Join The New Prosperity Initiative (NPi)Thursday, June 10th, 2010 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM for a community dialogue on social change featuring local, innovative leaders doing work related to sustainability and food systems

This event is free and will be held at NEXUS Green Building Resource Center, 38 Chauncy Street, 7th Floor, Boston, MA.

Speakers include: Matthew Kochka, Farm Manager, “Victory Programs” ReVision Urban Farm; Steve Muzzy, Program Manager, Second Nature Inc., Dr. Ricky Stern, Executive Director, “e” Inc.; Gene Benson, Services Program Director, Alternatives for Community and Environment.

Wonder Women of Boston is an opportunity for ambitious, accomplished women of all ages to mix and mingle. Whether you work in the corporate or non-profit world, are a community leader, entrepreneur, job-seeker, student, or someone simply looking for inspiration, you’re bound to make a few great new connections.

More details and to register visit: http://wonderwomenboston.eventbrite.com/

Let our green consultants work with you on incorporating sustainable practices into your event planning process.

Planning an Annual Conference and don’t know where to start? Or need assistance planning a fundraiser?

Plan-It Green Consulting and Events can help you plan any event from concept to launch.

Contact us today.

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by kingdesmond1337

Everyday each attendee has a soda and a bottle of water. Everyday the empty bottles and cans are thrown away – not a single bottle or can is recycled – 1800 bottles go into a landfill. If you’ve spent time in the corporate world you know, conferences are everywhere, every day. This means you need to multiply that 1800 by at least a hundred to account for all of the simultaneous events taking place in a single day. Waste, plain and simple. This is one example of one item, bottles or cans, now factor in food, the presentation materials, and transportation and you understand the countless changes that can be made to make the meeting industry more “green.”

So whether you are planning a birthday party or a large conference greening your next meeting isn’t as complicated or costly as you might think. Below are 5 simple and low cost changes that can have a big impact.

Try going paperless: There are countless ways this can be done. Try distributing presentations on electronic devices (for example a flash-drive) or via an event web site versus printing manuals for each participant; Go for electronic registration and email correspondence; and advertise using the web and/or email as opposed to mailers.

Go local: Make sure the menu has vegetarian meals and have the chef include local, seasonal produce.

Recycle: Request that your meeting venue to provide recycling bins for paper, metal, plastic and glass. Recycle or reuse left over event materials.

Print it Right: Work with an FSC certified printer; make sure materials are printed on recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks, and print on both sides of the paper.

Forget the sugar packets: Request bulk dispensers for sugar, salt, pepper, cream and other condiments.

Making thousands by “going green” would be an energy company that runs an advertising campaign touting a “green” technology they’re working on that in turns causes people to switch energy providers when “in reality that ‘green’ technology represents only a sliver of the company’s otherwise not-so-green business, or may be marketed on the heels of an oil spill or plant explosion.” (Example courtesy of GreenWashingIndex.com)

photo by by ntr23

Being more cost-effective through the use of sustainable practices might look like reducing the cost of your company’s annual conference by over $12,000 from the previous year simply by providing large containers of drinking water with reusable bottles rather than individual plastic bottles. Not only do you prevent landfill waste through the use of reusable bottles, but you also eliminate the consumption-based cost of water on your banquet order. But what about giving your customers what they want, right? what if people are picky about their water or really don’t want to have to refill the same water bottle? You’d be surprised at how much people are willing to stretch themselves when they see other people doing something new and having no problem with it. Check out crowds theory.

In greenwashers’ defense, there’s nothing wrong with catching on to a good idea (environmental responsibility), and there’s certainly nothing wrong with making money. But there are countless ways to be green, sustainable, and cost-effective by making simple, yet more thoughtful changes. If you’re interested in learning more about implementing sustainable practices into your home or business or in planning events, feel free to contact us.

In return, you will have your URL posted on the Plan-It Green website, a write up on the Plan-It Green blog thanking you for becoming a sponsor with a brief bio about your company, a Twitter mention with a link back to the thank-you post, as well as your logo and URL in all outgoing invites for the sponsored event. Please email jeanne [at] planitgreenboston.com for more information.

Preference will be given to socially responsible /environmentally-minded companies, but all are encouraged to apply.