We believe that people and organisations should make the use of their unique strengths, to play their part in maintaining the planet’s health. For some, this may be through money, for some, through labour, or scientific expertise, for others it may be through a political position of influence, or even through parenting. In our case, our most effective tool is our education.
At Imagine, our programmes give us the opportunity to positively influence thousands of students and adults from around the world in many different ways. We believe that one of the most important of those ways, is the influence we may have through the knock-on effects of these thousands of participants becoming inspired, informed and considerate of some of the most important issues facing our world today. By inspiring participants to think twice about the impact of their daily behaviour on the environment, and by installing a few basic key habits combined with education on interesting and important environmental topics, we hope that as our adventurers go back to their communities, they may spread the influence further, whether directly or indirectly, and that we can create a far-reaching effect on the world in this way.
A standard part of all of our forest-based activities is a session at the end where students are briefed on the importance of leaving no trace, and subsequently must tidy the site, pick up all trash and leave it how they found it (or even more litter-free!)
Students are encouraged to bring their own re-usable eating utensils and bowls for forest meals, and own water bottles, to avoid excessive use of single-use materials. Whenever materials are thrown away on site, every effort is made to re-cycle, when facilities allow for it. We also put increasing pressure on our most regular venues to introduce more effective recycling systems.
On overseas travel programs which include flight element, we include a donation to a reforestation project in Madagascar, effectively planting trees in an effort to offset the carbon footprint of the flight, using a footprint calculator tool to get an idea of the approximate amount to offset the journey’s carbon omissions. (Any quotes including donations are labelled as such before booking, to enable the client to have a choice in the matter. It will not be included in a booking by default without prior communication).
