Zoom Zoom Bowen owner and operator Jamie Woodall says that she wants every business she runs to be as ethical as possible. This week, her commitment to that statement was confirmed by achieving the status of “carbon positive.”
Woodall says that looking at environmental and carbon emissions seemed like the obvious route for a business that rented out scooters, particularly considering many people wanted her to rent out e-bikes - an option she says did not make sense for a variety of reasons. Last summer, Woodall started talking with islander Jae Mather, a director of the Carbon Free Group, about how to make the necessary improvements.
“I encouraged her to go above and beyond in terms of impact reduction,” he says. “Making no impact on the environment is not enough, at this point. Human beings need to start making a positive, regenerative impact on the environment to make up for the damage that’s already been done.”
Mather says that the term carbon positive is commonly used in Europe, but is not so common here. He says he was pleased to find the Vancouver-based company Offsetters, was working towards this goal last year.
“I worked with them to get the first carbon positive certification for a North American business,” says Mather. “So having a relationship with them combined with their understanding of the publicity resulting from working with Zoom Zoom Bowen, they were willing to undertake the job of making this small company carbon positive. Offsetting just a few tonnes of carbon, as Zoom Zoom is doing, doesn’t give Offsetters much opportunity to make a profit.”
Mather adds that offsetting can be a contentious practice within the sustainability community, but one that he sees the value in.
“There are lots of people who say that purchasing carbon offsets simply justifies behaviours that cause environmental harm,” he says. “The way I see it, people need to travel and if we are going to affect change we need to do it by working with as many people as possible and that often starts with things like offsetting.”
To achieve carbon positivity, Zoom Zoom Bowen made a total of five Tonnes of carbon offsets which Woodall described as “very affordable.” The money from those payments was put into the Quadra Island Forestland Conservation Project, which acts as a carbon sink and protects biodiversity on the island.
Mather says that he sees an opportunity for other businesses and organizations on Bowen to move towards carbon positivity, but he would recommend that groups “pool their emissions for purchasing,” in order to bring their volumes up to an amount that Offsetters can help you with.
“We need to be offsetting a lot more carbon,” says Mather. “Not 5 or 10 percent more carbon, but 100 percent or more.”
