Connecting success and sustainability

Have you ever experienced a moment where your connection to the natural environment is undeniable? Maybe it was while visiting a farm to pick strawberries, maybe it was on a hike, or perhaps while skiing on your own in the alpine? These moments are too frequently a passing realization, and we go back to the built environment, quickly forgetting about our fundamental dependency on the Earth and the life-supporting ecological services it provides.

If you're Ziptrek Ecotours and you're operating your business up in the forest canopy, it's easy to understand the sucess of your business depends on a healthy natural environment. While the interconnection between businesses and nature is also real when operating in an urban environment, we tend to forget this dependency.

With Ziptrek's dependence on the natural enviroment starting staff in the face everyday, and with the owner's passion for and understanding about sustainability, it's no surprise that the local ecotour operator has become a local leader in business sustainability.

The very core of the business - low-impact adventure experiences steeped in sustainability education - is one of the most sustainable business models going. 

Nestled between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, Ziptrek operates zipline and suspension bridge outdoor adventure tours above Fitzsimmons Creek. In addition to providing an exhilarating aerial adventure through old-growth rain forest havitat, Ziptrek has estavlished its mandate to not only operate in the most sustainable manner possible, but to also teach every one of the company's guests about the importance of sustainability and care for the natural enviroment. On every tour, an ecology curriculum is wrapped around the Natural Step sustainability principles -- the same core principles that underlie the Whistler2020 Sustainability Objectives. Having hostted 10s of thousands of people during the past four and a half years of operation, that translates into a lot of free marketing and promotion dollars for the sustainability movement!

In addition to zipping betweeh trees, providing a great adventure experience and teaching about sustainability, what else is Ziptrek doing to make it a sustainability leader amoung Whistler businesses? From its energy and materials use to its community initiatives, Ziptrek is contributing innovation, passion and progress to moving Whistler towards the Whistler2020 Vision of sucess and sustainability.

When it comes to energy use, Ziptrek courses and oncourse equipment are owered independent of the local energy grid. Rather than choosing gas-powevered generators enhance the guest experience and protect the environment, it also saves the company thousands of dollars annually. Additionally, three of the ecotour operator's seven vehicles are hybrid electric and Ziptrek is committed to growing its hybrid fleet into the future.

Ziptrek is also moving toward sustainability when it comes to material use. The company built all platforms, decks and buildings using only local red cedar, which is naturally rot-resistant and therefore eliminates the need to annually apply chemicals to protect the wood. All the paper products (even toilet paper) Ziptrek uses have between 30 and 100 per cent recycled content, and the bags offered to guests with purchases are compostible, corn-based "bio-bags" rather than plastic. To further reduce the enviromental impact of its operations, Ziptrek is working with Slope Side Supply to source additional products that are more sustainable.

As demonstrated by their free, 200-seat showing of "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary about climate change, the local company also supports community-wide sustainability learning. Moreover, they are sponsors of "Green Kids" theatre troupe, a group of children who teach other children about the environment. 

Ziptrek acknowledges that there are sometimes higher initial costs associated with making more sustainable choices, but the company is already benefiting from the financial returns resulting from reduced operating and maintenance costs. Take, for example, the cedar used for construction - while cedar is more expensive that other softwood, it won't have to be re-treated every year to prevent rotting, therefore saving the cost of chemicals and the labour to apply it.

Just as Ziptrek is a great example to highlight the connection between business sucess and a well-protected natural environment, so, too, is it a shining example of the dual message and mandate of Whistler2020 - that sucess and sustainability go had in had, and that we must achieve both if we want Whistler be a great place to live, work and play well into the future.

The Question, Shannon Gordon, January 2007