#PGAVdo1thing
A growing number of consumers make purchasing and vacationing choices based upon their desire to reduce their personal impact upon the planet. Destination leadership teams understand this—they are part of that demographic, after all—and seek to provide consumers with green options. Unfortunately, in their desire to be bold and effective, many destinations accidentally fall into the trap of greenwashing.
Umm … sorry, what is greenwashing?
Greenwashing occurs when a business markets themselves as more environmentally friendly than they really are. For example, on vacation last month, I chose to eat at a museum’s restaurant that-will-not-be-named because they advertised their green practices at the entrance. It wasn’t until after I received my meal on a compostable bowl that I realized they do not. actually. compost. The plate was thrown away in the garbage along with the non-compostable cups, straws, and heavy plastic silverware.
And was that compostable bowl actually compostable? An investigation by The Counter in 2018 revealed that all molded fiber bowls (even the cool ones used by Chipotle and Sweetgreen) contain PFAS, a class of more than 4,000 fluorinated compounds that do not biodegrade.
Sorry to pick on you, un-named museum (your new exhibit was powerful and moving), but some restaurant consultant sold you a bill of goods when they told you that these practices were pro-environment.
Step One
At PGAV, we’ve discovered that lofty goals are fine and dandy, but you can often go a lot farther with small manageable steps. For us, that first step was composting. We exchanged our water bottles for compostable cups and contracted with a local organization to pick up our organic waste—and those cups—every week. Mystic Sea Port took a similar early step when they asked staff to bring their own glass or reusable water bottle to meetings instead of providing plastic.
Angela Moore of the Missouri History Museum says their first step was to look at their operation’s use of energy. They found that the easiest first step was turning off the lights in collection storage when people were not present. They reduced energy usage and saved money.
If you’re further along in your green journey, you might be inspired by The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s partnership with Espana Farm. Espana Farm provides the aquarium with locally grown veggies in reusable crates instead of single use plastic. The arrangement is cheaper for the aquarium, supports the local economy, reduces the aquarium’s carbon footprint from shipping, and reduces single use plastic on their campus.
The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden has not only started constructing zero energy buildings, meaning parts of its campus produce more energy than those buildings use, they have partnered with Green Mountain Energy to get their community on the green energy bandwagon. Locals who sign up with Green Mountain Energy to only use green energy sources to power their homes are eligible for free membership with Phipps.
#PGAVdo1thing
This one-step-at-a-time green plan is generally referred to as Do One Thing. Many of our zoological clients have made this a guest-forward message throughout their destination. It is empowering, inspirational, and, as Phipps show us, surprisingly impactful.
So let’s throw some inspiration at each other today! Shout out to us on your favorite social media platform with one thing that you, your destination, or your favorite vacation spot does for the environment at #PGAVdo1thing.
We can’t wait to learn from you!
#PGAVdo1thing
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