Associations in Green - 30 environmentally-friendly ideas

Today is Blog Action Day - thousands of bloggers worldwide focus on one topic - the environment.

30 ideas for "green" (environmentally-friendly) associations and meetings:

.... meetings and conferences ...
1. Donate extra food from meetings/conferences to local food banks;
2. Provide coffee mugs to use entire meeting/conference;
3. Ask speakers to minimize use of handout pages;
4. Have online registration, info, evaluations and materials - keep print to minimum;
5. When printing, use recycled stock; print both sides of paper when possible;
6. Use centerpieces that can be reused or taken home by attendees;
7. Suggest participants carpool to meetings;
8. Have contents of box lunches available for pick-up vs in boxes (or worse, styrofoam);
9. Offer vegetarian meal options;
10. Use local and seasonal foods, when possible;
11. Opt for bulk drink and condiment containers - versus individual portion/packaging;
12. Save directional signs for use at other meetings;
13. Add tours with environment focus - e.g., national parks and walking trail maps;
14. Provide public transit passes to attendees;
15. Provide giveaways/prizes that are environmentally friendly;
16. Offer courses on environmental issues related to your industry;
17. Take advantage of natural light in rooms;
.... in hotels .....
18. Travel with night light versus leaving bathroom light on;
19. Turn off hotel lights and television each time you leave room;
20. Practice linen and towel reuse;
.... at your office ....
21. When new building - build to green standards;
22. Adopt environmental policies;
23. Make contribution to organizations that support green activities;
24. Switch to energy efficient lighting;
25. Reuse items instead of throwing away - notebooks, paperclips, etc.;
26. Save packing materials and boxes for reuse;
27. Consider if mailed materials could be emailed instead;
28. Encourage staff to identify "green" practices;
29. Tell media of green efforts to encourage similar action by others;
30. Provide recycling containers.

Good resources: US EPA Initiatives, Meetingsnet.com, BlueGreen Meetings
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