Sustainability Spotlight is a collaboration between the Nugget and NAITSA’s Sustainability Committee. Each month, the committee interviews a sustainability expert to learn more about their journey. This month features Heather Davis, NAIT alumna and founder of Uplift Adventures.
Answers have been edited for clarity and space.
NAITSA Sustainability Committee: What inspired you to start a sustainability-based business?
Heather Davis: It really came back to, you know, I grew up on a farm. My parents were small business owners, being farmers, and they worked on the land and you really build a connection when you are out there on the land all the time and you can see those impacts that happen.
NSC: Your tagline is “explore with purpose.” Tell me more about what that means to you and your business.
HD: Explore with purpose, for me, was because of where I’m planning on taking the company. But every time that we go outdoors, we’re exploring with purpose. Whether that is going out there to connect with the land, or we’re going out there for the land to help us, because it’s two ways, right? We take care of the land, the land takes care of us, so we’re always exploring with purpose and we’re never going out there with the intent to harm the places that we travel to.
NSC: How are your tourism services different from the traditional ones in terms of environmental impact?
HD: So I’m one of the only guides in the Canadian Rockies who is certified for all national parks. And that really teaches a lot of the history, the geology, the flora, fauna, the human history of the area. When you can bring to light the places that we travel to and help people find that connection with the places that they travel to, then they have a lot more respect for it as well.
I used to work in government and I ran a disaster relief program after the 2013 floods that hit the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
There’s a lot of people who think it’s their right to be on the land, and it is kind of our human nature to be on the land. But I don’t think of it so much as a right but a privilege to be in these places. Our job as humans isn’t to take whatever we can from the land, it’s to make sure that we protect it so that we can have it for now and for the future.
Helping people connect to the places that they travel to, it helps them then want to take care of those places.
NSC: What’s the biggest challenge that you face as a sustainability-focused business?
HD: I think the hardest part is being up against the quick money, because sustainability takes time. If you look at it long term, it economically does better, but quite often we want instant gratification.
So when we see something like a large-scale open pit mine, and we see huge money with that, that’s what sometimes people jump to.
NSC: Your website says that your ultimate goal with Uplift Adventures is to create conservation tourism. What does that look like?
HD: That’s where the tagline “explore with purpose” actually comes from. I want to build one or two week long trips where people get to explore through the Canadian Rockies, get to adventure, get to fall in love with all these things that I love, but there’s a portion of their trip where they get to work on a sustainable project.
Sometimes that means sustainable development, like building a bridge because the creek is being crossed, and when you damage the riparian area, you’re damaging the creek.
NSC: What small change would you encourage individuals or businesses to make?
HD: There’s a lot of really cool tools out there right now. I really like that people are thinking more sustainably. One of my big things is that I don’t buy a lot of stuff, but obviously I still buy things, I still need things, and there’s no way that I’m going to be able to live a life without using stuff. It’s just impossible.
We all have an impact, but how do you lower that impact? I would really love to see products being built really well and we can make those choices based on how we spend our money.
We’re getting to a place in our world where we’re starting to recycle more and upcycle things, but it’s not entirely there. So, a lot of times that means more mining. And that’s hard for people to hear too, because then there’s a lot of people who are employed by mining. So, it’s a very complex system. But I really do think if we really purchase things with the intent of longevity, then that’s going to reduce our impacts long term.
To learn more about Davis, Uplift Adventures and her goal to create conservation tourism, visit the website or follow @uplift_adventures on Instagram.
Feature image via Heather Davis
