CLEVELAND, OHIO—Cleveland, Ohio-based Lodging Hospitality magazine, Saint Charles, Mo.-based Pineapple Hospitality and Boulder, Colo.-based Sustainable Travel International (STI) have announced that the Green Hospitality Conference (www.greenhospitality.net) being held March 14 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas will be carbon neutral. “Carbon neutral” represents the point at which greenhouse gas emissions have been identified, measured and, where possible, reduced, and remaining emissions have been offset through high-quality renewable energy, energy-efficiency and/or reforestation projects.
“This will be one of the first carbon-neutral Green Hospitality Conferences,” says Brian T. Mullis, STI president. “As an educational-based event, we collaborated with Lodging Hospitality and Pineapple Hospitality, organizers of the Green Hospitality Conference, on how they could take a leadership position in addressing the issue and offer best practice ideas and options to the industry, and they rose to the occasion.”
Lodging Hospitality and Pineapple Hospitality, a leading “green” hotel supplier, are taking a leadership role in lodging by sponsoring offsets of all carbon emissions produced during the event, including attendees’ travel to and from Dallas, hotel stays, electricity consumption associated with the Hilton Anatole, and waste generation associated with the event. Offsets will help fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the United States and in developing countries through STI’s partners Bonneville Environmental Foundation and MyClimate, and will reduce carbon emissions elsewhere.
Elevating Environmental Awareness
“We believe that elevating awareness about green hotel design, construction and operations is the single strongest thing we can do to get hoteliers involved in environmental issues and sustainable hospitality,” says Gary Dietz , Lodging Hospitality publisher. “We also understand that hotel stays and air travel contribute significantly to global warming. Demonstrating that carbon impacts can be offset sends an important message to hotel owners, operators and major hotel brands.”
Ray Burger, president of Pineapple Hospitality, concurs.
“Taking a leadership role in the lodging industry means recognizing our responsibility to the world we live in and supporting programs that make it better,” Burger adds. “Pineapple, in conjunction with our suppliers, who represent many of the world’s best green companies, recognizes the value in acting on initiatives such as this. We commend STI for taking such significant steps to combat global warming.”
Ed Watkins, Lodging Hospitality’s editor, says collaborative efforts being taken to organize one of lodging’s first carbon-neutral Green Hospitality Conferences mark a big step in the right direction.
“Travel is a significant contributor to global climate change,” Watkins says. “Though voluntary carbon offsetting is not a solution in and of itself, it is an important part of a comprehensive strategy for addressing the problem. By encouraging hoteliers and the travel industry at large to take a responsible approach to combating global warming, together we can become part of the solution.”
