CoaST is a tiny but tenacious social enterprise whose aim is to work towards one planet tourism; a type of tourism which provides benefits to the people, economy and environment, and which operates within our social, financial and environmental means. In other words, the triple bottom line.

WHY?

Tourism - or the "visitor economy" - is a massive employer for the UK, the S West, and for Cornwall. It provides work for one in five Cornish inhabitants, and it's responsible for almost a quarter of the money the county makes each year.

It's fair to say that not only do those of us who live and work here rely heavily on tourism, but that tourism itself relies almost entirely on its principal asset: the Cornish physical environment.

And 'physical environment' is a fancy way of saying, well, pretty much everything. It's the natural, historical, cultural and industrial heritage (past and present); it's the host communities who live and work across the county; it's also the myriad businesses, groups, local industries, support services and infrastructure which serve both our visitors, and the tourism industry operators.

This one industry affects “ and is affected by “ practically everything you can think of: food, transport, accommodation, procurement, energy, waste, water, wildlife, natural environment, retail, people and lifestyles. (It might have been easier to list those things untouched by tourism, but we couldn't think of any ... )

HOW?

We're all about joining stuff up, helping people see the connection between what we do and the impact it has economically, socially and environmentally. Then we help them move on to the next bit, when two or three things come together in someone's mind and everything starts to add up.

From the work CoaST has already done, we know this is how things really change ...

... the real life, blurred-edges, talking, engaging, wasn't-really-bothered-but-now-I'm-going-to-think-about-it stuff; when someone knows someone else who did this and it really worked; the networking: the can-you-help-me-find eight smaller kettles / 16 bags of locally-made charcoal / understandable advice on solar panels / a community group who can use my unwanted furniture / someone who's dug a reed-bed / a way to talk to town residents about our new plans / a firm to pick up plastic bottles / a low-impact carpet cleaner / yes, please, I'll try the laundry cards / I knew you'd know who I should talk to / I thought I was the only one, now-it-feels-like-I've-found-a-family, all that stuff.

This is how people change their minds; big changes don't happen overnight, but loads of small changes add up. We all need somewhere to start.  And of the ways we do this is by running a UK wide network to help everyone everywhere figure this out. The CoaST One Planet Tourism Network. And the first great thing is that if you want to try it out you can join free...

CoaST: an independent body and a social enterprise, based in a refurbished barn in Cornwall. Four women and one man, who variously encourage, inform, network, research, lobby, measure, persuade, object, question, bend ears, break boundaries and never knowingly give up.

Quote of the Day
If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time
Marian Wright Edelman