WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks, announced a three-year collaboration with Disney to get half a million kids into national parks by 2017. Disney will continue its role as lead sponsor of the Foundation’s Open OutDoors for Kids program and support the Find Your Park campaign.“Our national parks provide transformative, life-changing experiences that everyone deserves to have,” said Dan Wenk, Interim President of the National Park Foundation. “Thanks to Disney’s continued support, already more than 100,000 kids have had the opportunity to explore these treasured places, many for the first time. We are...

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—In conjunction with Earth Day, TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel website, announced that it has extended its successful TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program into Australia and New Zealand. Developed in consultation with the United Nations Environment Programme, Ecotourism Australia and EarthCheck, the TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program helps travelers around the world plan and book greener trips by highlighting hotels and B&Bs engaging in environmentally-friendly practices. More than 8,000 properties in 67 countries, including 170 in Australia and New Zealand, have been awarded the TripAdvisor GreenLeader status, making it the largest green hotels program in the world. Properties participating in the program range...

SINGAPORE—Hilton Worldwide announced that it will reduce the environmental impact of meetings and events held at more than 90 hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific through an expanded carbon emissions solution, the Clean Air Program. Starting on May 1, meeting planners and delegates have been able to play their part in reducing carbon emissions and deliver more sustainable experiences to their customers.When customers choose any of Hilton’s participating hotels as meeting venues, the Clean Air Program will provide a calculation of the carbon emissions of the event at no cost to the customers. Hilton will then purchase the equivalent...

NEW YORK—A quick thinking hotel Security Supervisor at New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania is being hailed a hero after he saved the life of a man suffering a heart attack. On the night of Friday, May 8, Ruben Hernandez had just begun his shift as Security Supervisor at the hotel when he received a call for help. The call was for an unconscious male, not breathing and not showing a pulse. Ruben immediately removed the on-site automated external defibrillator (AED) from its box, and responded to the location of the call.Upon arrival, he and his fellow Security Officer, Danny Sandoval...

JEKYLL ISLAND, GA.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced the opening of The Westin Jekyll Island, a 200-room, convention-class, beachfront hotel on Georgia’s acclaimed barrier island. It is one of six new Westin hotels opening in North America this year and follows the brand’s 200th opening worldwide in 2014. “The Westin Jekyll Island is a terrific new addition to the Westin brand’s growing portfolio and provides a restful retreat for travelers on one of the most beautiful barrier islands in the United States,” said Bob Jacobs, Vice President of Brand Management for Sheraton and Westin. “This spectacular new Westin hotel...

NATIONAL REPORT—Throwing out food scraps and leftovers hardly seems controversial until you consider the stats: Some 870 million people, one-in-eight on Earth, go to bed hungry every night, notes the World Food Programme. Shortly after taking his post, Pope Francis took this issue to heart and to the public to mark the U.N.’s 2013 World Environment Day, noting “throwing away food is like stealing from the table of the poor and hungry.” The Pope’s remarks are made all the more poignant by a U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimating that 31 percent, or 133 billion pounds, of food available for...

TORRANCE, CALIF.—The lights are on where the buffalo roam. At the Lamar Buffalo Ranch field campus in Yellowstone National Park, an innovative distributed energy system that combines solar power generation with reused Camry Hybrid battery packs is now online. The result: reliable, sustainable, zero emission power to the ranger station and education center for the first time since it was founded in 1907.Announced in June 2014, the partnership among Toyota, Indy Power Systems, Sharp USA SolarWorld, Patriot Solar, National Park Service and Yellowstone Park Foundation is an innovative effort to extend the useful life of hybrid vehicle batteries while...

LONDON—In order to be able to offer hotels the opportunity to position themselves within the market according to their CO2 emissions, Considerate Hoteliers announces a new strategic alliance with BookDifferent.com. The booking site BookDifferent indicates which of its hotels have been certified with one of the top green accreditations within the travel industry. It allows travellers to choose the right hotel according to their own sustainable standards, and further gives the opportunity to support a charity associated with BookDifferent.Through this strategic partnership, all hotels featured on BookDifferent.com can now also access the services of Con-Serve and are encouraged to...

MCLEAN, VA.—Hilton Worldwide announced an initial three-year commitment with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to reduce its impact on the environment. As Hilton’s signature environmental partner, WWF will work with the company to evolve its global business practices. The collaboration also will further WWF’s mission to protect and conserve the Earth’s life-supporting resources by making the hospitality industry more sustainable.Hilton Worldwide properties around the world already contribute to the company’s waste reduction and water conservation targets through thousands of on-property projects. The collaboration with WWF builds on existing efforts in these areas and leverages the company’s initial work on sustainable...

FRANKFORT, GERMANY—A new dedicated Health and Wellbeing track and seminars in English and German on sustainability and diversity are among the features of the restyled education program at IMEX in Frankfurt from May 19 to 21.They are among 170 education sessions, 30 of which will be in German, within the overall program that is now focused in one area on the show floor—The Inspiration Hub. The extensive program is wide ranging with 10 tracks providing valuable information and insight on Business Skills, Marketing and Communication, Risk Management and Compliance. They will also cover Technology & Social Media, Trends and...