So as an update from last week…I did hear back from the Newton Chamber of Commerce but not from the Newton Marriott. Here is what Vanessa (Director of Events at the Newton Chamber) had to say: Amanda~ Thank you for your feedback and suggestions. The information is valuable and we will consider your points when planning next year’s event. Thanks again. Vanessa Leite
Consider my points? I hope she does more than consider them!
Random fact from the Harvard Business Review: The World Health Organization estimates that burning dung and drinking contaminated water together cause eight million deaths per year! Can you believe that?!!? I was amazed when I first read that.
So on to the topic of today’s blog…I want to show that anyone can make a difference and it never hurts to speak up! Over the weekend, I attended a Chowder Festival in Portsmouth, NH. It is part of Prescott Park’s annual events. I have been attending this event for over 10 years!
This event has grown a lot over the past couple of years both in attendees and in safety…I think it started when a local company (Lupo’s) decided to serve cold chowder to a couple thousand people. That really got the health inspector’s attention. So now there are much stricter rules. This year they started to give out polystyrene bowls at every booth…there are about 14 booths and 4,000 attendees. I had brought my own bowl and spoon but was refused service. The reason why they switched from one bowl for every booth to one bowl for one booth is that the health inspector is afraid that the ladle will touch the dirty bowl and spread germs from one person to another. So when I got home I sent an e-mail to the Executive Director of Prescott Park and this is what I said to him (this is just part of the e-mail…I had other comments which is why this seems like a strange start to this paragraph):
Also what disgusted me more than the lines were the Polystyrene bowls. Prescott Park is trying to kill the planet. Why couldn’t we have used a corn or bamboo based product? Just think about it…there were 14 booths and over 4,000 people…that is at least 56,000 Polystyrene bowls! Here is an example that I hope you can use an inspiration, “When we “greened” the Live Earth concert in Giants Stadium, using china service for 51,000 fans would have been impossible. This of the amount of hot dogs, pizza slices, pretzels, etc. they went through during the eight hour concert! What we were able do, however, was convince the stadium caterer to use biodegradable cups, wrappers, cutlery, etc. Because we had composting available for the event, these items were then thrown into the compost bins along with the leftover food items, avoiding food waste going into the landfill waste. Meeting Strategists Worldwide
This year I even brought my own bowl and spoon. Of course the booths refused to serve me so I did something that would be worse in the eyes of the health inspector. I took the bowl that they gave me dumped it into my bowl and left my dirty bowl on the booth. While I was in the very long lines, I had time to talk to the people around me about the bowl situation and many were concerned about the polystyrene bowls. One guy even said, “I can’t understand why they wouldn’t use a corn base bowl?”
The Executive Director wrote back and told me that I was absolutely correct. He was horrified about the bowl situation as well but it was the only economical choice. So I have volunteered my services to help the Park become green. I want people to start speaking up about what they see or experience for themselves. How are things going to change if no one says anything?
As I was writing the e-mail to the Executive Director I was researching how long it takes polystyrene bowls to decompose…knowing that it took a long time. By the way, never found that number which can’t be a good thing but I came across this web site: http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/sec_pfpg.asp?CID=1421&DID=5213. It is for American Chemistry and it is facts about polystyrene. This fact sheet made me laugh…it looks at polystyrene is a positive light. Of course they aren’t going to talk about the negatives…um like it kills the planet! Read it and I hope you find it kind of funny and sad all at the same time.
This week on the Meeting Revolution Facebook page, I posted a comment on the wall. I want anyone who does something green to write about it. Or better yet take a picture or video of it. Post it to the web site. Let everyone know what good things you are doing for the environment!
