Pacific Sands Beach Resort just launched the role of Environmental Ambassador in order to expand the hotel’s capacity to implement eco-friendly initiatives and to forge partnerships with conservation organizations.
Current Guest Services Supervisor Megan Whyte will step into this role. Megan’s ideally suited for the role too as she’s been an environmental advocate all her life.
Since a young age, she’s played an important role in Tofino by collecting and recycling garbage with her friends, in addition to donating her spare time to charity. To date, Megan has raised over $100,000 for various organizations such as SickKids Foundation, for which she embarked on a solo cross-country bike ride from Toronto to Tofino.
Upon arrival in Tofino, Megan joined Pacific Sands Beach Resort as Guest Services Supervisor. Now, as the resort’s first Environmental Ambassador, Megan is implementing several projects including a new community garden that encourages staff to reduce their carbon footprint and signage educating guests on how they can reduce environmental impact during their stay.
Megan currently leads regular cleanups at local beaches as part of Surfrider Pacific Rim’s Love Your Beach Clean campaign, which takes the extra step of analyzing debris to identify the biggest offenders and advocate for systemic change.
In addition to these initiatives, the resort donated $10,000 to the campaign and launched an onsite Marine Debris bin, providing guests and beachcombers with a location to drop garbage and recyclables. Anyone who contributes to the bin is entered into a monthly draw for a two-night stay.
Environmental initiatives extend throughout the guest experience, including local Sea Wench Naturals haircare and body lotions packaged in eco-friendly pumps, a rainwater catchment system supplying water for all resort operations, a geo-exchange system that uses the earth’s temperature to heat and cool the resort, green cleaning products, electric vehicle charging, energy motion sensors and a help-yourself herb garden that offers easy and packaging-free access to food seasonings.
“Protecting our environment has always been important to me, I’m thrilled and honoured to be the first Environmental Ambassador at Pacific Sands Beach Resort,” said Megan.
She added, “Currently, I’m focused on expanding the work that has already been done, from partnering with Surfrider Pacific Rim, Coastal Restoration Society and other amazing organizations, to integrating sustainability into every part of resort operations. I think every hotel and resort should appoint a dedicated role to environmental protection – we’re living in an era where it’s become a necessary element of business operations.”
Visit Pacific Sands Beach Resort online for details or to book a stay.
Images courtesy of Pacific Sands Beach Resort.