Thank you for going ‘Above and Beyond’
Juneau’s Tourism Best Management Practices lists ‘carbon offsetting’ as a preferred visitor industry practice. This summer, leading Juneau tour company Above and Beyond Alaska, displayed their understanding of the importance of supporting the Juneau community, reducing greenhouse gases, and helping meet the city climate goal of reducing emissions by 80% by 2045. Founders Becky and Sean Janes and their company selected Renewable Juneau’s Juneau Carbon Offset Fund to help meet these goals, as well as their own company sustainability goals. JCOF uses purchased offsets and personal and corporate donations to swap out fossil fuel heating with renewable energy powered air source heat pumps in the homes of lower income Juneau families, lowering heating bills, improving indoor air quality and helping reduce greenhouse gases.
This season, Above and Beyond Alaska contributed a calculated average fee of less than $1.50 per guest as a carbon offset to the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund. In total, they raised nearly $8,000 for the Fund. These offset funds, when combined with other public and private offset purchases and donations, will facilitate the installation of heat pumps and the elimination of oil heating for lower income Juneau families. Each installation on average eliminates 500 gallons of annual heating oil and saves a family nearly $1,200 in yearly heating bills. Each year, thousands of visitors respond positively to the Juneau community and its overwhelming beauty. Renewable Juneau hopes that the pioneering and proactive local climate action taken by Above and Beyond Alaska can be adopted as a Juneau visitor industry standard. The visitor cost is trivial, its impact is life-changing.
Sincere thanks,
Renewable Juneau Board of Directors
A mountain of thanks
As the season of gratitude approaches, Lynn Canal Adventures sings Juneau a mountain of thanks!
LCA’s goal is to build courage and community through running. This year, in three separate holistic running camps, we served over 120 middle school and high school athletes hailing from 14 different communities.
In conjunction with a great stretch of weather, we were able to climb to some of Juneau’s highest peaks, swim in icy bays, and build connections with our youth through Olympic games and various workshop sessions led by a wide range (injury prevention, Nordic training, Native Youth Olympics, yoga and mindfulness, swing dance, etc) of generous local experts. We were inspired and guided by 15 spirited counselors from Juneau, Kenai, Anchorage and the Lower 48!
The setting where host our summer camps is unrivaled, and we simply could not do it without the support of multiple organizations: the Juneau Community Foundation, Alaska Community Foundation, Douglas-Dornan Fund, Juneau Volunteer Firefighters, Valley Medical Care, Juneau Emergency Medical Associates, Scott and Denice McPherson, the U.S. Forest Service, City and Borough of Juneau (We love our trails!), Trailmix, the Methodist Camp, and way too many more businesses, individuals and volunteers to list here.
We look forward to 2023 as we add new camps to our schedule (including one for adults!) and continue to build a healthier community through running– with YOU.
Thanks for keeping us running, Juneau!
Merry Ellefson, Kaleb Korta,
Tristan Knutson-Lombardo.
LCA Coordinators
