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The
Green Mentor
Technical Assistance and Advice
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Green Mentor Workshops
LITE
has developed a green workshop series and technical assistance program for
cites, counties
and businesses. Whether the preferred focus is zero waste, green businesses or green events,
the process is generally the same: outreach and workshops augmented by research,
clinics and one-on-one technical assistance.
Similar
yet different from waste reduction and recycling program assistance, the
LITE green training process also helps an event or organization be better
organized as well as lessening its impact on the environment.
Event Greening
In
the rush to produce successful festivals, concerts, conferences and even
company picnics, many organizers overlook the environment and too often end up
abusing it. Green
event planning can help avoid these common problems, improve the entire planning
process and send all participants - staff, volunteers and attendees, home with a heightened awareness of their
impact on the earth.
Though waste
reduction, recycling and food waste are often the major
components of greening, the process also addresses transportation,
amenities, water, energy and sound.
Integrate: In Summer 2004, Ms. Sinnott, designed the
Eco-Ring Eco-Education workshop series. Very similar to industry specific
waste reduction workshops, each local business type - hotel, restaurant,
contractor, adventure provider, schools and churches, etc. as well events
and festival organizers, receives a intro workshop followed by a green
plan workshop plus technical assistance and handouts...
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Eco-Ring
The most remarkable example of the Green Mentor's
work is the Eco-Ring - the Russian River
Economic and Environmental Sustainability Project.
In partnership
with the Russian River Chamber of Commerce and
the Stewards of the Coast
and Redwoods, LITE is helping develop the Eco-Ring, an Eco-Tourism-based community revitalization
program. Since June 2004 LITE's Executive Director, Portia Sinnott, has written
numerous proposals, grants and articles
plus designed a broad series of activities to educate local businesses,
residents and visitors about living, working and playing more
ecologically.
A public/private partnership, the Eco-Ring has
been approved for funding by the Sonoma County
Redevelopment Agency and the Sonoma County
Board of Supervisors. (4/6/06)
While the Eco-Ring was awaiting funding, the Chamber has made event
greening, including waste reduction and recycling, a top priority.
Sponsored events may soon be required to have a green plan and
fees will include green plan development.
Ms. Sinnott, assisted by the
Green Team volunteers, recently performed
the greening for the Russian River Food and Wine Fest (2,500 attendees)
and the Chamber's Labor Day BBQ, and also helped with the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Festival in San Francisco (50,000 attendees ). Currently working on green plan development for the
fest, two
local parades, the Stewards and other groups and businesses.
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Green
Event Glossary
Part I
What
does greening an event mean?
Gatherings of any kind -
festivals, parades, parties, meetings, weddings and even funerals, impact
the environment and the community they are held in.
Greening
means to implement a series of practices that lessen these impacts.
The
Green Team
is a team of volunteers interested in greening. They help plan events and when possible help staff events.
Green
Plans are event specific plans that address transportation, food
service, energy, amenities and giveaways, water, and waste. Very detailed, they help give an event focus and structure and make
it easier to organize other aspects of the event. Copyright
LITE November 2004
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Russian
River Green Team Update
By Portia Sinnott,
for the Russian River Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, February
2005
At the very well attended January meeting, it
was decided that the Green Team (GT) will assist any local event
interested in becoming more sensitive to the environment. Easy to use
organizing tools and techniques will be provided free of charge. Planning
and implementation assistance will be available - if there is a GT
volunteer willing to work with the event organizer and if the organizer is
willing to assign a staff person to work on greening. In some instances,
GT volunteers may choose to help during the event but that is not
guaranteed. The greening process will help any event be better planned and
more organized, so it will be a win-win situation for all involved.
At the February meeting the group ratified the
paragraph above, reported back on the groups that were contacted about the
GT and refined the Annual Russian River Area Events List, which has grown
to 50 or more events! The list includes the projected date of the event,
location, group, contact and phone and details. A number of people have
stepped forward to contact groups and event organizers, while others are
awaiting the packet of introductory materials under development.
Interested individuals, group representatives and event organizers are
invited to come to a meeting and/or contact me at 869-9000 or email lite@sonic.net.
The team is also working on local clean-ups and
resource library development. If you are interested in clean-ups,
please call Margaret Kennett at 869-8105 for an update and/or come to the
meeting. The Resource Library Sub-committee meets via email and phone.
Face-to-face meeting are not required and there are lots of short tasks
that can be squeezed into a busy schedule. For example, is anyone willing
to visit the following businesses to find out about their environmentally
related selections - River Video, Movie House, River Reader, Twice Told,
and the Library? For example, a handful of Sonoma County video stores have
free rentals of “The Future of Food”, a very good documentary on
genetically engineered food.
Being part of the GT is an opportunity to have
fun while learning about local environmental groups and resources, how to
set up win-win partnerships and how to plan, organize and publicize
events.
Thanks for your interest in greening, and thanks Fern
Grove Cottages for allowing us to meet in your warm and cozy front room!
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