Greenfleet is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the community reduce the environmental impact of travel, business and lifestyle choices by adopting low-carbon alternatives and biosequestration.
Their aim is to help people:
Avoid creating emissions wherever possible
Reduce the intensity of any emissions we do create
Offset any emissions created by recapturing CO2 from the atmosphere
The Body Shop has proudly been offsetting vehicle emissions with Greenfleet since 1997 which has equated to 2,675 trees being planted on our behalf to date.
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the Greenfleet Drive Day. Greenfleet had invited people from several organisations to demonstrate their Avoid, Reduce, Offset approach to managing vehicle fleets and in order to avoid creating unnecessary emissions on the day provided us with Metcards so we wouldn’t have to drive to get there.
The day consisted of a test drive of the best low-emission vehicles, driving tips from John & Helen Taylor, the Guinness World Record holders in fuel efficient driving, a visit to one of the Greenfleet planting sites at Werribee Open Range Zoo and finished with a presentation by David Lamb, the CSIRO’s Low Emissions Transport Leader.
The Body Shop isn’t in the market to purchase new cars just yet but we will certainly be implementing some of John and Helen Taylor’s driving tips which can have an immediate impact on improving our fuel efficiency therefore reducing our fuel costs. Simple checks like keeping the tyres at the right pressure, removing roof racks if not in use, using air conditioning sparingly and sticking to the correct speed limit all add up to reduced fuel consumption. A full list of the Taylors tips can be found on their website Fuel Academy - Fuel Economy Specialists.
The tour of the planting site in the grounds of Werribee Open Range Zoo was a great way to see how our offsets are being used to revegetate special areas in the community. This isn’t just an empty paddock where hundreds of trees are planted, but thoughtfully planned to restore an important native habitat corridor on lands that were once cleared for sheep grazing. The tour was especially entertaining thanks to Zoo horticulturalist, Maarten Hulzebosch who had terrific knowledge of fauna in the area.
David Lamb gave an insight into the future of motoring and fuel and whilst it wasn’t exactly gloomy – it was disheartening to hear how slow Australia has been to invest in cleaner greener alternatives.
So if you can’t afford one of the latest enviro friendly vehicles, you could use public transport more often, adopt some of John & Helens driving tips and offset any emissions you are responsible for by signing up to Greenfleet!
0 comments:
Post a Comment