Today’s an exciting day for Daisy Haynes. If her name doesn’t ring a bell, well, that’s because she’s not in the megayacht business. (Well, at least not yet.) But her dad, Tim Haynes, and her mom, Sally Steggell, are; they’re two of the heads at Tim Haynes Limited (THL), a well-known megayacht and racing-yacht rigging-service company.
So what does this young lady have to do with yachts, other than being the offspring of innovators? As I type this, Daisy and her fellow British classmates are probably just finishing up the planting of ten fruit trees at her school to create an orchard that will offset THL’s carbon footprint for the last six months.
It all started because the eco-minded youngster was thinking about how the everyday operations of her parents’ company impact the environment. Surely the employees could go greener, she thought. For example, THL employees clean rigs; well, the rags used were factory-made, which means fossil fuels were burned and carbon dioxide was emitted, and the rags were then thrown away after use. Why not, she inquired, use old shirts to clean and polish instead? Not only that, but reuse them instead of tossing them, and use soaps and other cleaners that are environmentally friendly.
Other observations: Each week at least one of the 12 employees flies abroad, plus about one-quarter of them drive a few miles to and from the office in individual cars. All of this means more fossil-fuel consumption and carbon dioxide production. The suggestion: Ensure company vehicles use biofuels, since the plants grown to produce them use carbon dioxide and water as their own “fuel.” This in turn means the amount of carbon dioxide taken in during growth equals the amount emitted on burning: carbon neutral status.
Some of Daisy’s suggestions have already become the new practice at THL. In addition, she’s working on a Web site that will give details about all the products she’s found thus far as well as give advice to yacht owners, crew, and even us regular folk who want to offset our carbon footprints.
In the meantime, as we Americans say, here’s a shout-out to Daisy. You go, girl!
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