Running a business is nowadays much more than offering products and services, bookkeeping and management. Arctic Values provides trainings for your employees to implement your corporate goals in terms of communication and sustainable development throughout your entire organization into all hierarchical levels. Arctic Values believes that every employee of a business should identify with its corporate goals and should be able to discuss organisational visions and approaches with potential customers, clients and other stakeholders.
Imagine the following situation, as it happens like this or very similarly every winter in Lapland several times. We are in Inari, in Finnish Lapland, 325 km north of the Polar Circle. We have mid-January a splendid day with -25 degrees Celcius and tons of beautiful white snow laying around on branches, stones, the frozen lake and simply everywhere. A tour guide takes a group of 20 tourists from all over the world into the wilderness by leading a snow-shoe safari and a little survival day. The tour guide might be not a local from Finnish Lapland but is fascinated by the Arctic environment just like the visitors and is taking the opportunity of a seasonal job. The guide tells some stories about reindeer herding, the Sami people and the other tours that his company operates. One tourist asks: “Do you notice here a change in the forest due to climate change, is it really an issue here in the North?” The guide answers, with a smirk in the face, “Well look around it´s cold, we have snow, What do you think?” A laughter appears among a few group members and this is it, topic closed. Even though it might have been to some participants of the tour an entertaining answer, it was by no means a good answer! The laughter was probably also not unisolo, as the question might have been an interesting character and some people are be disappointed in the group that not a more serious and detailed answer came as a reply. I am telling this story not to discredit guides or the organisations of such a tour, By no means! I just want to highlight how time has changed and that awareness among tourism companies and its staff towards the ecosystems that they enter and the specific cultures which call these areas home are essential.
Let´s go back to the moment the visitor asks the question: “Do you notice here a change in the forest due to climate change, is it really an issue here in the North?” The guide could have answered alternatively: “Yes we perceive some change and I hope in a few years we will not do this tour here in January with flip-flops.” (No problem with an entertaining answer and then the guide continues): “To be serious the ecosystem is suffering, reindeer in the Arctic have difficulties to find food, due to rain on ice impacts and frozen snow cover above the food sources.”
A myriad of impacts for environment and society due to climate change are evident in the Arctic and many visitors would like to learn what matters in this area far away from their homes. Hence, there are plenty of stories a guide could tell and just like back in school days with our favourite teachers, entertainment and knowledge are combinable and this is what many visitors that seeking an Arctic adventure appreciate most!
Arctic Values offers to train your guides in form of cooperative workshops to learn more about the specific conditions in the Arctic environment and the frameworks of sustainable development.
