Green Pledge

The ACRL’s Green Component Committee for the ACRL 14th National Conference makes me proud to be a librarian! At this panel presentation, members of the Green Committee shared their experience planning a green conference, the first one for ACRL. As they mentioned, Seattle is a great place to start this trend, as the “green” opportunities here are more widespread and more accessible.

The efforts this committee made went far beyond the usual recycling containers. Their process included surveying ACRL members for conference attendees’ environmental priorities, creating a planning wiki called The Big Green Wiki, collaborating with other conference planning committees such as the Local Arrangements for information about sustainable businesses, and marketing/educating attendees and participants to their options for an environmentally-friendly conference experience.

This type of goal inspires all sorts of support. Over 80% of conference registrants signed the Green Pledge at registration, and received a green watermark on their conference badge. Seven exhibitors committed to being green, and information about them is on page 78 of the conference schedule. A volunteer created a Google map mashup with locations shown of the local sustainable/local restaurants and businesses. Presenters reduced the number of their handouts, or eliminated handouts altogether.

Some of the specific actions the committee took with this conference included efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle in various ways. Paper usage and waste was significantly reduced through the use of the Virtual Conference. Handouts and presentations are posted online, accessible to conference registrants. I appreciate this not only for the environmental aspect, but the access to simultaneously scheduled sessions that I couldn’t attend. It gives me the opportunity to virtually be in multiple places at once! Another reduction in paper came from the conversion of press kits and binder manuals for vendors from paper-based products to online documents. For the conference-related paper that was printed, soy-based ink on recycled paper was used, and the printer didn’t charge any extra. The cost of “going green” for this conference was less in some areas (A Lot less paper), more in others (bamboo plates and corn forks), and some costs were the same (printing).

Food scraps and leftovers are being handled in a way I’ve only seen at my hippie friends’ houses: Composting! Surplus food from the kitchens that wasn’t needed (and wasn’t unwrapped) is donated to FareStart. Vendor giveaways left over will be donated to local charities, and leftover vendor books are donated to Better World Books.

The committee members emphasized that communication and marketing through multiple outlets helped ensure the success of the green initiatives: website, wiki, newsletters, articles, emails, and word of mouth. For planning our own green conferences, events or meetings, it’s important to get membership initiation and drive, association buy-in and support, and formalize plans via a committee. The Green Committee plans to document their experience and efforts for next year’s committee, and hopefully we can take what they’ve done back to our own events to spread the word.

To hear more, come listen to the invited Green Speaker: Robin Chase (Sunday morning 8 am Sheraton ballroom). She’s the former CEO of ZipCar, now head of GoLoco.

Go Green!