Travel
After 18 months of Canadians sticking close to home, Corona Canada stirred up some serious wanderlust this fall, while also raising awareness of the importance of protecting and respecting our country’s natural beauty when enjoying the great outdoors.
There’s nothing like unplugging and reconnecting with friends in nature. No matter the occasion, Corona is best enjoyed after taking the time to disconnect from our busy lives and reconnect with nature. Corona is brewed with water and natural ingredients and because of these natural roots, Corona is committed to preserving Canada’s natural wonders for generations to come. That’s why, as more and more Canadians set out to discover our country, Corona recruited an Officer of Natural Wonder to show travellers it’s possible to venture from coast-to-coast while keeping your environmental impact small.
The Officer of Natural Wonder was chosen from among more than 2,000 applicants following an intensive process that included an initial online submission form, a group interview with 10-20 participants per group, and – for the top three finalists – a final assignment and presentation. At the end of the process, one adventurer stood out from the pack for his talent in photography and content creation, and passion for travel and sustainability: Tyler Ravelle, a professional photographer and adventurer, based in Whistler, British Columbia, who specializes in shooting winter activities and enjoys getting out into nature, camera in hand. Not only is Ravelle an incredible photographer, he is conscious about how his own experiences impact nature and proactively works to limit any negative impact during his travels. This combination of skills and values made him the ideal choice for Officer of Natural Wonder.
The role of the Officer of Natural Wonder knows no bounds, extending from the west coast to the east coast, and will see Ravelle traverse over 7,900 kilometres in about a two-month period. Driving through each of our unique provinces, the Officer of Natural Wonder has been capturing our nation’s beauty while educating Canadians on how to travel responsibly to ensure our natural wonders remain unharmed for future generations of wanderlusts.
As the Officer of Natural Wonder, Ravelle will spend two months travelling across Canada in a sustainably designed, fully-customized Mercedes Sprinter, outfitted with a bed, kitchenette, roof-mounted solar panels and more eco-friendly features to provide plenty of comfort and functionality. Throughout his journey, Ravelle is checking out some incredible experiences on offer in our great big national backyard, such as paddling down the Indian Arm in British Columbia and visiting the Great Sand Hills in Saskatchewan, sharing his adventures on Instagram @coronacanada.
“There’s nothing I love more than discovering new places and capturing the beauty of our world through my lens,” says Ravelle. “We’re lucky in Canada to have such an incredible and diverse landscape to experience.”
Ravelle is excited to see more and more Canadians prioritizing domestic travel these days. However, more people exploring Canada’s natural wonders means it’s more important than ever to tread lightly and leave the landscape as clean or cleaner than we found it. That’s why Ravelle jumped at the chance to partner with Corona on this exciting program. “It’s crucial we help Canadians understand the importance of traveling responsibly and simple ways to do that, so we can keep the natural world as it is,” he says. “It makes me feel good knowing I’m on this journey through Canada’s backyard with a brand that is so dedicated to its preservation – so all Canadians can experience the beauty.”
To help Ravelle make the most of his time on the road, Canadian Geographic joined the adventure, curating several unique opportunities for Ravelle to give back to local communities to educate and encourage others to help keep our remarkable landscape as pristine as possible, for future travellers. Throughout his travels, Ravelle collected and disposed of plastic water bottles found along trails, in campgrounds and on the roadside. Then, as part of the give back opportunities Can Geo and our partners helped curate, Ravelle teamed up with Can Geo partner Ducks Unlimited Canada to do a flyover of the Ottawa region in a Cessna 172 to learn about critical conservation projects along the Ottawa River watershed — and to see them from above. Then, in Quebec, he visited Cap Tourmente, a National Wildlife Area located outside of Quebec City on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, to learn about the environmental benefits that the habitat is providing to wildlife and people alike. Can Geo also worked with Corona to build the Officer of Natural Wonder’s itinerary, ensuring he experienced some of Canada’s most iconic spots.
“Throughout its 90-plus-year history, Canadian Geographic has celebrated the natural world through great storytelling and photography, so partnering with Corona Canada on the Officer of Natural Wonder program presented an exciting opportunity to shine a light on Canada’s natural wonders and educate Canadians on how they can help to preserve our country’s natural beauty,” says Andrew Lovesey, associate director of business development with Canadian Geographic and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
“We hope this program helps to inspire Canadians coast-to-coast to explore the beauty our country has to offer, while educating travellers about the importance of responsible exploration and small changes they can make that will have a long-lasting impact on our natural world,” says Lovesey. “We encourage all Canadians to follow along the Officer of Natural Wonder’s journey.”
Ravelle kicked off his adventure on September 8th in Tofino, British Columbia, where he jumped in the ocean to experience the Vancouver Island surf destination’s iconic breaks. From Tofino, Ravelle crossed to the mainland and guided his van south on the Sea to Sky Highway, then continued on through Vancouver to Kelowna. Over the course of the trip, Ravelle will have travelled thousands of kilometres to Canada’s east coast, passing through Jasper, Alberta, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec and Fredericton — to name just a few stops on his great Canadian itinerary. Ravelle will wrap up his tour on the South Shore of Nova Scotia on November 1.
It’s a jam-packed schedule, but Ravelle says he is having the time of his life.
“My days are certainly busy, travelling from one location to the next or enjoying experiences on the ground, but regardless of where I am and what I’m doing, I’m consistently in awe of the incredible places I get to visit as Corona Canada’s Officer of Natural Wonder. After a day of exploring and connecting with nature, there’s nothing I enjoy more than a cold Corona, thinking about where in Canada my camera and I will get to go next.”
The Corona brand is all about getting outside, disconnecting and enjoying the best that nature has to offer, which is why this is such a natural extension of their existing environmentally focused programming. Corona Canada is passionate about protecting our environment and has prioritized giving back to various environmental conservation efforts. The brand recently partnered with Ocean Wise and one of its flagship programs, the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, to lead shoreline cleanups across the country. Canadians were able to sign up for a local shoreline cleanup or scan a Corona pack purchased in-store to be directed to a landing page for sign-up. Plus, during that program, for every specially marked pack of Corona sold in Canada, one square metre of Canadian shoreline was cleaned. Through this initiative, Corona participated in successfully cleaning more than two million metres of shoreline.
To further drive awareness of Canada’s pollution problem and in recognition of World Oceans Day on June 8, Corona popped up at waterfront locations in Vancouver, Toronto and Quebec City with their Plastic Beachgoers, human sculptures made with plastics found on Canadian shorelines. Canadians use over 125 kilograms of plastic per person every year, which is almost twice the average body weight; Corona’s Plastic Beachgoers highlighted the harsh reality of shoreline pollution in Canada, aiming to educate Canadians on the impact our lifestyle choices can have on our environment, as well as providing Canadians another way to learn about Corona’s shoreline cleanups.
Corona has also steadily been making improvements to the environmental footprint of its own product. In 2019, the brand replaced all plastic packaging on its cans on Canadian store shelves with new compostable cardboard packaging. This fall, Corona will further its packaging commitments by launching revolutionary packaging for six-pack beer bottles, becoming the first global beverage brand to take surplus barley straw to create an innovative paper packaging solution. The process uses 90 per cent less water in its pulp production than the traditional raw wood process, along with less energy and fewer harsh chemicals.
The Officer of Natural Wonder role is a first for the brand and a unique extension of their ongoing commitment to preserving nature that allows Canadians from coast-to-coast to get involved, learn and educate each other on how to ensure we protect our natural world, so that we can enjoy our natural wonders for generations to come.
Are you passionate about Canadian geography?
You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:
Places
In Banff National Park, Alberta, as in protected areas across the country, managers find it difficult to balance the desire of people to experience wilderness with an imperative to conserve it
Travel
Discovering boats, buoys and deep-fried clams on an epic family road trip in the 2022 Chevrolet Traverse RS
Science & Tech
Celebrating Canadian Innovation Week 2023 by spotlighting the people and organizations designing a better future
Places
It’s an ambitious plan: take the traditional Parks Canada wilderness concept and plunk it in the country’s largest city. But can Toronto’s Rouge National Urban Park help balance city life with wildlife?