Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock two years later, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the planet. The Doomsday Clock is set every year by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes nine Nobel laureates. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability...

Yesterday, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the leading authority on green building and the global developer of the LEED green building program, released its annual list of Top 10 States for LEED. For the first time ever, New York ranked number one, based on LEED-certified gross square footage per capita over the past year, leading the country in green building. New York totaled 201 newly LEED-certified projects in 2023 that encompassed more than 93 million square feet, equating to nearly 4.6 LEED-certified square feet per resident. Following behind was Illinois (3.213 square feet per capita), Massachusetts (3.210 square feet per...

Cutting down on laundry volume has been the focus of our industry for decades now with the now standard towel/linen replacement opt-out programs. Only recently, however, has there been chatter about eliminating some towels entirely. In the past year I have run across several suppliers that are aiming to do just that. At this past fall’s Boutique Design New York, Magic Stone introduced its antibacterial bathmat made from natural stone that goes from wet to dry in seconds. According to the company, it can reduce annual expenditure on traditional floor towel bathmats by over 80 percent annually. The bathmats can...

“Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy.” Sounds very complicated but that is the name of a new article published by the National Academy of Science. It details the results of a study of the amount of nanoplastics—particles of plastic—in bottled water. Yes, the bottled water you drink and make available to your guests. The study found that the concentration of nanoplastics in bottled water is “orders of magnitude more than the microplastic abundance reported previously in bottled water.” “We estimate that the exposure to the micro-nano plastics from regular bottled water was at the level of 105 particles...

Tampa, where I currently live, officially had its hottest year on record in 2023, according to numbers released by the National Weather Service. The NWS recorded an average temperature from 1/1/2023 to 12/28/2023 of 76.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s 0.2 degrees hotter than the previous record for the hottest year set in 2022 at 76.4 degrees. It was oven hot this past summer and my family did not even want to venture outside to the swimming pool. As reported in the Climate Journal, the earth is heating up fast. Global temperatures could rise 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2029, according to...

As just posted on Green Lodging News, Sage Hospitality Group has just released its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. For those of you not familiar with Sage, the Denver-based company operates a portfolio of more than 120 hotels, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and entertainment venues in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Green Lodging News has reported on Sage in the past. For example, this spring BioGreen360, a leading innovator in distributed food waste management solutions, partnered with Sage Hospitality Group to develop a closed-loop program to divert 100 percent of their hotels’ food waste from landfill with the...

Green Lodging News has posted numerous articles highlighting the degree of consumer interest in sustainable travel. New research from Phocuswright shows those consumers are not walking their talk. According to Phocuswright’s travel research report Sustainability Dissonance: What Travelers Say vs. What They Do (and What to Do About It), travelers often have good intentions, but they lack an understanding of how to travel sustainably, and sustainability considerations rarely impact their trip decisions. Knowledge of travelers’ awareness of the issues, motivations to travel sustainably, travel behaviors and how much responsibility they are willing to take for the health of the destinations they...

Expect Green Key Global’s just announced partnership with BWH Hotels to be one of at least several with the hotel certifier in the months ahead thanks to the September news that the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) have signed a Letter of Intent to form a joint venture company that will own and operate the Green Key Global certification program in the United States and Canada. My take is that AHLA and HAC would not have pursued the joint venture without the support of at least some of the major brands. Green Key...

Do you vet the natural attractions you send your guests to? Not long after I moved to Florida my family visited a local animal “sanctuary”. I was quite surprised by the living conditions the animals had to endure—especially the very small areas they had to run around in. I remember they allowed folks to take pictures or selfies with some of the animals. The facility was later shut down. According to World Animal Protection, it is long past time to end all attractions that force animals to suffer by allowing them to be ridden, touched, or posed for selfies. “The...

This month is a special one for Davidson Hospitality Group. As part of “Davidson Day of Service,” each participating property has developed a thoughtful, meaningful engagement to make a positive impact on its community. A total of 83 individual hotels and resorts within the portfolio are participating. Activities range from supporting food banks and assisting homeless shelters to contributing goods and equipment to local schools to trail clean-ups. “Leading with heart and giving back are both intrinsic to Davidson culture and ladder up to two of my favorite company core values: ‘Be passionate about what you do; serve others with love’...