So, it turns out, there's a problem with Fair Trade.
Not only that, but you know that "Don't print this email" tag? The one you put in your footer because you want to educate people about not printing? Well, that causes over 2000 MT of CO2 emissions.
Oh and that biodiesel bus you were booking for your event? Well think again. It might be biting the hand that feeds, contributing to rising food prices around the globe.
Seriously, keeping up with the ongoing debate about what is good, better and best in the field of ...
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Not long ago I tuned into the Climate Reality Project, a 24-hour, virtual global event to share the truth about climate change. I lurked for the content primarily, but also curious about how the event was designed, wondering if it would reflect the content of the message.
Several years ago, Live Earth - Al Gore's previous event to raise awareness about the climate crisis - appealed to the music fan in me, but left the event professional in me wondering if the message was compromised by the format of the event. With ...
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We are the 99%
Not the 99% occupying Wall Street, or sitting on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery this morning. But the 99% of sustainable event organizers that realizes 1% of sustainable events have it a lot different than the rest.
First let me define what I mean by "The 1%" and "The 99%". The 1% are mega-events: large-scale, city-wide and often globally significant events. The Olympic Games, FIFA's World Cup. The kinds of events that cities trip over themselves trying to win.
The 99% are those events that ev...
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Cities around the world are doing whatever they can to improve the feel, the attractiveness and the economic competitiveness of their cities. And that means investing in sustainable forms of transportation. And that increasingly means investing in a high quality cycling network.
Janette Sadik-Kahn, Commissioner, NYC DOT
Last year the City of Vancouver expanded cycling routes through downtown. I'm not a biker myself, but have to admit, it has made walking through downtown a little more pleasant. And watching...
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Last week the UN Food & Agriculture Organization released a report stating one-third of food goes to waste. The equivalent of 1.3 billion tons, or the weight of 3,400 Golden Gate Bridges. In the US this amounts to 253 lbs of food wasted per person every year, according to Valerie Jaffee of the NRDC.
Man. Depressing.
The food waste issue is particularly relevant for events. Audits of actual events reveal approximately 18% of event waste is organic material: food. The number is even higher when you factor in pack...
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Shibui: simple, subtle, unobtrusive beauty.
To explain it runs counter to the Japanese artistic concept embodied in the word, but alas, I will try. In describing the concept's relevance to raku pottery it is mentioned shibui is that element that is neither the artist, or the object, but the tension that connects the two of them together.
It's the fire of the kiln, the pattern a watercolour brush stains the page. It's the process that transfixes us when we become absorbed in an experience; time passes...
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