Juliet Kinsman on what sustainable travel really means

Juliet Kinsman is the owner of ‘Bouteco’, a purpose-led non-profit communications consultancy for trusted sustainable luxury travel content and storytelling free of greenwash. Juliet is also a journalist, author, sustainability editor as well as being a Mum. Her solid ethics and life experience oozes through this podcast and we can honestly say we didn’t want this conversation to end. Juliet Kinsman is an inspiring passionate person who explains to us what it really means to be a sustainable traveller. Whether you are a luxury traveller or someone who loves to travel on a budget, this episode will completely open your eyes as to how you can bring a positive impact to local communities. Juliets career shifted focus when she learned about Fogo Island Inn, set off the rugged coastline of Newfoundland. This is one of the most remote locations in Canada, historically having high levels of emigration. Fogo Island Inn was created by Canadian business women Zeta Cobb and is not only an example sustainable building but an example of investing in the local community. This is when Juliet really started to focus on the positive socio-economic aspect of travel and why it is so important to keep people where they want to be. Juliet talks a lot about regenerative travel - and she says that’s how travel should be. Any hotel that is inter connected with its community and the local environment - then ‘that’s helpful’. If a business is investing in local people then that is one of the greatest things that you can do for a community in terms of uplift. The importance of the authenticity of your visit will keep local culture alive and andleave money in the local economy. She emphasises how important it is to support people and cultures to exist in a natural state, living in harmony with the environment and their natural environments. She describes so eloquently how we need to take a holistic approach to the socio-economic impacts of our travel decisions and why we must absolutely think about more than ‘carbon footprint’. Juliet goes on to share her genuine sense of need to help and to support women and children who are and will suffer the most as a consequence of a changing climate. Supporting female owned businesses is really important. Any way to empower women in vulnerable destinations makes a big difference.She discusses her thoughts on how people go on holiday but don’t take their values with them, whether using more plastic, water or knowingly staying somewhere that workers are not being looked after. She talks about how hotels can easily ‘greenwash’ - overstating the good they do and as a traveller we have a responsibility to ask more questions. If a hotel says it is offsetting its carbon footprint, ask ‘how is this hotel measuring carbon footprint?’Juliets sums the podcast up by telling us we only need to ask ourselves one question when travelling; is this helpful?’. She says we should approach all travel this way and encourages everyone to always ask questions. If you get an answer you don’t like or you don’t get an answer then your decision is simple - don’t stay there.If you would like to know more about Julie you can find her across all platforms on @julietkinsman. You can find her consultancy firm at Bouteco.co. Juliet also runs a podcast called ‘Funny Old World’, a podcast about all things eco. If you would like to follow our podcast on Twitter we are @4loveofweather or Instagram @Fortheloveofweather.Thanks so much for listening and supporting the podcast and we hope you leave this episode loving the weather that little bit more.