TEDx Whistler

Walking through Whistler Village during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the atmosphere was electric: live bands performed, people were dressed and painted in national colours and cowbells rung out. People from around the world gathered to celebrate athletic excellence and national pride. The opportunity to connect with people from far-flung places, to have fun with them and to gain insight into different cultures can be transforming.

But all this needs to be weighed against the environmental impact. The Olympic Winter Games featured a number of events that took place within beautiful natural environments – most notably the Nordic events at the Callaghan Valley’s Whistler Olympic Park, and the alpine events that took place on Whistler Mountain at Whistler Creekside. The carbon consumed in bringing people to this great event and this great resort can negatively impact the natural environment – arguably the thing that put Whistler on the map as a sought-out destination. And so, that was the central point of thought provoking discussion at the February 18, 2010 TEDx Conference in Whistler – can tourism and sustainability co-exist?

TEDx is a live and webcast conference that brings together speakers with different viewpoints and approaches to speak on the topic of sustainable tourism. Speakers at the conference in Whistler included Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence; Bruce Poon Tip, Founder of Gap Adventures and Valerie Langer, Director of British Columbia Forest Campaigns for ForestEthics.

Whistler is a community moving toward sustainability and hosted what has been called the Green Games. And in so many ways, Whistler is doing well as a community – embracing environmentally-friendly building practices such as is seen in its public library, taking up a compost waste program, and providing visitors with the opportunity to offset their emissions. Local Whistler operators such as ZipTrek Ecotours are internationally recognized leaders on blending adrenaline, environmental education and eco-friendly operations.  

Discussion breeds innovation and, in this case, practices that may continue to align Whistler’s community and visitors with its beautiful natural surrounds. View the Whistler TEDx discussion at TED.com to add your comments and to judge for yourself.