Green is when you really really care and then action those cares.
Two years ago we took the decision to be a car free guiding business . It was an easy decision to make. We try to live a earth friendly lifestyle and consume less and become whole in our view point and practice.
We had an eco policy, we used green and fairtraded products, we uses hand tools in our copicing/tree work, we purchased green renewable energy, we super insulated our premises and used low energy bulbs and we used a landrover!
'What? What? How does that work?' we asked ourselves. We also asked friends who also, like us, found a convenient way of allowing ourselves the necessity of a landrover rather than seeing it as a luxury/ gas guzzling
monster.
We looked around and saw that if we planned and thought ad schemed carefully enough then we may, all being well, find an answer. It took longer than we thought and sometimes longer than we wanted too! It was easy to slip back into landrover-ease!
Then we decided to put a deadline on the whole thing. Last autumn, October 1st 2010 we went for it. We became landy-free. It was winter and we had fewer clients. It was a scary and joyous moment as we said goodbye to what we presumed till then was our mainstay of our business. It was gulp moment and once we had gulped then we carried on. We spent some time reflecting upon our action and wondering if we had done the right thing.::
We looked at the alternatives and how we would redesign the company to true green. There were lots of options and many discussed as possibilities -everything from canoes to horsedrawn carts. It came down to the most simplistic of machines - the humble bicycle. We already had and rode bicycles so to us it was a 'no brainer' and so our real journey began.
We needed a human powered machine to move kit, carry tools, wood, guide from and be noticeable. We tried trailers but they were unwieldly within in groups and difficult to manage off/on road. Great if you are alone or in small friendly similar ability groups but otherwise they are not that advantageous.
We looked at lots of possiblities from the Christiania Trike through to the Mundo. The process got us thinking that maybe there was not an alternative - but I was not prepared to accept defeat so early on. In an issue of Velovision http://www.velovision.co.uk/ we found our ideal machine: The Bullitt!!!! We did our research and approached Bullitt or rather Larry vs Harry directly. http://www.larryvsharry.com Hans and ourselves got on gre
at and after a few conversations/images/ideas we agreed to purchase.
And now, of course it could only be this way.
We use our tandem trike to get both of us around, the Bullitt is own new company vehicle and is great fun, very cool and handy too!
