Baja Travesia 2008
An environmentally friendly event.
Jacqueline Windh / 04.04.2008
“Our sport is a 100% luxury recreational activity, so we want to try to make people think about choices, things like packaging, what you buy – we want to create awareness� says Paul Romero.With that in mind, Race Directors Paul, Karen and Antonio have done their best to make Baja Travesia 2008 a carbon-neutral event, and as environmentally friendly as possible.
All racers were asked to provide organizers with their plane travel details. Event sponsor Three Phases Renewable, a Manahattan Beach-based carbon broker, will offset energy consumed by their jet travel by buying energy from alternative renewable sources.
But that’s not all. “There’s enough trash down here in Mexico,� notes Karen.
“Bringing waste to a sensitive land like Baja is pretty senseless,� adds Paul. “Coming down here to recreate, but then leaving our trash (even if its nicely packaged) in these sensitive towns is just not right. They have no way to process recycling, their landfills are poor at best.
“We just try to motivate people before they come, to think about packaging, about food and drink containers, about avoiding waste – for example bringing food in reusable containers.� Paul and Karen encouraged all teams to pack all of their garbage right back to the USA, and to not leave anything in Mexico. “At least a couple of teams that I saw made a really conscious effort,� comments Paul, “for example, Yoga Slackers took three huge bags of trash out with them.�
Baja Travesia has set a really good example, and hopefully other races will follow suit. “These kind of races take place in remote and sensitive lands. I don’t think athletes are deliberately littering, but even just trying to dispose of our trash in these small remote towns just doesn’t make sense. I’ve never seen this kind of environmental effort by other race organizers,� says Paul. He emphasizes that the aim is to try to make people think about their choices, all of their choices, e.g. packaging, what we buy, creating awareness. “Our efforts have generated lots of conversations, and hopefully in future years we will all continute to do better, and people will continue to make more of an effort each time.� See All Event Posts
