Members of academe are invited to the Rocky Mountain Sustainability Summit: Forging Solutions at Colleges and Universities at the University of Colorado at Boulder, February 22-23, 2007.
Conference participants will learn about environmental issues facing educational institutions, and explore ways of improving campus practices and policies, based on the triple bottom line of environmental, social and economic sustainability.
There are a number of nonprofit organization, publi-private partnerships, and community development agencies promoting sustainable economic development, smart growth and nature-based and cultural heritage tourism. These groups share a number of characteristics, including:
Among the more successful organizations are the Sierra Business Council and the Jefferson Economic Development Institute in California and the North Carolina-based Handmade in America.
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The Alliance of National Heritage Areas (ANHA) released its report, Economic Impact of Heritage Tourism 2005 (PDF) that examines the financial contribution of the nation’s five largest heritage areas.
There are a growing number of resources available to businesses, meeting planners, and destination managers who want to offer “environmental-friendly” events. These resources provide “best practices” to improve both the environmental and economic bottom lines. As the Ocean’s Blue Foundation explains on “Blue Green Meetings” website:
“Environmentally responsible meetings are not only good for the earth, they’re great for business. Planning or supplying a green meeting gives you the competitive edge, a great reputation, and can save you time and money in the process.”
Sustainable Travel International now offers businesses an affordable way to provide carbon offsets to their visitors. The nonprofit began to provide a carbon calculator–MyClimate–on its website in 2006.
Businesses participating in Sustainable Travel’s program can place a link to the carbon calculator directly on their sites, allowing their customers to estimate the CO2 emmissions associated with flying, driving and hotel stays and then make a donation to a project designed to offset these environmental costs.
Learn more about Carbon Offsets: reducing travel’s environmental impact.
The Sustainability Handbook: The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic and Environmental Responsibility by William R. Blackburn provides a blueprint for how organizations of all sizes can reach or exceed economic, social, and environmental excellence.
The Green Meeting Industry Council will discuss ways “to improve meeting management practices by promoting environmentally responsible strategies” at their two day conference, February 6 to 8, 2007, in Portland, Oregon.
Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, a marketing and public relations agency that focuses on the travel and leisure industries, says it is “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for the new year, despite a “volatile market.” In its December 2006 eNewsletter, YPB&R predicts:
The Slow Food Movement was founded in Italy in 1989 to counteract the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. The movement is founded upon the concept of “eco-gastronomy,” a recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.
“We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.”
From the “Slow Food Movement,” to farmers markets and “Buy Local” campaigns, more organizations are promoting “economic localization” as a key to sustainable communities. According to Bay Localize:
“Economic localization brings production of goods and services closer to their point of consumption, reducing the need to rely on long supply chains and distant markets. . . Local production strengthens the local economy, creates worthwhile jobs, and increases local self-reliance.