Greenerati

Taking a break from the daily San Francisco routine, we headed down to Los Angeles for a conference known as Canada Marketplace where we search for the anything significantly Green in the Great White North. We did discover some hotels, restaurants and other things making that movement in the green direction but that will have to wait for another post.

In this one, we focus on the marketplace itself. This year, they ventured into that Green netherworld to make the conference greener. They even hired a Green conference consultant but we could track down this consultant so we had do go it alone.

We thing we see when we check in is a giant sign from Travel Alberta about how they have purchased carbon credits. It’s no secret of what we think of carbon credits (low on the green totem pole). We’re more about actually doing something to make a change instead of just buying something.

To their credit, the conference meals used only china and linen for meal service. No Styrofoam or plastics but they did have those paper cups (see photo). They provided pitchers of water for the tables and not pre-fill water glasses. They served fair trade coffee. (We don’t think it was organic though). They provided condiments in bulk instead of those silly small packages.

The various meetings sought to recycle their waste products which they should be doing anyway. Forget the recycling, don’t bring the press kits, flyers and paper handouts en masse. Maybe everyone isn’t into the give away flash drives but some vendors (like the representative from the sustainable minded Butchart Gardens) simply had a laptop, a few display items and a few business cards. To us less is more and it doesn’t take a lot of paper items to impress us.

As for the conference location, certainly the Beverly Hilton needs to make many steps before we can even call it Green. Our invitation told us to request “Access to the Green Room” at check in but then the nice woman checking us in offered up that deer in headlights look. Later we find out that this “green room” provides: towel and sheet reuse program, low-flow toilets and water conserving showerheads, bio-degradable cleaning products, and provides the option to not receive the daily paper. Yes, those green options floored us as well. Maybe they could add a recycle container in the rooms or would that be too crazy? The fact that they donate un-used amenities to a local charity did strike a light green chord with us. Ahhh, maybe they are learning.