Greening Vancouver Island

The fabulous thing about Vancouver Island is the we have an abundance of green, blue, and even white. In other words, we have amazing old growth forests, beautiful lakes, rivers and the ocean, and we even have glaciers and some amazing skiing in the winter.

But how do we do for “green” in the environmental sense? Well Vancouver Island has some very progressive businesses that have significant steps to increase their green profile while reducing their footprint!

A couple of great examples are Laurel Point Inn and Harbour Air. Recently the Laurel Point Inn was recognized as being carbon neutral, the first hotel in British Columbia to be recognized as such. Initiatives  they took include paperless check-in, room keys made of recycled paper and printed with vegetable-dye inks, an organic herb and veggie garden, reducing waste and increasing recycling, bike racks, optional linen changes for guests and cutting back on use of lights when not needed.

Harbour Air’s green initiatives are not new news but they deserve mention here. In 2007 they became the first airline in North America to be carbon neutral in both their office and operational environments. The most interesting part however is the fact that their competitors such as West Coast Air followed close behind them by also going carbon neutral. What this really demonstrates is often only takes one or two forward looking businesses to make a huge difference.

There are a large number of other businesses on Vancouver Island that are taking huge green steps. If you know of business on Vancouver Island doing great things for the environment, or if are a business owner on Vancouver Island, please post your comments here describing your green initiatives, or post your own story. Go Green VI!