Morzine Source Summer 19 ISSUU

28
www.morzinesourcemagazine.com
MONTA GNE
VERTE
Morzine’s New Environmental Initiative
Climate change is an issue so big, many of us don’t even know where
to begin when it comes to making a difference. But Morzine now has a
helping hand. And a plan.
Formed during Winter 2019, Montagne
Verte is an environmental initiative
that’s aiming to reduce the carbon
footprint of Morzine as a community.
It was created by Barbara de Moubray,
who came up with the idea literally
in the River Thames, along with Benji
Sowter. Barbara was canoeing the
length of the river last November as
part of the Urban Mermaid project to
raise awareness about the dangers of
single-use plastic. On returning to
Morzine, Barbara and Benji started
planning and Montange Verte was
born. Over the course of the winter,
they were joined by Zebedee Peters,
Dan Jones and Cecile Burton.
So what exactly is Montagne Verte? It’s
inspired by Surfers Against Sewage’s
Plastic Free Community movement,
which provides targets and guidelines
to individuals, schools and businesses
in the UK to help them become plasticfree
and reduce their carbon footprint.
Montagne Verte operates along
similar lines, offering consultation
services and advice, encouraging
local residents and businesses to
get involved. They’ve also devised a
target-based tier system so individuals
and enterprises alike will have ecogoals
to work towards.
Montagne Verte set the ball rolling
this March and April, teaming up
with Meribel-based shop The Boot
Lab to hold a launch event focused
on fixing, reusing and reselling old
ski hardware and clothing. The event
saw involvement from lots of local
businesses and was a massive success.
According to The Boot Lab, 60kg of
clothing was repaired, which saved
1392kg of emissions, and 250kg of kit
was given away or swapped, saving
around 5,800kg of carbon emissions.
Since then, Montagne Verte has
organised Morzine Food Share, a
group that allows individuals and
businesses to reduce waste by
donating or swapping leftover food and
dried goods from chalets, restaurants
or rental properties. They’re also in
the process of organising mountain
clean-ups during the summer and
encouraging businesses to sign on to
their tier programme.
And what are some of Montagne
Verte’s long-term goals? “Hopefully
we can one day present Morzine to
the tourism world as an eco-friendly
town and have people choose Morzine
as their holiday destination because
of that.” Explains Benji. “What we
also have in the pipeline is a plan to
replicate the Montagne Verte system in
other mountain towns.”
Importantly, Benji points out, while
it’s important to take steps as an
individual, like refuse straws or
take your own produce bags to the
supermarket, businesses also have a
massive role to play. “It’s being pushed
to the public as their responsibility to
make changes. We’re hoping to push
the responsibility a bit higher, towards
businesses and their suppliers.”
It’s still early days for Montagne
Verte, but their ambitions are big and
embody a tried and tested approach,
which is exactly what it takes to
inspire change throughout an entire
community. We can’t wait to see what
they can accomplish this summer and
beyond.
If you’d like to get involved with Montagne
Verte as either a business or an individual,
follow the movement on Facebook:
Montagne Verte Morzine. You can also
join the Facebook group Morzine Food Share
to ensure nothing goes to waste.
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