Calling All Green Citizens, 6/9/9

 

For These Things, I Give Thanks

 

It's Sunday and I am on my way to give a presentation on Green Meetings at the Convention Industry Council's, CMP Conclave. It seems like a great time to give thanks.

 

Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance": I read it once when it first came out in 1992 when he was so far ahead of the curve, and, I am re-reading it now for further inspiration. Gore writes, "Each of us must take a greater personal responsibility for this deteriorating global environment; each of us must take a hard look at the habits of mind and action that reflect – and have led to this grave crises." This is the age of responsibility that President Obama refers to.

 

Guy Bigwood's blog, "Less Conversation More Action": I truly believe that it's time to get busy and this sums it up. Years ago I took time out to study personal growth and life skills. My favorite motto from that training was, "how many, by when". If we don't give ourselves specific objectives, "how many", and a measurement, "by when" we are liable to lapse into complacency and never complete the important goals. Guy's call for action speaks to this perfectly.

 

Auden Schendler's book, "Getting Green Done": Auden shares the overarching plea that we don't get caught up in the small stuff. Now is the time to tackle the global solutions. If we only have 10 years to shift gears to sustainable business and lifestyles we need to roll up our sleeves and tackle the difficult initiatives.

 

The Convention Industry Council and US EPA's effort to write, Green Meetings and Events Standards, this collaboration is astounding. These two organizations came together to produce voluntary standards to give the industry approved metrics on how we meet, travel, and, do business. There are over 200 individuals between the panel and committees researching best practices, certifications, and writing specifications that by consensus of industry members can be approved for use by our planners and suppliers. The volunteers that I have personally worked with on this effort are AMAZING. These are all passionate experts in each of their fields who have recognized the opportunity to take action.

 

My Industry Colleagues: I have so many business contacts that get it. We all are so lucky to be part of an industry that has taken pride in being proactive in the green, socially responsible and sustainable arena. The traveler in this age takes so much inspiration from what they see and learn when they are outside their day to day routine. It's when someone travels for a meeting or leisure that they are most impressionable. The Industry proudly showcases green best practices and lifestyle choices; we know it's the hospitable thing to do. We have amazing culinary artists embracing the locavore movement, engineers retrofitting buildings with motion detector lights switches and master switches for the HVAC in guest rooms, and, entire marketing teams going virtual so that we have paperless meetings. It's these experiences and so many more that our industry is fostering that inspires the participant to go home and rethink how they are living and working day to day. The travel industry is an enormous laboratory and showroom for sustainable best practices.

 

My Family, without the experience that I had growing up I wouldn't have the innate awareness of environmental stewardship. I am the grandson of farmers who instilled the love of the earth in me. My father showed us the way to enjoy being in nature without disturbing it, and, he taught by example as a hometown activist for clean air in 1960 before their ever was an Earth Day.

 

My Partner of twenty-three years, who is my personal inspiration, mentor and collaborator.

 

It's with all of these amazing supporters and inspirational leaders, that I give thanks.

 

Be Well, Behave and Be Green

 

Kim is on the Board of Directors for the Financial and Insurance Conference Planners association (FICP) where he is Vice President of Education. He is currently an Event Marketing Specialist with Guardian Investor Services LLC, NY, NY. Kim received the award of Greenest Meeting Planner of 2009 at the Green Travel Summit in March 2009, and, has been recognized by Corporate Meetings and Incentives Magazine as one of 2009's Changemakers.

 

Calling All Green Citizens 6/6/09

 

Should We Be Meeting More Often?

 

We held nightly meetings millions of years ago by telling stories around the campfire, entertaining ourselves and learning from one another. We were keeping danger at bay, and at dawn, we went back to work in the light of the day. We worked as hunters and gatherers for survival, and, until this day we do the same.

 

Certainly we have gotten much more sophisticated; however, we are still meeting to learn from one another. Adults learn best in peer to peer learning, not simply reading a textbook or memorizing a manual. And, like our ancestors (Fred and Wilma Flintstone) a major reason that we meet still is to keep "danger" at bay. Now, we meet to keep productivity up, to further our business goals and objectives, and, to keep the dangerous animal in the dark, our competitors, from compromising our business' goals.

 

We huddle around a modern campfire, the podium. We hear stories of success that inspire and motivate us. We return to the "field" to hunt and gather more productively.

 

We are now facing a new danger out their in the dark, ourselves. And, as hunters and gatherers we need to learn how to restrain ourselves from gobbling up all of our national resources. We will be our own demise if we don't learn to lighten our impact on the planet.

 

The scary things in the dark are global warming, rising energy costs and environmental degradation. So, we are meeting green to discuss sustainability and corporate and citizen social responsibility.

 

I leave you with these questions. Because there are no more pitch black nights with our 24/7 connectivity are we missing out on the opportunity to huddle together and seriously discuss current problems and solutions? Have we become complacent with a constant stream of news sound bites? Has Twitter made us unable to process more than 140 characters at a time? Shouldn't we be meeting more often, and with greater drive and focus?

 

Be Well, Behave and Be Green

 

Kim is on the Board of Directors for the Financial and Insurance Conference Planners association (FICP) where he is Vice President of Education. He is currently an Event Marketing Specialist with Guardian Investor Services LLC, NY, NY. Kim received the award of Greenest Meeting Planner of 2009 at the Green Travel Summit in March 2009

 

Emotional and Ecological Intelligence = Sustainable Travel

O.K., here is how the inspiration came along for this post. First I was reading the NY Times online on May 20^th and came upon this article about, http://www.goodguide.com/, which was started by, Dara O'Rourke, former professor at MIT, currently a professor in the Dept. of Environmental Science at UC Berkeley. Dara studies the environmental, social, and health impacts of global supply chains. His website, goodguide.com, lists all sorts of information regarding foods, household items and personal care products. It's a great resource if you are menu planning for meetings and events. On Dara's blog at goodguide he writes, "the movement towards "radical transparency" that Daniel Goleman describes in his new book, "Ecological Intelligence", is really happening."

The radical transparency that Goleman refers to is leading the push for greater responsibility taken for our travel decisions. This is what I touched upon in my previous blog. From here I moved onto the webpage for Goleman's book, "Ecological Intelligence - revealing the hidden environmental consequences of what we make and buy, and how with that knowledge we can drive the essential changes we all must make to save our planet and ourselves. "

And this brief web sojourn brings me to a favorite quote from Al Gore; "We didn't ask for it, but here it is."

It's with all the information that is available to us in a nano-twitter that we are able to make more intelligent decisions when it comes to planning meetings and events, partnering with responsible suppliers and regaining our emotional balance. With these new choices we will build our sustainable business models and lead the way to protect our environment and natural resources.

Be Well, Behave and Be Green

Kim is on the Board of Directors for the Financial and Insurance Conference Planners association (FICP) where he is Vice President of Education. He is currently an Event Marketing Specialist with Guardian Investor Services LLC, NY, NY. Kim received the award of Greenest Meeting Planner of 2009 at the Green Travel Summit in March 2009