CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Cascades Tissue Group as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. For more than 40 years, Cascades Tissue Group has provided paper solutions designed with environmental preservation in mind. North River 100 percent recycled tissue paper products have more third party certifications (Green Seal, EcoLogo, and Processed Chlorine Free) than any competitive brand and are now made with Green-e certified wind energy. See www.northriverwind.com. For additional information, e-mail info@northriverwind.com, or go to Cascades Tissue Group.

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes EnviRelation as a Green Product & Service Directory Partner. EnviRelation Emissions Management Services (E2MS) help hospitality operations track their greenhouse gas emissions, while providing them with valuable information for measuring the performance of their environmental initiatives. EnviRelation is developing industry indices in order to track hotel performance. Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per Occupied Room (GEPOR) index serves as a benchmark as well as platform for sustainability dialogue with governments and environmental organizations, in addition to helping the industry maximize its environmental efforts. EnviRelation recognizes that...

LAGRANGE, GA.—Milliken Hospitality announced that all of its carpet collections—broadloom and modular—are now certified to the NSF/ANSI 140-2007 Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard. All collections also achieved carbon neutral certification from the Leonardo Academy without purchased credits. “Milliken Hospitality has made a commitment to certify all carpet products without exception and meet the highest environmental standards for this industry,” said Bill Gregory, Milliken’s director of sustainability. Milliken carpet collections attain carbon neutral certification from the Leonardo Academy with credits earned internally from reduced emissions and forest sequestration. Customers for modular products have the option of ES backing with NSF-140 Gold...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) announced that Portland, Ore., will be the host city for the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference 2009 (ESTC). The event will be held from November 1 to 3. The ESTC is the annual bi-national conference focusing on greening the tourism industry in the United States and Canada. Travel Portland and Travel Oregon, the city and state’s destination marketing agencies, respectively, will co-sponsor the 2009 conference as the ESTC 2009 Destination Host. The conference will take place at the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower, the first Hilton property ever to be Green Seal...

LOS ANGELES—The California Integrated Waste Management Board has chosen carpet manufacturer Bentley Prince Street, Inc. as the recipient of the 2008 CalRecycle Sustainable Business Award. The award is the highest honor from the Board’s annual Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP), and honors a business that has taken extraordinary measures to reduce waste by cutting the amount of trash it produces, conserving resources and reducing waste disposal in landfills. “As California’s largest commercial carpet manufacturer, we believe we have a responsibility to help move our state toward a zero-waste future as we work toward our Mission Zero goal of eliminating our...

MINNEAPOLIS—Newly tabulated results from a carbon-offset campaign conducted earlier this year by Carlson Hotels Worldwide report the initiative generated sufficient donations from members of Carlson’s goldpoints plus frequent-guest program to offset 340,436 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. To date, members have converted 709,000 Gold Points into contributions for carbon-reduction projects operated by The CarbonNeutral Company. Carlson has matched the donations, doubling the overall value. The goldpoints plus program includes all Carlson hotel brands: Regent Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, and Park Inn. Carlson invited goldpoints plus members to...

NEW YORK—Carlson Hotels Worldwide has introduced a comprehensive new green guide outlining sustainability strategies and practical steps for environmental responsibility, that can be applied across all of Carlson’s five hotel brands. Entitled “Practical Guide to Greening Your Hotel,” the green guide is part of Carlson Hotels’ global initiative to develop programs, policies and partnerships based on responsible business practices. The new guide and strategy were announced at the American Hotel & Lodging Association Fall Conference in New York this past week. Carlson Hotel brands include Regent Hotels & Resorts; Radisson Hotels & Resorts; Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts’ Country Inns...

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—ASTA’s Green Guides for Travel Agents and Suppliers have undergone their first extensive update since the program’s launch in April 2008 to keep up with the ever evolving sustainable travel industry. Among the updated sections are those focusing on ground transportation, accommodations, green resources and marketing. As an added benefit, those who complete the Green Member program and have their Green Member applications approved now receive a customizable press release they can use in promoting their new designation to their local media and community. “There is no better time to become an ASTA Green Member,” said ASTA president...

PORTLAND, ORE.—The Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) announced the theme for its annual Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference scheduled for February 24 to 26, 2009 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The theme is “action=sustainability.” The 2009 GMIC programs committee identified global and tactical concerns facing the meetings industry based on the audience sectors of corporate and association meeting planners, industry suppliers, government and the global meetings industry. The 2009 conference will offer tiered educational tracks for meeting planners and industry suppliers. The participants’ learning experiences will range from “Future leaders” 101 tracks, to hands-on experiential learning,...

DALLAS—Motel 6 is saying “goodbye” to carpet and “hello” to a clean, green, wood-effect laminate flooring in its new Phoenix Prototype and property renovations (retrofits). Motel 6’s new flooring is made of 80 percent pre-consumer recycled material, including an inner wood core comprised of oak and cherry wood chips that would otherwise be burned or thrown into a landfill. The new flooring is also a critical component of the updated Motel 6 design. As the literal foundation of the room, this flooring plays a major role in defining the feel of the space, giving it an updated, larger, and...