Walk the Talk Folks

     Sure, it’s easy to be green if all you have to do is say the word.  But there’s a big difference between talking the walk and walking the talk.  There are those who purchase carbon credits to offset their impact but who do not say what their carbon footprint is, how many credits they are purchasing or from whom they are purchasing them.  It’s easy to make a vague statement that sounds good but green goals should be measurable. 

     At Voyageur we strive to make our Green Goals realistic and  measurable.  We have an equation, archaeic it may be but it is an equation of how many trees we need to plant to offset the fuel used during Voyageur’s tow boat operation on Saganaga.  Mike knows the numbers but I believe the equation is something like 1 tree during it’s lifetime will equal approximately 110 gallons of gas.  He also knows how many gallons of gas we use and then I plant this number of trees plus probably 300 or more each spring. 

     We have our Eco-Statement on our website and place cards urging our guests to be green during their stay.  We are active members of the Environmental Protection Agency Waste Wise Program and do as much as we can to be green.  So, when I saw the word competition next to the word green, I thought, "Heck yeah." 

     Here it is folks, it’s a challenge to be green, not just talking the talk but actually walking the talk.  It’s Minnesota’s Green Energy Challenge.  It’s a simple form, just check mark five boxes stating what you will do to walk the talk.  You can join our Voyageur Fan’s Team, the Gunflint Trail Team or start your own, it doesn’t matter to me as long as you start walking the talk.

For those of you who are confused about walking the talk…

Aristotle’s followers are said to have discussed philosophy while walking about with him—hence their name: “peripatetics.” I suppose they could have been said to “walk the talk.”  For the rest of us, the saying is “if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk”—a modern version of old sayings like “actions speak louder than words” and “practice what you preach.” Another early form of the expression was “walk it like you talk it.” Many people now condense this to “walk the talk,” which makes a sort of sense (act on your speech), but strikes those who are more familiar with the original form as confused.