Retreat Insider

My email box has become quite a cache of things to keep me busy. SPAM is nearly extinct these days and that’s a relief! Now, it’s the contents of the snail mailbox that we’re working on. After reading the recent Audubon article Paper Chase by T. Edward Nickens, we’re on a mission: To reduce the amount of catalogs and other paper “junk” solicitations that come by mail. Why?

To paraphrase from Nickens’ inspiring article: Retailers are betting that a direct-mail deluge will badger us into buying more stuff annually and clog our mailboxes with some 20 billion catalogs. Where does all that paper come from? Much of it is pulped from Canada’s boreal forest, the greatest wilderness on the North American continent, a 1.3 billion-acre forest stretching from New Foundland to the Yukon …

Reading the article spurred us to take action:

1. We signed up in support of Forest Ethics Initiative Do Not Mail
2. When a retail catalog arrives, we call the company on their nickel and demand to be removed from their mailing list.

Get hip about the precious boreal forest at Audubon.org

JUST one more thing …

This week, I decided NOT to do business with a company that is named after the ancient Greek word for earth, “Gaia”. My husband purchased one of their yoga products and a gift certificate online in January. In less than two weeks, I received a paper gift certificate by snail mail and the equivalent of two and a half of their catalogs printed on paper, much of which to tell me how earth friendly their company is. Sheesh! I finally called the company to request a credit for the cost of the gift certificate and told the poor CS person, mindful of his hourly employee status, that I would not ever purchase from their would be earth friendly company.

NOW for the BIG surprise, I promised

Today, it arrived by email: An invitation to attend the Sustainability Event of the Year produced by the Green Meeting Industry Council. Skeptical, but intrigued, I looked into it, wondering where in Pittsburgh a “green meeting” organization could host this huge event! Let’s look at this with a clear mind: In the end, the fact that most anything we do in the world, including travel to meetings may or may not net out as a low carbon footprint.

Tossing my haughty cynicism aside, I am here to report that I am impressed at the thoughtful planning the GMIC folk have done to keep nearly every facet of the two day meeting in line with their green values!

The Venue

David L. Lawrence Convention Center is the largest Gold LEED certified green convention center in the USA and the first of its kind in the world. The designation is awarded by the United States Green Building Council through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The Council found that green is as intrinsic to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center as is its world-class aesthetics and engineering.

The center is committed to recycling and conservation and just by booking or attending an event there you are participating in the latest green practices.

GREENING Participants: SpaceShare

GMIC set up the SpaceShare program to cover three areas that will reduce the environmental impact of participants at their convention:

• Search for a carpool. If you have a half-full car or cab, our search simultaneously looks for passengers to fill it OR offers you options to get in on a ride so that you don’t have to rent a car or pay for cab fare alone.
• Coming into town by plane, train or bus? See who else is leaving from your city. Perhaps you can fly together, or meet someone at the airport on arrival to share a taxi.
• Find a hotel roommate.

Are you inspired yet?

Every All About Retreats member has a smaller property to manage than the mega convention center in the heart of Pittsburgh. Each member is serving a significantly smaller number of people per group meeting, too. But, that’s just a beginning. With a passion to make a green difference and a little innovation, each of us, regardless of our business type, can reduce costs, positively impacting our bottom line and doing our bit for Gaia …

I rest my case… for now.

Love you and love our Mother …

dawna