Our Green Policy

We believe that the problem of climate change must be tackled by everyone, with small and large actions: “…the sea is made of drops”.

We deeply believe in the need to ‘start with us’ so we want to implement a Green Policy that people travelling with us can share and experience.

When organising stays abroad, we are often constrained to travel by plane and although we favour the use of local public transport it is not uncommon to have to hire private vehicles.

 

The impact on the environment caused by our travel using fossil fuels, waste production, soil erosion or environmental changes linked to our presence in the territories we visit can sometimes be considerable. In line with our principles and our idea of sustainable tourism, we have decided to specify the actions we take to reduce our environmental impact and support the local economy.

 

As always, we can improve with your suggestions. Below we list some of the actions that we consider crucial to compensate, at least partially, for the emissions and environmental impact caused by our trips.

PIANTALA

“Ultimately the solution to global warming would be not to produce CO2, but that would take decades, which we don’t have.

We have to buy time and the only way to do that is to plant trees”.
Humans are totally dependent on plants for oxygen, food and the biodegradable fibres they provide’.

(Stefano Mancuso, Professor at the University of Florence).

 

We travel to put down roots

 

‘Piantala‘ is our project to reforest public or private land by planting 10 trees for each trip undertaken by Il Ponticello.

Trees will be sourced from the regional forest nursery Assam native species and will be planted according to schemes indicated by the nursery itself and in consultation with agronomic experts working in the field of reforestation.

A georeferenced map of the planting areas will be available and made available to all travellers participating in our trips and plantings!

 

 

 

TRAVELLING

  • Our stays include environmentally friendly activities in nature such as hiking, cycling, canoeing and boating;
  • We invite our fellow travellers to experience a sustainable lifestyle during their stay, for example by limiting energy and water consumption, eating vegetarian meals and using eco-friendly and biodegradable cosmetics. We encourage caution in switching off lights, taking quick showers using eco-soaps tasting vegetarian dinners, perhaps by candlelight;
  • We support local realities by choosing small-scale, family-run suppliers (for overnight stays, meals and tastings included in travel packages) that respect local traditions, promote natural, organic agriculture and foster biodiversity;
  • We organise, where possible, days in which we move entirely on foot, by bicycle or by public transport.

 

AT HOME

  • We support a non-governmental association dedicated to nature conservation selected for each country visited on our trips, to which we allocate a share of every package sold;
  • We choose ‘ènostra’ for the electricity supply of our office, the first energy cooperative in Italy that produces and supplies sustainable, ethical, 100% renewable energy to its members through a non-profit model of participation and sharing. For more info: https://www.enostra.it
  • We promote training courses, outreach and film forums on environmental and nature issues: we believe that being informed is the basis of any action and lifestyle aimed at protection and conservation;
  • We organise rubbish collections on hikes to make ourselves and participants aware of the importance of separate waste collection and the importance of limiting our consumption and packaging;
  • We plant 10 trees per trip made, on private land with the help of our fellow travellers or all those who have the desire to participate;
  • We provide the participants of our trips with the green policy and the associations we will donate to, when they sign up for our packages.
 
 

FUTURE OBJECTIVES

  • We would like to develop a tailor-made footprint indicator for our trips and to quantify our impact so that we can better target our compensation policies;

 

  • We will update and improve our green policy over time, also with your suggestions!

ASSOCIATIONS TO WHICH WE ALLOCATE PART OF THE TRAVEL QUOTAS

Lapponia The Finnish Association of Nature Conservation www.sll.fi
Lofoten – BirdLife Norge www. birdlife.no
Faroe – Sea Shepherd www.seashepherdglobal.org
Islanda – Landvernd Icelandic Environment Association www.landvernd.is
Giordania – Royal Academy for Nature Conservation www.rscn.org.jo
Azzorre – SPEA Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves www.spea.pt
Seychelles – Nature Seychelles www.natureseychelles.org
Madeira – Sustainable Ocean Alliance https://www.soalliance.org/
Irlanda – Irish Wildlife Trust www.iwt.ie