Kermit the Frog was right: It's not easy being green! Just when you pat yourself on the back for making a change that seems to help the environment, you find out your choice has an unseen impact that seems to cancel it out. Planning a greener conference is a bit like that, too – balancing human needs with carbon counts, juggling convenience and cost. We are thinking creatively about how we can all take on this challenge together, and we've developed a few guiding principles (with the assistance of our Green Chairman, Brad Kik of the Institute for Sustainable Living, Art & Natural Design) to help with our decision-making: focus on enjoyment over sacrifice (isn't it nicer to eat off a real plate?), celebrate the local, and encourage participation.

How You Can Help

Support Our Local Partner
While we are making efforts to reduce the impact of the conference, we can also offset its impact by supporting organizations that work for a more sustainable future. The Alliance is partnering with Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a local nonprofit that offers mentoring to farmers in sustainable agriculture, organizes farmers' markets around the city, and partners with schools, hospitals, and other institutions to provide locally and sustainably grown meals. A $25 donation to Farm Fresh RI buys all of the fresh ingredients for a Healthy Foods, Healthy Families cooking demo at one of their city farmers markets. A $50 donation underwrites one month of accepting food stamps at all of their farmers markets. We will be selling reusable water bottles at the conference, with the sales going to Farm Fresh RI, and we'll hear from Noah Fulmer, Executive Director of Farm Fresh RI, about the differences they're making in the community. [ read more at www.farmfreshri.org ]

Want to calculate your own carbon footprint? Check out www.sustainabletravelinternational.org and enter your conference flight/car and hotel information.

BYOB
You'll see much less food packaging at this year's conference, and one thing you won't find are individual water bottles. Instead we will provide water coolers which you can use to fill your reusable bottles. Bring your own bottle from home (a multi-purpose travel mug will be great for water and coffee!), or buy one at the conference for $5 – the money will go toward Farm Fresh Rhode Island.

Recycle
We will provide recycling and compost containers, and hope you'll help us by sorting your items before they go in the trash.

Our Green Wish List

We've developed our green wish list for the conference, and hope you'll join us in making these efforts a success. Some of these items may cost a little more (though we won't pass the costs on to attendees), and some will require more work on the part of staff and volunteers. But we think it's worth it!

Offset Our Carbon Emissions
With an estimated 100 tons of carbon emissions from conference travel and hotels, our goal is to raise $2,500 for Farm Fresh Rhode Island, to support farmland preservation, farmer mentoring programs, farmers' markets, and initiatives that get local foods into hospitals, schools, and restaurants; provide fresh, local food to low-income families; and educate the public about everyday sustainable practices that make a big difference in a small state.

Offer Ways to Connect with the Local Environment
Whether walking through downtown Providence, checking out some amazing reuses of urban space, hearing from local chefs about celebrating our local abundance, or talking with artists who are reimagining the intersections between the natural and the built environment, we hope to build rich connections to the city and its sense of place.

Provide Local Food and Drink
Rhode Island has some of the richest farmland in the country, and local cuisine offers a bounty of fresh fish, produce, dairy, and cheeses from a stone's throw away. We'll be working with caterers that buy from local farmers and fishers, to offer conference attendees fresh food that truly celebrates New England.

Reduce Packaging
We will offer alternatives to traditional food packaging: reusable water bottles, large containers of juice and tea rather than individual bottles and cans, buffet-style meals rather than individual box lunches. We are also exploring options for reusable, non-disposable plates, cups, and flatware. Not only will these changes reduce our conference waste, they will also offer some of the homey comforts that foster community, like wrapping your hands around a hot mug of coffee, passing hearty salads around the table, and toasting to new and old friends with an actual glass!

Better Management of Conference Materials
You may have already seen our conference brochure, printed with soy inks on 100% recycled paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. We will also be using green alternatives to traditional name tags and binders. Some conference materials will be emailed in advance and posted online, rather than printed as handouts. And we'll ask conference attendees to limit brochures and other promotional materials, many of which end up being recycled at the end of the conference, and instead offer other ways to promote our organizations to each other through video, web links, and more. Our hope is to continue to provide the materials that are most helpful on-site, and to offer others electronically (which also makes it easier for you to share research reports, panel outlines, and workshop details with your colleagues!).

Reduce Waste
With abundant recycling and composting options, we can minimize our land-fill waste. We'll provide containers and signage, so you know what goes where, and we'll collect reusable materials (like nametags) at the end of the conference.