Going Green

ESA is committed to hosting an environmentally friendly meeting. Below is a list of our ongoing efforts to green the meeting.

• ESA will donate $5 per registrant to help offset carbon emissions.
• Annual Meeting Tote Bag Recycling Program: In an effort to conserve resources, ESA will provide all meeting attendees with Annual Meeting materials in a recycled envelop.  Attendees with then have the choice of reusing the tote bag they received at last year’s meeting, taking a new bag from this year’s meeting, or taking no bag at all. Additionally, attendees will receive the Annual Meeting logo on a patch, which you may adhere to either tote bag. We encourage attendees to bring their tote bag from previous Annual Meeting, and add the new meeting logo patch to their bag.
• We, ESA, are proud to have printed the 2008 Pocket and Final Programs for the Annual Meeting entirely on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. FSC certification ensures that the paper contains fiber from well-managed and responsibly harvested forests that meet strict environmental and socioeconomic standards.  By using this FSC paper we have completed the chain of sustainability for the paper used in our Pocket and Final Programs. The result is that 54 trees will be replanted in the sustainable forest to continue recycling efforts monitored by the FSC council.  Not only that, but ESA also preserved 3 trees, 1,129 gallons of wastewater flow, and 1,883,175 BTUs of energy by using 1,266 lbs of postconsumer waste in this FSC product.
• The official conference program will be printed using soy-based inks, which recycle.
• The number of pages in the official conference program has been significantly reduced from past years.
• The exhibitor prospectus was distributed electronically as a pdf, not as a printed piece.
• The exhibitor decorator kit was distributed as a pdf, not as a printed piece.
• The Milwaukee hotels in our hotel block have agreed to a linen reuse program; hotels will change linens every third day or when requested.
• The Milwaukee hotels in our hotel block will not automatically dispose of un-used shampoo and soaps and replace them with new items.
• No styrofoam will be used at the Annual Meeting.
• Tote bags were made in the USA from 100% recycled polyester material that has been woven from plastic bottles and some fabric scraps.
• The lanyards are USA made from EcoSpun polyester from 100% recycled soda bottles. 
• Paper, glass, and plastic will be collected at the Convention Center and recycled.
• Box lunches will be packaged in biodegradable bags for our field trips.
• ESA and its Meetings Manager, Michelle Horton, are featured in an article appearing in the December issue of Convene, a meetings industry magazine. The article titled “Walking the Talk” notes “When the Ecological Society of America gets together, it tends to raise the “sustainability bar” for the rest of the meetings industry”. ESA and the ‘sustainability bar” read article explaining what ESA is doing.
• Exhibits: 100% recyclable carpet; 100% recyclable carpet pad made with 98% pre and post consumer content; reusable trash cans; poly film made form 50% recycled material; reusable banjo drape; reusable table skirts; recycle cardboard and pallets.
• Albuquerque greening efforts