Authenticities – Sustainability: a work in progress

LATTE PARTNER CONTENT

While much effort has gone into alleviating the cataclysmic reality staring at us in the face, still it is the need of the hour for us to understand and acknowledge the harsh realities caused by human activities that hold the fate of our world on a knife’s edge.

The ‘big picture’ question as a company we’re morally obligated to ask ourselves is “How are we encouraging the preservation of biodiversity and inspiring conscious travel?”

Authenticities Sri Lanka has done just that.

It’s been a couple of years since we expelled utilising single-use plastic bottles on all our tours. The frightful realisation of using 150,000 single-use plastic bottles per year made us re-evaluate the harm we are causing to the environment and thus, it was imperative for us to find an alternative way to provide safe, drinkable water for our guests. The insulated water bottle (with a USB charged water pump to refill the water bottles) albeit costs us a significant amount, is the replacement for the plastic bottles of water we have been providing in the past. For guests bringing their own refillable water bottle, we facilitate filtered drinking water in the vehicle.

When we moved into our very own office space two years ago, it was made a priority to fix solar energy panels supporting our sustainability ethos. Presently, 60% of our energy consumption is powered by solar and by mid next year, we will extend solar panels to our vehicle yard adjacent to our office. With this initiative, our idea is to convert 100% of our energy consumption from Solar and whatever extra is being contributed to the national grid.

All gifts we provide guests are sourced from local artisans. By supporting local artisans and buying local, we believe in sustainable development and investment that brings out the true potential of local communities.

The perpetual issue we struggle yet to find solutions to is bringing down carbon emissions from all our tours to zero. Since Sri Lanka still doesn’t facilitate electric vehicles for touring (unless a hefty 200% tax is charged) we are compelled to find alternates in reducing our carbon footprint in a way that is reflective of our ethics. Planting over 6,500 trees in Digana (a suburb of Kandy) on 2 ½ acres of land was one of the initiatives we implemented in the year 2020. A process that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through natural sinks like trees and other vegetation removing CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The pursuit for reducing our carbon footprint for next year is planting suitable vegetation on a 5-acre land in Sigiriya and over the next few years creating the second analog forest in Sri Lanka, therefore, becoming 100 % carbon neutral by 2025. We are aware preservation and expansion of natural sinks such as forests are crucial to reducing emissions.