A Paperless Convention
This year's Convention will be as paperless as possible. Presenters have been asked to upload their handouts to ASHA's Web site and to bring a one page note taking outline which can be down loaded before or after the convention. Short Course attendees will receive their handouts on a CD. The program book will be printed on recycled paper.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!
Special bins will be located throughout the convention center so paper can easily be recycled. Excess food will be donated to a local food rescue program, and food preparation will focus on locally grown produce.
Badge Holders and Expo Cards
These materials will be biodegradable—made from organic materials that will compost quickly and safely without leaving any plastic residues. To assist in this effort, the badge holders will not have a color strip.
Shuttle Buses
ASHA's shuttle bus company, Transportation Management Services, is conscious of the large quantities of fossil fuels and the release of carbon emissions, therefore, to help off-set the carbon footprint in Chicago, they have teamed up with the Carbon Fund and will work with ASHA to decide how to use the offsets; i.e., reforestation, renewable energy, etc.
Signs
ASHA's exposition company, Champion Exposition, will be using a special technology for signage using soy ink, thereby reducing non-recyclable plastic use and energy consumption.
McCormick Place West
McCormick Place West is a LEED*-rated green building and the location for the convention program sessions and most events. Some features that helped McCormick Place West achieve the LEED rating are the storm water tunnel that helps divert millions of gallons of storm water into Lake Michigan; an efficient irrigation system that reduces the use of water for landscape irrigation by 50 percent; the energy-efficient mechanical systems and light that reduce energy cost by more than 20 percent; and the materials that have high recycled content and more than 20 percent of building materials that were manufactured within a 500 miles of the building site, which supported local economies and reduced the impact from long-distance transportation.
Get Recognized For Your Eco-Friendly Suggestions
Do you have a great idea about the ASHA Convention can be more eco-friendly? If so, send your idea in 100 words or less to convention@asha.org no later than October 1, 2008. All suggestions will be highlighted on the Convention Web site and if yours can be incorporated into our Convention planning, you'll receive a special "green" gift!
*The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass over 14,000 projects in 50 US States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area. The hallmark of LEED is that it is an open and transparent process where the technical criteria proposed by the LEED committees are publicly reviewed for approval by the more than 10,000 membership organizations that currently constitute the USGBC.
|