TREE ERA x MOTERRA
Offsetting our Carbon Footprint
Offsetting our Carbon Footprint
Here at Moterra, we are passionate about connecting people to the outdoors and inspiring them to protect our wild places.
At the beginning of 2020, we teamed up with Tree Era to help offset our carbon footprint. This effort is just one part of our commitment to sustainable energy and fighting climate change. Tree Era is a Calgary-based company that helps “individuals and businesses reduce their carbon footprint and combat the effects of climate change by community-funding the planting of trees.” They plant trees across North and South America, in the areas that need them most. You can read more about what they do at their website here.
In 2020, Moterra has committed to funded the planting 1,000 trees. Did you know that a single tree can offset up to 1 tonne of Co2 in its lifetime? That’s a whole heap of carbon!
As a business striving to encourage people to travel and explore the outdoors through self-contained van travel, we make it a priority to remain conscious of our impact and global footprint on this planet. While our business encourages people to go “off the grid,” we also know vehicles contribute to the climate crisis, so it is of utmost importance to us to ensure we are doing our part and taking care of the Earth as much as we use it. We feel that exploring our great outdoors is not only an opportunity to see the world, but also an opportunity to better ourselves and the places we visit along the way. When we found an opportunity through TreeEra to offset our carbon footprint by planting trees every month, it felt like a no-brainer to our team!
There are so many companies taking environmental initiatives that we look up to! However, being in the travel and tourism industry, sustainability on a local level is something that really strikes a chord for us. We are local to Jackson, Wyoming where the economy operates almost entirely off tourism, so we have to make a plug for our hometown where we’ve seen environmental initiatives go beyond just one business. The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce has initiatives for sustainability that expand throughout the entire town, including a zero waste initiative and implementing a “Jackson Hole Code of Conduct” among schools in the area. We are really proud of our small town for its sustainability mission and hope other towns follow suit!
Definitely! Simple changes — such as always opting to carry a reusable water bottle, mug, and grocery bag are easy ways to eliminate waste. Personally, I keep those things in my car to ensure I always have one with me. Supporting local businesses, shopping at farmers markets instead of chain grocery stores, and/or buying items in bulk is a huge reduction in waste as well. It’s easy to throw away a lettuce container once you go through it, but why not reuse that container for leftovers? There are many creative options to reuse products! Lastly, learning about the local recycling rules in your area and finding ways to compost food scraps, whether through your city or in your backyard, is a fantastic way to incorporate sustainable practices into your daily routine.
Speaking from a travel perspective, it can feel really tough to accomplish sustainable practices while ‘on the go.’ My advice would be to think ahead: pack small, reusable items in your suitcase such as a bamboo cutlery set, reusable water bottle and grocery bag. Carpool wherever you can and consider putting more hike and bike ride opportunities into your itinerary. Download maps ahead of time to save on paper. Opt out of cleaning services at your hotel. Shop local, and book any travel excursions through local operators — preferably ones that give back to their communities!
Learn about special offers, camping tips and tricks and more!
On December 4th, San Francisco and many surrounding counties enacted a new Stay Home order which will go into effect on December 6th. This preempted a new state-wide Stay Home order that will be enacting restrictions on regions outside of the Bay Area. All non-essential travel, including driving more than 2-3 hours, is restricted as part of both orders. In accordance with our policy of complying with all local restrictions in the communities where we operate, we have chosen to suspend operations from our San Francisco location until the current Stay Home Orders are lifted. Current guidance suggests that this will not happen before January 14th, 2021.
While we’re disappointed that we will not be able to accommodate our renters’ holiday travel plans this season, we believe that it is important to support our local healthcare workers, first responders, and our communities at large by taking all reasonable precautions to help limit the spread of Covid-19.
Please contact us with any questions or concerns. We continue to take reservations for Spring and Summer 2021, and we hope to resume accepting reservations for winter travel very soon.
You can be confident in our cleaning standards. We have reviewed our cleaning standards to ensure that they meet or exceed CDC cleaning recommendations. The scope of these cleaning standards applies to all vans and camping equipment that are utilized on Moterra rentals.
As always, your rental will come with disinfectant wipes so that you can maintain clean and hygienic conditions during your rental. We will also be including disposable masks for you to use.
We want to ensure that our guests are able to respond to the realities of traveling while focusing on the safety and enjoyment of your family. With that in mind, we have amended our cancelation policy for all reservations that take place in 2021.
The 25% deposit required to reserve a van is refundable outside of 45 days prior to your trip departure. The reservation remainder will be charged 45 days from your departure date, at which point it will be non refundable.
Moterra offers cancelation protection for additional peace of mind and flexibility within the 45-day cancelation window during these uncertain times. This can be added during the check out process.
Should you need to cancel or reschedule your reservation due to state or federally mandated travel restrictions, provided you are not able to receive reimbursement from an insurer (trip insurance or other), and you are between 8 and 45 days of your reservation’s departure date when placing the request, we will credit your rental amount towards a future rental with us with no expiration. Please note that rentals cannot be rescheduled within 7 days of departure and forfeit any credits upon cancellation.
One-way fees are non-transferable and will be non-refundable from booking.
Guests who have booked itineraries will be refunded, minus van rental cost, deposits on activities, lodging, transportation and the $500 itinerary deposit.
We’ve put together some tips and tricks to ensure you get the most out of your adVANture.
Healthcare workers have been working tirelessly to nurture our community back to health. The Moterra team wants to do our part to thank them, and we need your help! We will be giving away 5 vouchers, each redeemable for a 3 night trip in their choice of a Pop Top or High Roof van. This voucher will be valid beginning when it is deemed safe to travel through December 31, 2021.
Click the link below to nominate healthcare workers who you think may enjoy a vancation as an opportunity to unwind and reconnect with loved ones. Have more than one person in mind? There is no limit to how many people you can nominate! The five healthcare workers will be selected on May 30, 2020.