The Reef-World Foundation - which coordinates the Green Fins initiative internationally in partnership with the UN Environment Programme - led another series of successful ocean conscious business seminars at at DEMA Show (13-16 Nov 2019). These free events, which were attended by representatives across all segments of the dive industry, help businesses and professionals find ways of seating sustainability at the heart of their business model. During the events, we heard from Alyson Tyler and Laura Greenland from Blue O Two / Worldwide Dive and Sail - you can find an overview of the session below.
Developing a Blueprint for Sustainability
Alyson Tyler and Laura Greenland, Blue O Two / Worldwide Dive and Sail / The Junk / Siren Fleet
The Reef-World Foundation - the international coordinators of Green Fins - led another series of successful ocean conscious business seminars at at DEMA Show (13-16 Nov 2019). These free events, which were attended by representatives across all segments of the dive industry, help businesses and professionals find ways of seating sustainability at the heart of their business model.
Alyson and Laura introduced this alliance of global brands – a liveaboard operator with 13 vessels around the world – and talked about the significant change the organisation has gone through in the last few years. Two years ago, the company overhauled its vision, mission and values. “Sustainability,” she said, “has formed quite a big part of that change.”
Responsible tourism is one of Blue O Two’s core pillars and influences its operations on a daily basis. The company operates in numerous locations from Plymouth to Thailand. So, trying to roll out an environmental policy that covers all these destinations can be overwhelming.
For a lot of businesses, thinking about where to start “can be really daunting,” she said; especially when you’re thinking about tackling issues on a global scale. She recommended businesses ask themselves if they have the internal bandwidth, resources and expertise to really drive this type of project forward. For Blue O Two, they had passionate environmentalists within the company but these people didn’t have the knowledge, contacts and capacity to work out where to start and how to achieve their end goals. That’s why Blue O Two came to The Reef-World Foundation for help. Reef-World has helped them map out a full and comprehensive environmental policy and roadmap which breaks the company’s developmental areas into manageable chunks (with one, three, five and 10-year timelines). Some goals, Laura explained, they will be able to nail “in the next 12 months” while other “big, hairy goals” “might take [them] 10 years.” Putting a framework in place has given the structure they need so they know where they’re heading.
Something else Laura wanted to highlight to attendees was accountability. Even in a company which has lots of passionate people that want to be sustainable, “we all get really busy” and “sustainability can sometimes fall down the list of priorities.” Blue O Two’s partnership with Reef-World has meant the company has someone to check in on them and keep them accountable on their deliverables while providing support to help them reach their goals.
Blue O Two’s key challenges have included:
A consistent battle against infrastructure at a country level – and staff and crew in certain destinations – because environmental sustainability is just not on the radar
Acting responsibly at scale – across diverse territories and in challenging environments when it’s not always easy to access the amenities they needed
Bigger considerations such as what to do with food waste on vessels – a standard practice on liveaboards is often for organic waste to be deposited at sea. Reef-World has helped Blue O Two understand under how to minimise the impacts associated with this and how to work towards phasing in best practice (reducing waste as much as possible and freezing what’s left to be brought back to shore) so they can leave by example.
A negative reaction to “quick wins”. For example, when the company removed single-use plastic bottles from its Red Sea fleet (equating to 70,000 single-use bottles being taken out of production each year), people expressed concern they would get dehydrated on board! The lesson they learned from this is not to be afraid to push back: “the customer isn’t always right,” she said
And their key triumphs have been:
An improved reputation in terms of environmental credentials, driven by some successful partnerships
Successfully changing behaviours and facilitating change in some of their destinations
Encouraging staff and crew, through consistent education, to set a good example and represent the company by acting as positive role models; and the resultant change and improvement in customer behaviour
Sustainability becoming ingrained in the organisation
Their partnership with Reef-World and the process of creating an environmental roadmap has helped Blue O Two develop a process which could provide a blueprint for other companies; giving them an idea of how to start developing a policy and what type of things they should be thinking about. She shared these key takeaways for businesses thinking about embarking on a sustainability journey:
Lead from the top – “if you’re a business owner, you have to set that example for others”
Make it manageable – “break your environmental policy down into easy to manage chunks for all the people in your organisation to have accountability”
Act quickly where you can – one of Blue O Two’s marketing team asked why they offered plastic straws and stirrers to their guests when they were supposed to be a sustainable operator. Within a week of her feeling passionate enough to stand up and challenge this, the company had made the decision and got rid of plastic straws and stirrers across the fleet.
Work towards a timeline – it makes things a lot easier to do what you said you would when you have tangible goalposts in place
Have someone to keep you accountable – whether it’s a partnership with someone like Reef-World, a business mentor or even a friend
Exceed customer expectations – and remember if you don’t prioritise the planet, your business won’t survive in the long-term
Work together as one united team – and make sure your environmental policy is integral to everything you do
It all comes back to collaboration and perseverance – keep at it and, through hard work, collaboration and education, you will make progress!
This seminar series was made possible by the sponsorship of four companies who are already on the sustainable diving pathway and represent different stakeholder groups in the dive and travel industry:
Fourth Element is innovating dive manufacturing by producing dive gear using ghost fishing nets, biodegradable packaging made from vegetables is leading the latest environmental movement within the industry – Mission2020;
Explorer Ventures - is working towards the elimination of single-use plastics onboard its Caribbean vessels. It is also helping The Reef-World Foundation establish targeted liveaboard protocols as part of the Green Fins initiative with the hope of improving dive operator and liveaboard environmental policies worldwide;
Paralenz - a Danish tech company dedicated to the Ocean. Together with divers across the globe, they have developed a camera that enable divers to capture and share the state and life of the Ocean as a seamless part of the dive;
Blue O Two / Worldwide Dive and Sail works with partners with similar philosophies, sources local, sustainable products wherever possible, runs reef clean-ups and educates guests about how they can make a difference; for example, by encouraging them to bring eco-friendly toiletries, such as sunscreen and toothpaste.
Thank you - we hope you enjoyed The Reef-World Foundation’s Ocean Conscious Seminars and look forward to seeing you again at DEMA 2020!
Thank you to all our partners who made this seminar series possible!