We all know how important it is to consider our impact on the environment and how we can make positive changes to ensure our world is just as incredible for future generations; so this year, all of our region trips will work towards one challenge of reaching a ‘zero negative impact’.
This will mean thinking about the sustainability of our trips, and things we can do to offset any impact we have. We will have three main region trips (aged 14-18) and one ICE trip (aged 11-14), all working towards the same challenge but with different themes.
And the best bit…
YOU get to decide the destinations!
All of our trips will be truly ‘participant led’ and our leaders will work with the selected participants to agree on where to travel to and exactly what their trips look like! It will be down to each group to interpret their given theme, what it means to them and how they can make the most of their trip.
What are our themes?
Conservation
It wouldn’t be right to have an ‘environmentally friendly’ challenge without a bit of conservation. Could you work to support endangered animals, or help on a reforestation project? Does conservation mean encouraging others to reduce their own carbon footprint – what sort of ‘ripple effect’ could you create?
Community
What does ‘community’ mean to you? Could this be working to support a deprived area, or an education project? What about your wider Guiding community, think of all of those friends all over the world that you haven’t even met yet!
Culture
One of our international missions is to create advocates for international travel and what better way to do that than to experience other cultures. Do you want to try different foods that you’ve never even heard of, or be dazzled by the sights and smells of a traditional marketplace? The world is your oyster!
The costs for these trips start at £1500 and will be no more than £2700 depending on the theme.
How do we reach zero negative impact?
Travel is one of the biggest negative impacts on the environment so sustainable travel is a big one to think about – rather than flying, could you go by boat, or train, how much more can you see along the way? For everything else, an ‘impact number’ will be calculated, and then all trips will work towards the challenge of reducing this impact number to zero by completing individual tasks that have a positive impact on the environment, such as taking public transport rather than driving, having a clothes swap with friends rather than buying new, litter picking or planting trees.
We love our world enough to want to experience all of it so it is our responsibility to make sure we are taking care of it too!
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED
