WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Hotel & Lodging Assn. (AH&LA) has teamed up with the London-based International Tourism Partnership, which is a program of The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, to launch its Going Green initiative. Going Green offers guidelines for hotels to set minimum standards to improve sustainability and achieve goals for better environmental management. A set of six defined standards have been established to assist hotel managers in designing a framework for making choices that are good for the environment and the bottom line. These standards involve hotel policy; staff training; environmental management; purchasing; communities; and...

LOUISVILLE, KY.—New from LSI Wallcovering, Second-Look is the first program to reclaim previously installed vinyl wallcovering and turn it into new fashionable wallcovering designs with 18 percent recycled content and a minimum of 10 percent post-consumer. Recycled wallcovering collections are available through LSI’s Versa, Cirqa and Plexus distributors. The recycled selections have the same aesthetic quality, durability, warranties and price as the company’s standard wallcovering. Three Second-Look collections include fresh designs in versatile colors and tactile embossed textures as well as some of LSI’s best-selling classics. The initial recycled offering includes 62 selections in the Versa collection, noted...

JUPITER, FLA.—Each year, from March 1 through October 30, guests of the Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa are exclusive witnesses to one of Nature’s miracles: the annual migration of endangered sea turtles to the beaches of Palm Beach County, Fla. “Florida’s east coast beaches provide nesting habitat for the world’s largest remaining population of threatened loggerhead turtles, as well as globally important populations of endangered green and leatherback turtles,” says David Godfrey, executive director of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation & The Sea Turtle Survival League. “For these species to survive, Florida must protect its sea turtle nesting beaches.”...

LONDON—A growing number of city center hotels are facing up to their environmental and social responsibilities, according to the April edition of greenhotelier. The magazine’s feature, “City Hotels—Greening the Urban Jungle,” examines how city hotels are implementing green strategies at all levels of policy and management, from the initial design of the hotels to their day-to-day operations. City hotels are uniquely positioned to enhance their green credentials. Public transport hubs ensure customers minimize their journey’s carbon footprint, restaurants can tap into local sources of food, and it’s far easier for a city hotel to access new environmental technologies...

LONDON—For the fourth year running, World Travel Market will host the Responsible Tourism Awards, sponsored for the first time by Virgin Holidays. The awards celebrate tourism ventures that make a positive contribution to conservation and the economies of local communities while minimizing any negative impacts on tourism. The awards, the biggest of its kind in the world, are again organized by online travel agent responsibletravel.com, in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine—the magazine of The Royal Geographical Society. In 2006 the awards received an unprecedented response with more than 1,200 nominations. This year’s...

LOS ANGELES—JL Furnishings (JLF)/Lone Meadow, the exclusively sustainable division of JL Furnishings and a leader in hospitality furniture design and manufacturing, has expanded its collection with the introduction of 14 new creations; from sleek, modern lounge chairs to elegant sofas with stylish patterns. The company featured the collection at the 2007 Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas. As with all JLF/Lone Meadow furnishings, the new collection exemplifies the firm’s commitment to bringing green sustainable practices and progressive designs to the hospitality industry. The company is at the forefront of the sustainable hospitality furniture design and is currently the...

SAN FRANCISCO—For the climate action visionaries at DriveNeutral, it’s all about helping others reduce their climate footprint—by land and by air. Thanks to jetsetters looking for a way to offset their climate footprint when traveling by plane, DriveNeutral has introduced a new CO2 calculator called FlyNeutral to help neutralize climate change one flight at a time. “Everyone has a personal climate footprint that is unique to lifestyle choices and preferences,” says Jason Smith, founder and director of DriveNeutral and FlyNeutral. “Both efforts help individuals and organizations take global responsibility for personal emissions while initiating greater change in the...

LAS VEGAS—Like a professor teaching his students, Kip Richardson taught a little bit of Sustainability 101 during “Beyond Green: ‘The Talk,’” at the HD 2007 Expo and Conference. A packed room of attendees listened to Richardson, director of business development for Portland, Ore.-based Ankrom Moisan Architects. What is sustainability? Richardson said it is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” “Sustainability touches everybody,” Richardson added. “This is not a political issue. It is a human issue. Almost every hotel brand is talking about it,...

DANVERS, MASS.— Osram Sylvania announced the company’s Global Care sustainability initiative. The program represents the company’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility. “Global Care will drive positive results to the triple bottom line addressing social, economic and environmental needs,” says Charlie Jerabek, Osram Sylvania president and CEO. “This initiative represents our dedication to meeting customers’ lighting needs with a sustainable approach to product design, development, manufacturing and distribution.” Global Care is the latest milestone in Osram Sylvania’s long history of environmental achievement. A five-time Energy Star Award winner, the company recently celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its...

PHOENIX, ARIZ.—Aramark Parks & Resorts, a division of Aramark Harrison Lodging, announced that it has offset 100 percent of its traditional energy consumption with alternative energy solutions at its national and state park managed properties—selecting Earth Day 2007 to commemorate its first year of sustainable energy use. “Aramark Parks has continually developed cutting edge environmental and greening initiatives,” says Bruce Fears, president of Aramark Harrison Lodging. “Since protecting and preserving the environment is a personal passion of mine, it has been extremely rewarding to have participated in developing such innovative Aramark programs including PlanetEVERgreen, Green Suites EcoRooms; Sustainable...