Tall Stories Environmental Vision

At Tall Stories we believe that care of the environment is a fundamental part of all of our lives and our responsibilities.

Therefore, we have been professionally audited by an external consultancy, Simon Potts from Environmental Business Solutions Ltd, to help us create the Tall Stories vision. Our vision is not about the business profiting or increasing costs to our customers. It is a fundamental and responsible approach to our business which preserves the environment in which we live.

We are proud that our promises are substantive and not just statements of intent that are never realised. We recognise any environmental statement will always be changing as our events change and accepted environmental best practice changes. We want to be ahead of the game and to set industry standards of best environmental practice.

One of our challenges is how to take the Tall Stories passion for the outdoors and the dreams we fulfil on our trips, and bind this with an environmental policy which is cost neutral so it does not affect the money that is raised for so many good causes.

We already believe we have a win:win business. The charities win as they get much needed funds, the participants win as they achieve a sporting ambition to raise money for a cause that is often very personal to them, and we are able to run a company that facilitates this. We would like to add a 4th win. A win for the environment where we pass on environmental wins and efficiencies to those within our sphere of influence.

Our policies will be easy to follow for our staff, our clients, our participants and our suppliers. We already work in a carbon neutral office. But wouldn’t it be better if the carbon offset necessary to achieve this was lower in the first place because our carbon footprint was lower? It is not enough to plant a tree – we have to strive not to use the tree in the first place.

Our goal is to construct and deliver events in such a way as to minimise the effect on the environment, without increasing costs to the client or participant, and without reducing the events ability to challenge and excite participants or generate funds for charity. This will be achieved by demonstrating a quantifiable improvement in our behaviour and its impact on the environment.

We are in the process of making an in depth review of the carbon footprint of each of our events and ultimately of each of our participants. With this information we will be able to see where in our processes we can make quantifiable improvements and set environmental targets and ambitions to be the best in the industry. These targets will be challenging, measurable and quantifiable and will be reviewed and up dated annually.

Yes, we are an events company, travelling throughout the UK and abroad to carry out our events, but, if we act responsibly and are critical of our environmental status and ambitions, the good we do will out weigh the bad. Our main target areas in which to reduce our carbon footprint are:

• Participants Travel e.g. Only offering events in the UK and Europe in order to reduce flights and more specifically, offer travel alternatives to flights.
• Event Vehicle Support Policy e.g. maximising the efficiency of our support vehicles through careful fuel and vehicle choices. Also staff should find alternatives to flying wherever possible.
• Purchasing Policy e.g. buy local and seasonal as standard, buy Fairtrade when long haul is unavoidable (e.g. coffee)
• Recycling and Waste Management Policy e.g. minimising use of paper cups and plates by having reusable ones.
• Hotels e.g. to encourage hotels we work with to share the same environmental ethics that we do. Over half of the hotels / hostels/ B&B’s we stay in are small, independently operated.

This is the vision statement of the Tall Stories team.