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Environmental and Community Policy

Environmental and community issues are complex and are further confused by miss information in the media. Developing a balanced view involves avoiding headline claims in the media and looking at a diverse set of peer reviewed scientific papers. To help with this we have outlined a list of references at the end of the policy.

Finding a balanced view is difficult for two reasons:

• Independent research is limited and pressure on research scientists to publish results and locate their own funding can result in bias. The best solution to this is peer reviews, however these are often not located with the original paper.

• We do not understand the environment. The number of models in circulation and the inaccuracies of the prediction models over the past 20 years illustrate this.

So how do we respond in a responsible way?

We are conditioned in the 21 st century to believe everything is either right or wrong and that we are in control. However we do not understand the wider impact of our actions on the environment or local communities. Everything has an impact on the environment and local communities. Therefore we must weigh up the benefit of our actions against the costs on the environment and local communities.

For example: Should we fly food and supplies to victims of wars? The benefit is saving lives and reducing suffering. The cost is the environmental pollution and potential miss use of the resources. The answer in this case is straightforward – properly managed aid efforts are effective.

For example: Should we fly delegates from the UK to a conference in Canada. The benefit would be networking and face to face communication. The cost would be carbon dioxide emissions. Other solutions such as on-live video conferencing could offer an environmentally better outcome.

Justifying actions via cost benefit analysis are dependant on valuing the environment, social interactions, emotions and many other outcomes. It is subjective, however it offers a way to consider where an action is appropriate.

Behind all our activities this cost-benefit analysis should be made.

Business Sustainability

Our sustainability goal at the Expertise Consultancy Group is to reduce the ecological impact of running our business while increasing the positive impact we have on people and communities.

Making it Happen:

It is easy to say you are going to be a sustainable business, and another to make it happen.

Three aspects make our goal of a sustainable business possible:

• Community policy
• Environmental policy
• Clear responsibilities

Below, we have outlined these points in more detail. Once a year we review the impact of actions with our team. We consider new initiatives that have become available to the industry and look at implementing them into our work.

In addition our staff management system is outlined with our commitment to personal development. Click Here.

Ongoing Projects:

In the last year we have reviewed a number of issues. Below we have outlined the summaries.

• Carbon Neutral Expeditions

The concept is that a group would calculate the carbon used during the process of an expedition and then, through their actions or funding, secure the same amount of carbon dioxide into a carbon sink. The limitation with this process is locating an effective carbon sink. The thought that planting a tree is a solution is naive, as trees are not true carbon sinks. The market of carbon sinks is in its infancy and it was decided to wait for technology to advance before launching into this field. See www.

• 100% Recycled paper

The improvements in recycling paper quality will allow us to move to 50% recycled content paper for the whole office in 2005. This will include all stationary and certificates. Hand in hand with this is the move to a paper free office.

• Web-based paper free communication and offices

Following a review in 2002 we moved Medical Expertise to a paper free business bar publicity material, manuals and the records required by law and the Health and Safety Executive. In 2004 Wilderness Expertise rolled out an email based system for expedition updates and the accounts system moved to emailing statements, invoices and receipts. This year we intend to expand this system to include HR files and programme resources.

The launch of the new websites for the ECG group will allow great download potential, reducing postage and paper use in the future.

• Specific environmental risk assessment

2004/5 saw the launch of an environment risk assessment for expeditions to sensitive environments. This was primarily aimed at overseas expeditions but can be used anywhere. The focus was raising awareness of environmental issues with participants and course directors.

Observations and feedback

The strength of any system is its ability to evolve and adapt to the changing situations presented by our increased understanding and technological advances.

In response to this the annual review provides a focal point for these discussions. In addition, the Quality Assurance system provides information from the ground. This completes the loop and allows for the policies to evolve and develop.

Conclusion

In this fast moving field we will continue to actively research new opportunities to achieve our goal of reducing the ecological impact of running our business, while increasing the positive impact we have on people and communities.

If you do have some ideas or concerns please send us an email with your thoughts. We are always keen to review new research and improve our activities.

For the full policy please contact Peter Harvey.