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Outfitters & Guides — A Family Affair
Whether we like it or not, our outfitters can end up acting as the parents of the guiding world. They usually house us, feed us, and provide us at least one piece of company branded clothing. Our paychecks end up being sort of like an allowance. In order for there to be significant changes in the industry — especially in sustainability — we need to get everyone on board, parents included.
It’s no secret that outfitting isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, but more a labor of love. High overhead makes budgets tight and sustainability changes can be difficult to implement. Below are a handful of ways that guides can help outfitters brainstorm to bridge that gap and work toward sustainability each year.
This blog is dedicated to the guides who have great relationships with their outfitters and work together to make impactful industry changes.
Tips for More Sustainable Outfitters
- Transportation:
- Volkswagen settlement funds are out there to help lower emissions across the state! There are opportunities to upgrade engines or entire vehicles in certain weight classes. See if your company qualifies.
- For trips with jet-backs and fly-ins, let your customers know there are opportunities to participate in carbon offsets. Give customers the option to engage.
- Waste:
- Check out your town’s local composting options. Challenge your whole company to contribute more to it this year — even if it’s just the food waste from the warehouse!
- Brainstorm on how to increase your recycling accuracy at your company. Pick a week where you challenge everyone to hit 100% accuracy.
- Think about using recycled paper products for toilet paper and paper towels — companies like Who Gives A Crap are good places to start looking, and you can buy it in bulk!
- Menu:
- Challenge yourself to replace one meal a month to a vegan or vegetarian meal on your menu. Don’t be afraid to use meat substitutes and explain to your guests WHY you’re doing this.
- Buy Local:
- Join a local CSA
- Buy a 4 H animal at the local fair and get it butchered in town.
- Get creative with local game.
- Use bread from the local bakeries
- If composting is not an option, try to do a serious food audit for one week this summer. Identify the foods that the company consistently ends up not getting eaten and thrown away. See if you can replace them or nix them from the menu entirely.
- Sustainability is sexy — and marketable! Encourage your outfitter to support your green efforts by:
- Helping highlight your sustainable changes on social media and tagging your outfitter
- Writing blog posts for your outfitter’s website pre and post season about the sustainable changes you’ve made. What did and didn’t work?
- Highlight positive feedback from clients and ask them to mention it in their Trip Advisor reviews.
- Email us and let us know you’re working on a more sustainable industry! We’d be happy to give you a shout out!
With enough creative problem solving, these little changes have the ability to transform the industry. Picking one area to focus on per season will make a HUGE change in each business’s carbon footprint. Download the PDF version of the Green Outfitter Tips to print out for your outfitter’s office clipboard, the company rig-truck, or on top of next week’s food order.
We hope these tips will help you achieve a more sustainable summer. Don’t forget to email us and let us know how it went!