When traveling with Cheesemans’ to Svalbard, your ship-based voyage reflects a cognizance of the importance of negating negative environmental impact and employs multiple strategies to address this. For example, our local operator has eliminated the need for single-use plastic onboard by installing a filtration system to provide safe, high-quality water to drink from reusable bottles or cups. They no longer purchase pre-packaged, serving-sized foodstuff such as coffee, jam, honey, and chocolates; instead, these items are bought in bulk and placed in glass jars. Further, fruits and vegetables are bought in loose crates to avoid products with plastic packaging. Additionally, each week, one vegetarian meal is served to reduce consumption of fish and meat, though fish is either purchased by local fisherman or caught by the crew, and meat comes from traditional farms in France, which is home to our operator. Apart from ecological-conscious food and beverage related practices, our operator provides dispensers for shower gel and shampoo in the bathrooms in lieu of individually packaged items. These, as well as cleaning products and detergents (also bought in bulk to limit plastic), are Cosmebio labelled, ensuring the absence of controversial and harmful ingredients. Our operator also addresses a lesser-known issue, pollution caused by synthetic textiles, by employing special laundry bags to filter broken plastic fibers that would otherwise seep into the wastewater. Limiting the consumption of fuel is yet another practice taken to be environmentally responsible, which is also beneficial for the tour experience because staying in one place rather than running long distances typically affords better wildlife encounters. This, like the other practices intended to protect the environment, provides a higher quality experience for travelers.
Svalbard’s ecotourism industry, and our trip in particular, not only seeks to avoid harm but contributes to the environmental well-being of the archipelago in a number of ways. For example, participation in Clean Up Svalbard, a partnership with the Association of Artic Expedition Operators, affords the opportunity to clean up the beaches of Spitsbergen. During your trip, you can participate in removing any rubbish that has washed up onshore to be taken back to Longyearbyen on the ship to be disposed of correctly. Each year, Clean Up Svalbard removes approximately 20 tons of waste, mostly plastic pollution from shipping and commercial fishing. In addition to this important contribution to the environment, your voyage supports science projects onboard such as communicating with the Norwegian Polar institute about wildlife observations, which is an essential piece in marine management. With projects such as these, a mindset of preservation is effectively offsetting the potentially harmful impact of tourism.
Polar Bear International – This global resource for information seeks to secure the long-term survival of polar bears and the sea ice that the bears require. They conduct and support scientific research and advocate for the conservation of polar bears and their habitats. They seek to be the leading voice on climate warming to affect change.
Happywhale – Happywhale has two simple goals: one, to help humanity better understand the world’s whales, and two, to use this understanding to better protect whales and their ocean environment. If you would like to support conservation science, and knowing the identities, whereabouts, and travels of the whales you observe on your trip adds value to your life and experience, consider giving back through a tax-deductible contribution.