NATIONAL REPORT—It is often said that trees are the lungs of the Earth. Unfortunately, since man started chopping trees down, the Earth has lost about half of its trees. Rainforests once covered about 14 percent of the planet; now they cover only 6 percent. If not protected, rainforests could be gone in 40 years. “We often forget that deforestation has been one of the major contributors to climate change,” says Jared Carlson, Director, Innovation & Business Development, the Arbor Day Foundation. As trees rot or are burned they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Live, healthy trees consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. “Trees should be part of the solution,” says Carlson, adding that if reforestation occurred on a large scale it could be as much as a 10 percent solution to climate change.
The hospitality industry has certainly been a contributor to deforestation—not in all cases of course, but it often has done its part to put development and growth ahead of sustainability. To make it easy to contribute to tree planting efforts, two organizations—the Arbor Day Foundation and LivClean Corp.—have developed programs specifically for the lodging industry.
The Arbor Day Foundation, which has planted somewhere around 300 million trees, offers a Carbon Neutral Program for hotels whereby hoteliers and/or guests can purchase carbon offsets to support the planting of trees. A carbon offset is a credit that is purchased to negate carbon emissions. One carbon credit is equal to 1 metric ton of carbon emissions. “Typically, it is less than a dollar per roomnight,” Carlson says, although it can be as high as $2 per roomnight. The offset program is typically offered to guests upon check-in. Carlson says one hotel participating in the program has a 17 percent participation rate. “It is an option the guest loves,” Carlson says.
Marketing Materials Provided
Properties participating in the program are provided with marketing materials such as posters and placards. The materials help to explain what an offset is and provide a URL to go to for additional information. Recognition materials are available to properties that reach certain milestones. “It is a way to get employees engaged and excited,” Carlson says. “We send a monthly progress report to the hotels.” The funds donated of course go toward the planting of trees. The Arbor Day Foundation is currently working with GreenTrees, its carbon offset partner, as well as other public and private partners to reforest areas of Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee—primarily within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.
There are currently 204 hotels participating in the Arbor Day Foundation’s program. Wyndham Worldwide is the most represented hotel company. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the company’s vacation timeshare business unit, participates with the Foundation as part of the Rain Forest Rescue Project, which supports shade-grown coffee. The project preserves 26 million square feet of rainforest each year and helps to provide coffee growers with access to fair wages, health care and better housing and schooling for their children. Additionally, Wyndham Vacation Ownership has launched the Wyndham Million Trees Project, an initiative to raise $1 million to help plant one million trees in U.S. national forests.
LivClean Corp., through its EcoStay Certified Program, provides a way for hotels to purchase offsets that support the planting of trees. Its newest project is a 55-hectare piece of designated land close to Edmonton, Alberta. The project is owned by LivClean and is called the EcoStay Motherland Forest. Trees are currently being planted there as part of a reforestation effort. According to LivClean, the planting is exclusively supported by hospitality and is one of the first in Canada to be awarded Gold Standard certification for environmental projects and transparency.
Christina deVries, President, LivClean Corp. & EcoStay Program, said the EcoStay Motherland Forest will include a planting that, when seen from above—even outer space—will have the shape of a turtle. Bill Helin, an aboriginal artist, was commissioned to design the turtle. The Forest will be complete with a motorist rest stop, walking path and educational signage about the project and its role in easing greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and the interaction of First Nations people with nature. Guests can take part in virtual tree planting while being recognized personally as they name their tree. The Forest will even include a live webcam and guests can post to Facebook and Twitter, sharing their tree planting with friends.
Appeals to Many Traveler Types
Hotels participating in carbon offsetting to support the Forest ask guests to pay an extra one or two dollars per night, or just increase room rate accordingly. “Offsetting with trees is something people really understand,” deVries says. “It is very consumer friendly.” As does the Arbor Day Foundation with its program for hotels, LivClean also provides marketing materials and assistance to support the Forest program. In fact, deVries says there is a strong marketing component to the purchase of offsets to support the Forest. “It appeals to Millennials, Baby Boomers and travelers from outside the United States,” she says.
LivClean, which also provides ways to support other types of programs through offsetting, has plans to add a forest planting project in the United States—probably in Texas, deVries says. With all of its programs, EcoStay has had more than 3.5 million participating guests so far.
Both Carlson and deVries agree that supporting tree planting through offsets has many more advantages as compared to supporting a wind farm or composting project, for example. In addition to trapping carbon dioxide, trees provide a home for wildlife, filter water, improve air quality, stabilize soil, control flooding, and even help provide jobs through forestation efforts.
To learn more about the Arbor Day Foundation’s program for hotels, click here or contact Jared Carlson at (402) 473-2102 or jcarlson@arborday.org. To learn more about LivClean Corp. and its EcoStay Certified Program, click here or contact Christina deVries at (905) 338-3113 ext. 5 or cdevries@livclean.ca.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
