towards. We used the UNSDG’s and their specific indicators to develop a set of our own criteria, endorsed by leading industry sustainable development experts, which allow our family of brands to identify transformative experiences that go beyond being a feel-good experience. This means we are building travel experiences that display genuine social and environmental good.

To identify MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences, we built a proprietary assessment tool that identifies if an experience meets a Global Goal, and if so, which goal or goals it supports.

How Can an Experience Change the World?

Choices are critical. From the clothes you buy, the food you eat and the businesses you support, to the trip you’ve been waiting to take since COVID-19 made itself known. Our portfolio of MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences can change the travel industry, which is one of the world’s largest, accounting for 10.3% of the global GDP (WTTC, 2019). By choosing to participate in one of these experiences and actively seeking out travel designed to make a positive impact, you are helping us to prioritise community-based enterprises – from supporting women-owned businesses, experiencing unique farm stays that utilize regenerative agriculture practices or learning about ancient cultures that carry on their traditions by sharing their stories with others. You have the power to choose these experiences and support sustainable practices, while setting the tone for the purpose-driven offering you expect of the wider travel industry.

Why and how are MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences designed around the Global Goals?

Our goal in developing our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences was to positively impact broader environmental and social issues, so it was a natural fit to look to the United Nations Global Goals to help narrow our focus and ladder up to international efforts.

MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®

How you can start today

As part of our sustainability strategy How We Tread Right, our goal at Luxury Gold is to include at least 1 MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience on 50% of our itineraries worldwide by 2022, and we are well on our way there. For your next adventure when travel resumes, browse our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences and join us in making travel a force for good.

DISCOVER OUR FAVORITE MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® EXPERIENCES

Andean Textiles, Peru

Meet Center for Traditional Textiles Founder Nilda Callañaupa and learn how she’s working to empower Quechuan women and men by preserving and teaching textile traditions.

Pink City Rickshaw, India

Take a ride with Jaipur’s Pink City Rickshaw and help local female drivers discover their newfound economic independence.

Traditional Artisans, Italy

Discover how weavers are preserving the medieval tradition of loom-weaving at their artisan workshop in Perugia while speaking with Marta, recipient of a TreadRight Foundation grant.

The coronavirus pandemic has been a huge blow for the travel industry, but it has also impacted many small local communities and indigenous groups who were reliant on tourism. The positive result of this is that many people are considering more responsible travel. Sustainable tourism is rightfully becoming the choice of travelers worldwide, as we move forward to a new era. It’s not simply enough to bring money into a community, it’s important that it is distributed fairly and in a way that preserves the culture and spirit in the most sustainable way possible.

Luxury Gold’s parent company, The Travel Corporation, have had sustainable travel at the forefront since 2008, when the Travel Corporation Conservation Foundation was founded, as a joint initiative among its brands. In 2012, that evolved into the TreadRight Foundation and six years later introduced the #MakeTravelMatter pledge and the three pillars of People, Wildlife and the Planet.

#MakeTravelMatter

This official pledge is a commitment to protecting our Planet, the People and Wildlife when we travel. It is making the choice to tread right as we travel, say goodbye to single use plastics, recycling, environment protection, honoring people’s homelands and treating them with respect. When experiencing wildlife, it is done in the creature’s natural habitat and not disturbing them.

As part of this commitment, TreadRight have appointed three ambassadors to help raise awareness of the inspiring projects that take place around the world and how travelers can make a difference. These three women are passionate storytellers and activists who promote meaningful travel and deeper understanding of the world around us.

Céline Cousteau became the first TreadRight Planet Ambassador in 2015. Then, in 2019, Sarain Fox joined as TreadRight People Ambassador and in 2020, Ami Vitale became the TreadRight Wildlife Ambassador. As we look at indigenous cultures, Sarain Fox amplifies the voices from those communities and encourages people to connect more with the stories when they travel.

Amplifying Indigenous Voices

Sarain Fox became involved with TreadRight through their first project in North America, the Manitobah Mukluks Storyboot School, which engages Indigenous artists and teaches the tradition of mukluk-making to Indigenous children, both preserving the tradition and offering economic opportunity to the artists, providing a platform to reach international markets. Travelers on Luxury Gold’s Indulgence in Eastern Canada tour can stop by the school at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto to learn more and see the wonderful artisans making moccasins and mukluks.

Born in Batchawana First Nation in Canada, Sarain is an Anishinaabe dancer, broadcaster and activist. She is known as being one of the country’s most prominent Indigenous voices and she is passionate about uplifting Indigenous people and helping them represent themselves, primarily in their communities but also on a global stage.

Sarain encourages travelers to respect and nurture the places they visit as well as looking for the thriving cultures that exist, that we may not be aware of. As we begin getting back to travel, we can seek out even more immersive experiences that enrich our minds and provide support for the people and places that we visit. Luxury Gold offers guests these opportunities through our  Perugia, Italy, Daintree National Park in Australia, and many more.

Identifying with a Destination Through Community Projects

Sarain’s work has taken her to other TreadRight projects across the globe, where she has found that sharing her own stories as an Indigenous person have encouraged other people to share theirs. In Perugia, Sarain spent time at the Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti, one of the last surviving hand weaving workshops in Italy, where it is possible to watch the ladies work on traditional looms that date from the 18th and 19th century. Seeing the similarities of her own traditions and hearing the stories from the Umbrian women about the history and techniques that are being protected and passed on, Sarain says that this understanding makes it easier to identify with the narrative of the place. Visitors can admire the beauty of the work, but also hear about the rich textile tradition and how it is interwoven with the place.

Sarain has also travelled to Peru to meet another TreadRight grand recipient, Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, the director of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco. The Center aims to keep Cusqeñan textiles traditions alive and supports Indigenous weavers throughout the region. They provide educational opportunities and workshops and there is a distinct to maintain the unique ancestral styles that were in danger of dying out just 30 or 40 years ago. This has been Nilda’s work since the 1970s, and the TreadRight Foundation have given her the opportunity to expand those efforts, open a museum in Cusco and run an international event, Tinkuy: Gathering of Weavers, when people from Peru, Mexico, India and other places around the world come together to share weaving traditions and learn more about the Andean styles and techniques.

Indigenous Groups of Peru

Of the 32 million people living in Peru today, Indigenous peoples comprise 45%, and within that number, there are some 51 different groups. Many retain their links to a Pre-Columbian past, which gives the country its rich and varied heritage. By far the highest number of Indigenous groups are the highland Quechua, who have been at the forefront of agriculture in the country for over 600 years. They have drawn much attention from scientists and doctors, fascinated with how their bodies have adapted to live at such high altitudes. Spanish rule during the 16th century put strain on the Quechua way of life, but some traditions have remained.

Guests who embark on Luxury’s Gold Treasures of the Incas tour get the opportunity to discover more about these Indigenous groups through a variety of experiences on their adventure. From meeting Nilda and the weavers at the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, where over 500 individuals keep 10,000-year-old techniques alive, to seeing ancient salt mining techniques used by a Quechuan family in Maras, and even having the chance to try it out for oneself.

During Treasures of the Incas, guests also witness an ancient shamanic ritual that is practised by Quechuan people throughout the year called Pachamama. An offering of natural goods is prepared by families, consisting of cocoa beans, Amazonian flowers, incense, sugar, nuts, a splash of wine and vicuña wool, which is very expensive due to its scarcity. Sometimes the blood of a baby alpaca is added to the offering. This is bound up in a package that is blessed by the elders of the community, held against participant’s foreheads and finally wrapped in a colorful blanket that has been woven by the women in the community and placed in a homemade smoking oven. This is giving back to the Mother Earth, or Pachamama, the Inca goddess. This ritual has been practised for thousands of years and its purpose is to give thanks to Mother Nature for her gifts and keep a balance between man taking from the land and giving back to her. Local people express their deepest desires in the Pachamama ceremony, and if Mother Earth is appeased then her blessings will be abundant.

The Uros People of Lake Titicaca

Another Indigenous group that Luxury Gold guests meet on their Peruvian tour is the Uros of Lake Titicaca. This tribe pre-date the Incas, who many of the Quechuan’s are descended from, and they have preserved their fascinating way of life for hundreds of years.

The floating islands that the Uros live on are made from dried Totora reeds woven together. New layers need to be added regularly to replace the ones rotting from the water. The reeds are also eaten by the islanders, and used to make tea, which heals pain and cures hangovers! Some of these islands last 30 years when they are properly maintained, which is a testament to how they are managed by the Uros.

As more of the younger generation migrate to the land in seek of work and an easier life, the Uros have found that tourism is a boost to their economy, and a crucial element in keeping their culture alive. Luxury Gold guests will join locals for a lunch of regional specialties on Amantini island, and hear more about the unique way of life that stretches back to the time of the Incas.

Connect with Indigenous People on Your Travels

Luxury Gold affords travelers the opportunity to meet indigenous people in their villages and towns through experiences that directly support employment and help preserve heritage. When you see the people that have lived in an area for millennia, it changes your perspective and makes you more conscious of the impact we are making.

When planning every journey, sustainability is at the heart of each tour, so that tourist dollars are spent in the right way and truly support projects and people that live in each place we visit.

We invite you to join us in taking the pledge to Make Travel Matter so we can travel with purpose and improve the lives of those who are underrepresented. As Sarain Fox says, “Travel like you’re about to meet the most incredible person you’ve ever met and that they’ll teach you something new. Travel with an open heart and listen.”