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Adidas makes a range of comfortable but still stylish Parley Ultraboost shoes out of yarn spun from Parley Ocean Plastic™. Great for sustainable travellers, the shoes help repurpose the millions of pounds of plastic currently polluting the world’s oceans using an innovative technology. Each shoe reuses 11 plastic bottles, and by 2020, Adidas wants all of its shoes to be made using recycled plastic.
Eric Liedtke, adidas Group Executive Board Member, told NOW: ‘We started our partnership with Parley for the Oceans with one shoe made from marine plastic in 2014 and immediately knew if we can make one shoe, we can make 1 million. This year we’re going to make 5 million pairs with Parley Ocean Plastic™.’ Read more
Would you like to get together and reconnect with yourself, with others and the world around you in the here and now? There’s a curiously restorative pleasure that comes from being in a like-minded community of other people for a limited period of time, away from the stresses of everyday life, supported in an organised setting and nourished by the energy of a group. So what’s on offer?
Experiences such as buddhist retreats, secular mindfulness holidays and digital detox breaks are hugely sustaining for the human spirit, most especially when you’re being encouraged to relax and slow down. The retreats, hotels and venues that offer them are also usually more committed to a sustainable planet too, offering home grown and locally sourced food, using natural materials for bedlinens and cleaning products, banning plastics, rewarding those who have travelled to the venue sustainably with discounts and treating their local staff and visiting practitioners with proper respect.
Promoting a way of living rather than a religion to follow, Buddhist retreats could be said to have started the trend. Available around the world, they are usually open to everyone regardless of beliefs or background, and to beginners as well as experienced practitioners. They provide a space for you to learn how to meditate and have guidance on how to live more peacefully. Most offer either Vipassana or Tibetan meditation as well as Buddhist philosophy, and require a real interest in meditation as well as self-sufficiency and a stable emotional state.
Meals are eaten communally at Buddhist retreats, food is vegetarian and often grown on site, and retreatants often have the chance of helping out in the gardens as part of a daily work ethic. Stimulants such as alcohol, caffeine and tobacco are not allowed, and sexes are usually segregated in simple accommodation – all with the view of helping you calm down and go inside.
Most Buddhist retreats charge a small fee for food and accommodation, with teachers paid by donation, making them accessible to everyone, but for those who like their creature comforts there are also now lots of secular meditation and mindfulness retreats, and group sessions and workshops run at hotels around the world, that don’t subscribe to any one view, and where guests can experience more luxurious pleasures alongside learning how to be in the moment.
A Vipassana silent meditation retreat is especially beneficial, when without daily chit chat and petty concerns your mind is freer to learn to meditate, and an increasing number of secular retreats have picked up on this and now offer periods of silence each day to enable you to focus on what’s going on in your lives, minds and bodies, get clarity on important issues, make a decision or just relax.
Such silent retreats are hugely beneficial, for though silence has been practiced in almost all monastic traditions for years as a way of reconnecting with the self and improving mental and physical health, it’s important that we choose where we experience it, as the ancient desert hermits would have done, so that we can use it to our advantage rather than simply feeling lonely. You’ll find that in a community, you feel an enormous connection with others without having to speak.
Turning off your devices and gadgets and the ‘noise’ that comes from them whether it’s social media, instant messaging or constant email checking is key for most of these retreats, or you can choose a dedicated digital detox break where phones, ipads and other gadgets can be totally surrendered (great if you have no willpower), where you are encouraged to pack them away, or where they are limited (you can only use them in one set public area, for example). Whatever you choose, even one weekend of it can result in huge benefits, enabling you to get perspective on life and actually ‘see’ and experience your fellow humans and the world around you.
I was fortunate enough to experience a once in a lifetime adventure when my family and I went on a trip to Botswana and Zimbabwe. For three weeks we travelled, camped – often on our own with just a fire for company and the wild sounds of nocturnal animals – and explored these countries spotting incredible wildlife.
From lone Kori bustards and crocodiles to majestic giraffes and elephants, our patience finally paid off and I was the one who spotted a pride of lions in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve! Not only this, but when breaking camp early one morning south of the Chobe River we had an extended, exceptional view of a leopard.
Another night I will never forget was the cold night we camped out in bed rolls under thousands of stars in the moon like terrain of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.
So different to life in the UK, we could travel all day without meeting anyone, driving for hours over sand, something we never experience on our tarmac roads at home.
The other thing that I had not experienced was the extreme poverty we witnessed in Zimbabwe. It was so present everywhere we went and I found it really upsetting to see. I decided right then and there that I wanted to do something, even small, to help. We gave away shampoo, pens and notebooks to people we met as these were things they asked for, in fact anything we could give them. I decided too, that when I got home I would not forget this and wanted to do some fundraising.
The first thing I did was organise a walk from Start Point, an iconic headland in South Devon, to Strete Gate along the coastpath near where I live. This was 9 miles over tough terrain up and down, a mile for each year of my life as I was 9 at the time. My friend Matilda walked with me and my family were back up crew.
My target was £250 but I ended up raising £580 for SOS Children’s Villages which is a charity that works together in deprived communities to protect and improve the lives of children ensuring every child grows up in a loving family home, and empowers children to flourish and reach their full potential. SOS Children’s Villages work in Botswana and Zimbabwe amongst other countries. I also held a sweet stall on a Friday after school in the playground which was also popular and raised money.
I am really aware that I live a good and lucky life in the UK and I know that many children around the world are not as fortunate as I am. In the future I look forward to my further travels and future fundraising. I would love to see a world with all children able to have the right to a happy and safe life.
Francesca von Habsburg is the the founder of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation, which believes art has the capacity to be a transformational force. Find out more.
One word that describes you?
Generous.
In your own words, what do you do?
I’m a philanthropic activist. I partner with artists to provide the kinds of support they need to produce exceptional art projects that defy traditional categorization and address the most urgent issues of our time.
Which is your favourite part of your job?
Realising that impact is not as unreachable as when you start. And collaborating with the fascinating people that I meet on my way, who want to make a difference, too!
Which is the part that you enjoy the least?
When I run into bureaucracy or corruption, or both.
Who is your greatest influence?
The Dalai Lama, because he showed me that I should trust my instincts and not be intimidated by academia. He also taught me to never give up!
Best advice you’ve been given?
Don’t play to people’s expectations of you. Always surprise them.
What was your Plan B?
There is no plan B, there is no planet B.
Your personal indulgence?
Travel and scuba diving in remote places.
How do you like to travel?
By sea.
Favourite sustainable hotel or other place to stay?
The Franciscan Monastery of Lopud in Croatia.
What steps do you take to make your life more sustainable?
I make sure to weave the local communities into the conservation projects that I support.
What must happen now to help make our planet more sustainable?
It must be NOW that philanthropists and activists integrate local communities into our projects and work directly with them to produce real results. They are the ultimate guardians of their areas.
Hotels or other places to stay who walk the talk on sustainability in your experience?
The Alpina Gstaad, which was built sustainably from the very beginning, is a perfect example of how to integrate many disciplines in order to implement real change.
If you could have one hour with a world leader, who would it be and what would you say?
The Pope. And I would ask him to continue his pioneering statements about the environment. It’s the first time a Pope has ever spoken about climate change.
Any regrets so far?
That I trust everyone! But it’s better than going through life not trusting.
Nuevo Vallarta is a large residential and resort community on Banderas Bay, between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra de Vallejo mountains, on what’s become known as ‘Riviera Nayarit’ in the state of Nayarit. The area has the second highest number of hotels and resorts in the country, so faces huge challenges when it comes to protecting its present and future in the name of sustainable tourism.
It’s important that it tackles such challenges, for its popularity with tourists all over the world, especially from Mexico and the US, shows no signs of slowing. They come in their droves for some of the most beautiful beaches in Mexico, brilliant sunsets, reliably good, all-inclusive hotels, golf courses, an excellent marina and a range of activities for all ages.
You’ll see children building sand castles while teenagers with boogie boards navigate the waves and parents kick back on loungers. But you’ll also see some of the worst effects of mass tourism, from banana-boat rides, jet skis and parasailing activities which pump petrol into the seas to single use plastics, toxic suncream, huge hotels which don’t prioritise sustainability and over-crowded beaches in peak season.
Thankfully, the area is stepping up and has voiced its desire to try to become a genuinely sustainable tourist destination. It has made a commitment to provide the right services, support local communities and protect its natural resources for the future, and is EarthCheck certified Silver (which means it’s been with them for 1+ year).
Three of the 12 beaches in the area are now certified as ‘clean beaches’ by the Mexican government, and Nuevo Vallarta’s beach is also certified by Blue Flag. The wide, flat sandy stretch is particularly perfect for long walks – keen amblers can walk all the way to Bucerías, which is 8 km (5 miles) to the north – while wild swimmers will enjoy the safe seas.
Importantly, Nuevo Vallarta also functions as a marine sanctuary for millions of turtles and migrating humpback whales, and is the permanent home for many other species of wildlife including dolphins and the iconic jaguar. In the Autumn, a fenced-off area of the main beach helps protect nesting turtles, and there are lots of educational opportunities available for visitors who want to understand these wondrous creatures.
You’ll also find a fascinating range of wildlife in the nearby countryside, for Nuevo Vallarta waterways are connected to El Quelele Lagoon, the area’s main wetland and a protected area where you’ll find alligators, badgers, raccoons, white-tailed deer, birds, iguanas and more, all taken care of by specialists who are now following Mexico’s species protection regulations closely.
The local community is playing its part. There’s a general move towards renewable energy with solar power, reforestation and education about careful water management, and locals are encouraged to be sustainable at home and work and to participate in regular beach, river and mangrove cleanups. Such cleanups around the world can be just one minute wonders, but to ensure they’re not here, each month a range of activities are organised that focus on environmental education to help locals reduce their environmental impact and protect their locale’s biodiversity. Let’s hope it’s a win-win for the future.
As a child, our family holidays were the definition of a ‘fly and flop’ vacation. We’d exit the airport, head to the resort and rarely venture beyond the gates until home time. Days would be spent lounging by the pool and our only interaction with the country we were visiting would be the evening’s entertainment, somewhat lazily served up by the hotel as ‘local culture’.
As an adult, I began to travel to more exotic destinations than my parents ever dared – yet still, any real interaction with locals was restricted to organised excursions that let’s face it, are little more than revenue boosting staged experiences.
All that changed in 1995. On a trip The Gambia in Western Africa I became acquainted with a local man, who in his endless attempts to offer his services as an unofficial tour guide, told me about his village and family – a good three hours drive from the resort where I was staying. I expressed an interest in visiting, and so before dawn the following day, we set off on a journey that included the world’s most dangerously overloaded ferry and a bone-shaking jeep ride across endless plains and through a plague of locusts.
It was worth every single minute and I will never forget that day at his village. I was welcomed as one of their own, I ate with his family, played with his children and visited the school – a small hut in one corner that was desperately underfunded, but staffed by a group of teachers who did the best they could.
Upon returning to the UK, I gathered a box of much needed supplies for the school and mailed it to them. Very soon afterwards, I received a letter from the children thanking me for their new books, pens, pencil cases and rulers. It was a simple act that had a huge impact – and it changed the way I travelled forever.
Since then, I have always made a concerted effort whilst on holiday to put down my cocktail, get up from my sun lounger, and venture beyond the gates of the resort in search of something, someone, somewhere to spend just one day of my vacation making a positive impact upon the destination in which I am a guest. I’ve volunteered in schools in India, cleared litter from streams and rivers in Panama, helped local charities in Peru and even organised a game of cricket for children from an orphanage in Brazil.
Along the way I’ve made friends that have stood the test of time, forged ties with incredible people who work tirelessly for their local communities and in return have been blessed with moments and memories that I will treasure forever.
At NOW, we’re calling for anyone who has the opportunity to do the same to give just ‘One Day Back or More’ to the local community of their chosen destination. If you have children, the opportunity to involve them in an initiative like this is more enriching than any geography class could ever be – in-fact, it has the potential to be life-changing.
Over the coming months, We’ll be featuring these ‘One Day Back or More’ stories from NOW travellers in a GIVING BACK article to be published in itmustbeNOW Magazine in the hope that it will inspire you to do the same.
