15th Anniversary Celebration Sustainability Statement

At Alberta Ecotrust, we know that action counts. It is the little (and big) things we do in our daily lives that will take us down the road toward sustainability. That’s why the planning committee made every effort to reduce the ecological footprint of our 15th Anniversary Celebration, turning it into a truly green event. Guess what? It was easier than we thought it would be!

Here’s a list of all the major environmentally-friendly planning considerations that went into the production of this year's event. We hope you will consider implementing them the next time you plan events on behalf of your organization or business.

We are what we eat (and drink)

We chose a caterer that was willing to provide excellent fare at a fraction of the footprint. We made the best local and/or organic food and beverage choices, and eschewed disposable products in favour of china, glassware and linens. Any leftovers will either be composted or re-distributed.

Keeping it close to home

When asked what was the best thing anyone could do for the environment, green-sage Gary Snyder replied, “Stay put.” The consumption equivalent of Snyder’s message is, “Go Local.” We chose local service providers, and selected the nearest food and drinks we could find. Instead of cut flowers, we decided to decorate with native plants that guests can take with them and plant in their gardens. And we purposefully decided NOT to fly in a speaker from hundreds of miles away, relying instead on local people and local stories.

Impact without impact

We minimized the amount and environmental impact of our promotional materials – without compromising their visual impact. We chose to use electronic and digital media wherever possible, using e-invitations instead of paper ones and, well, just wait until you see the video.

Where paper products are necessary, they are printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council. Every effort has been made to ensure that promotional materials can be reused, but those that can’t will find their way into a recycling bin rather than a landfill. Check out our low-impact name tags.

The power of power

To compensate for the amount of electricity that will be consumed at our 15th Anniversary Celebration, we have partnered with Bullfrog Power. Bullfrog will inject carbon-free green power onto the Alberta grid to match the amount of electricity used by the Art Gallery of Calgary for the entire day of April 24. Bullfrog Power sources power exclusively from generators who meet or exceed the federal government's Environmental Choice Program EcoLogoM standard for renewable electricity. Their power comes from clean, emission-free sources like wind power instead of carbon-intensive sources like coal. Using green power will reduce the party’s CO2 emissions footprint.

You can’t achieve what you don’t measure

We want to know how well we did and how we can do better, so we’re measuring the resources used – and the environmental and cost savings enjoyed – as a benchmark for further reductions at future events. This information will be shared with guests as part of a post-event sustainability assessment that will be sent by e-mail rather than printed and mailed.

Follow our lead

A key outcome for this event is to raise awareness about how easy it is to reduce the environmental footprint of the events we all hold and attend on a very regular basis. Every chance we get (without being annoying), we’ll be educating guests about steps they can take to green their own meetings and events. We’ll also encourage community citizenship by asking guests to support our efforts to host green meetings and events. At the same time we’re sharing our environmental commitment with guests, we’ll be soliciting their feedback and suggestions about how we can do even better next time.

For more information, contact Margaret Chandler, our green meeting advisor, at mchandler@greenfuse.ca or visit Green Fuse Communications.