Hold Your Next Event at a Green Venue on the Chesapeake Bay

About 15 years ago, when I listened to mainstream radio (before I discovered NPR), I remembered hearing commercials for a venue called Herrington on the Bay. It sounded like it was somewhere in Jamaica, but it is just about an hour from me, down the road in Rose Haven, on the western shore of Maryland.

When I recently visited the venue, owner/operator Anna Chaney Willman laughed when I recalled their very memorable commercials. They have since moved away from that image and have successfully become a resort that keeps its eye on protecting the environment.

I’m a sucker for any venue on the water, and Herrington sits on the Most Environmentally Sensitive Marina, Herrington Harbour South, as awarded by the National Marine Manufacturers Association in 1999 as well as Boating Industry Magazine in 2006. Whether you are holding a business retreat or a wedding, you can hold your event along the water or inside the main building. Regardless, the views are stunning.

Noted for lusciously landscaped lawns with clear views of the Chesapeake Bay, miles of natural marshes inhabited by native wildlife, 600+ acres of preserved wooded walking trails, quaint waterfront Inn accommodations, private beaches, and phenomenalsunrises and sunsets, Herrington is the perfect eco setting for all occasions.

And they take being green seriously. Below is just a taste of their long list of green initiatives:

- They participate in Anne Arundel County’s recycling program
- Their chefs are committed to offer the best in sustainable Chesapeake cuisine and they purchase products from Maryland and regional farmers, watermen, and vendors who offer sustainably-raised and harvested produce, beef, oysters, crabmeat, shrimp, fish, eggs, and more
- Breads and desserts are prepared in-house with organic and natural ingredients
- Organic herbs are grown on-site, and used in food preparation
- Coffee is provided by Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company, an eco-friendly, local roaster (we are HUGE fans here at lori hill event productions)
- Wine and beer lists include sustainable and organic options
- Reverse osmosis filtered water is offered and proceeds benefit the Chesapeake Bay Trust
- That evil Styrofoam is prohibited. Cornstarch-based plastic ware or biodegradable and/or
recyclable plasticware is used when china is not an option

So go visit Anna and her team and discover the beauty of this very eco-friendly venue.

Go Naked the Next Time You Purchase Bath and Body Products

The other night I went to a product launch for Herban Lifestyle’s Naked line of bath and body products which are made without colors, fragrances, preservatives, or chemical additives. Why is that stuff is bad for you? Take a FEW minutes and watch The Story of Cosmetics.

Herban Lifestyle uses only the highest quality natural, organic, and fair trade ingredients that have been minimally processed and void of any harsh chemicals. The line includes body butter, belly balm, mineral soak, bath tea, healing salve, lip balm, body soap, facial soap, facial masque, and facial toner.

Herban Lifestyle’s Naked line is particularly good for people with allergies and skin sensitivities because they are made without essential oils which require large amounts of precious plants and, since they have potent medicinal properties, many are contraindicated for pregnant and nursing women. Instead, Naked products are scented with herbs, oils, salts, hydrosols, and dried flowers.

And what makes this company particularly attractive to me is that Herban Lifestyle TRULY cares about their impact on the earth. ALL Naked products come in glass or aluminum containers with 100% recycled labels. I LOVE IT! Also, they are a member of the Green America Green Business Network and The Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics.

The other cool thing is that 10% of gross sales from the Naked line are donated to non-profits promoting the health and wellbeing of people and the planet. Proceeds from the event I went to benefitted Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington, DC.

So if you are a bride looking for gifts for your maids, or if you are an event producer putting together a basket of toiletries to place in restrooms for your next black tie affair, consider going Naked!

Hold Your Next Event in Nature

If you want to hold your meeting or event in a natural setting away from the noise of the city, check out Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, Maryland. Located in Baltimore County about 10 minutes outside the Baltimore Beltway, Irvine is a leader among Maryland’s environmental education centers. It features meeting and event space, a fabulous Nature Store with great eco gift items, a deck overlooking the 116 acres of woodlands, wetland and meadows, a large tent for parties of up to 150 and an interactive exhibit hall which is also great for receptions.

The mission of the Center is to inspire appreciation and respect for the natural world, increase awareness of environmental issues, and to encourage individuals to sustain Earth’s eco system. Therefore, it is no surprise that local materials were used to build the state-of-the-art facility which employs a number of green features using U.S. Green Building Council LEED guidelines including a vegetated roof, waterless urinals, low flow fixtures, rain barrels and energy efficient lighting.

The Center also practices single stream recycling and composting and has a green standards checklist for their caterers. In fact, all suppliers who work with Irvine have to adhere to their environmental guidelines and the Center strives to always select local, independently owned vendors whenever possible.

Eco Options for Your Party Linens and Hangers

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I rent party linens, I’ve always returned the hangers to my rental companies. On rare occasions, I’ve snagged them for myself to use in my office (for my supply of party linens) and at home (for my bed linens).

A few years ago, when I was setting up an event with a caterer I had never worked with before (the client picked ‘em), I found out that not everybody returns their hangers. I had set aside a nice pile of all the hangers and plastic wrap that the linens came in and was planning on returning them to the rental company. I stepped away and when I returned, my little pile was gone. I put on my detective hat to figure out what had become of them and was shocked and appalled when I discovered them in the trash can in the catering kitchen. NOT keeping my emotions in check, I yelled, “What are these doing in here???” The catering manager replied, “But we ALWAYS throw them away.” The pains in my chest got tighter. I quickly educated them about the important practice of re-using things. How could they just throw them into the trash?

I’m happy to say that ONE of my favorite rental companies, Party Renal, Ltd., delivers their linens on a Z-rack (basically a clothing rack on wheels) which also comes with a canvas bag. I love this because the linens stay on the rack and don’t get wrinkled because they are placed in a pile somewhere in the event space after delivery. Afterwards, customers place the hangers on the rack and the linens in the canvas bag instead of putting them in an evil plastic trash bag which by the way is made from petroleum!

So return those hangers!

Selecting a Green Venue

Event and meeting professionals are making great strides in greening up our events through catering, décor, printed materials, transportation and of course, the venue selection. When choosing a green venue, the easiest and most logical choice is a building with a LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) designation of either Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum. The LEED designation is bestowed by the U.S. Green Building Council and indicates that a building meets the highest green building and performance measures with respect to:

Lower operating costs
Reduced waste sent to landfills
Conservation of energy and water
A healthier and safer environment for occupants
Reduction in harmful greenhouse gas emissions
Demonstration of the owner's commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility

In my mind, if a building has a LEED designation, its management undoubtedly cares about the environment. More and more venues are seeking out this designation, but in the meantime, venues can still engage in environmentally friendly initiatives without having the LEED designation.

If you work at a venue, be sure to talk up your green initiatives. Eco conscious planners like me want to give our business to venues that care about the impact they are making on the Earth.

To find an environmentally friendly venue, or to list your environmentally friendly venue, here are some helpful web sites.

• Environmentally Friendly Hotels

• Green Hotels Association

Your Wedding Cake Can Be Eco, Too

Last night I attended a vegan cake tasting for event planners at Sticky Fingers Bakery in Washington, DC.


OMG it was fabulous! They had an array of 7 different types of cupcakes. A favorite of couples is the Vanilla Cake with Almond Butter Cream, but my favorite was Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Butternut Cream and Chocolate Ganache. The Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream was also amazing. I just started drooling thinking about it again. I took the leftovers home to my chocoholic boyfriend who also gave them a thumbs up.

I know that SOME establishments give vegan and gluten free food a bad name. Not Sticky Fingers. Everything I’ve ever tried of theirs – from the sweets to the savories – is fabulous. Don’t just consider them for your wedding, if you need catering for an office party, they can do the job just fine.

So why go vegan for your wedding cake or birthday cake or Hey It’s the Weekend Let’s Celebrate Cake? As I wrote here previously, pretty much anything that comes from animals is bad for the environment because of all the care and, uh, feeding that goes into taking care of animals. The water, the feed, the fertilizers, the poop, it all makes for a bad scene for Mamma Earth. That is why vegan options are your BEST option.

The ladies at Sticky Fingers are hosting another cake tasting for planners THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 28TH at 6:00 p.m. at their store at 1370 Park Road, NW. It is just a five minute walk from Columbia Heights Metro on the Yellow/Green Line. They’ll also be serving organic coffee and tea (natch). If you want to go, RSVP to weddings@stickyfingers.com.

Why Vegan (and Vegetarian) Food Options Are Better for the Environment

The average person may turn up their nose at the thought of vegan food, but that is probably because they either haven’t tried it at all OR they haven’t tried GOOD vegan food. They also probably don’t understand why eating a vegan diet is good for the environment.

According to the New Leaf Vegan Society, “animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change” because of their high CO2 and methane emissions. Furthermore, the World Watch Institute states that it takes 25 gallons off water to produce one pound of wheat, while it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. That 2,500 gallons includes the care and feeding involved with raising the animal and then slaughtering it. That is a heckuva lot of water for just ONE POUND OF MEAT. Multiply that times ALL the POUNDS of meat processed daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and that adds up to a lot of water -- something we are lacking on already (just ask California). In fact, many experts say that the shortage of water is going to be the next big world crisis.

I’m not trying to turn the world vegetarian or vegan, even though it would be pretty fabulous. We all need to do all we can to protect the environment. At the very least, try to eat less meat and dairy. Maybe start out by having a meat free day and then maybe a dairy free day. Heck, I’m not perfect. I’m a cheese-addicted vegetarian and know I need to eventually eliminate it from my diet. I’m working on it.

If you are an event professional, start working in more vegan and vegetarian options into your menus. More and more people are turning vegetarian/vegan, so why not offer more options?

Tasty Vegan Food

As you may have read on my previous post, when I jumped into the Chesapeake Bay as part of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s 5th Annual Polar Bear Plunge, I was able to enjoy REALLY TASTY vegan muffins and cookies from New Leaf Vegan Society. The crowd ate it ALL up!

A week after the Plunge, I visited Sticky Fingers Bakery in Washington, DC. What a cool place! I have heard much buzz about them and then tasted a delicious brownie at the DC Green Festival back in October. I asked them to be part of the Mid-Atlantic Green Wedding Showcase on Sunday, February 21st and they will be there! I was curious to check out their café, so I went there in person on a Friday afternoon at 4:00.

You’d think on a Friday at 4:00, a BAKERY would be dead, but this place was hoppin’. Not only do they serve great-tasting sweets, they also have a variety of savory fare for breakfast, lunch or a light dinner, as well as organic coffee, hot and cold teas and other healthful beverages. In addition, they have a cute seating area where you can take advantage of their free WiFi. They are in the heart of bustling Columbia Heights and a 5 minute walk from that Metro station. So whether you need a vegan wedding cake or a catered lunch, check out their tasty, VEGAN fare.

If you are asking, “Why vegan food and what is so sustainable about it?” read my next post about why a vegan diet is better for the environment.

I just got hungry…

lhep Helps Green the Plunge ... and Raises Over $1,100

I did it! Thanks to my generous contributors, I exceeded my $1,000 fundraising goal and raised $1,100 for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. We had a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the high 30s and a comparable water temperature. Quite frankly, I could have stayed outside in my bathing suit, basking in the sun for a bit longer than I did.

lori hill event productions helped make this NO BUDGET event a GREEN event with the assistance of several generous sponsors:

Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company provided organic, fair trade, locally roasted coffee for all the plungers and watchers. They pledge 2% of every can of coffee we sell to go back to support the Watershed Preservation Fund which supports the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

New Leaf Vegan Society provided delicious vegan cookies and muffins and showed us that eating vegan can not only be tasty, but it is also better for the planet, the animals and our own health.

Perfect Settings, a very eco conscious party rental company, provided us with beautiful linens to make our Plunge look polished. If you rent linens from Perfect Settings, just return their hangers (they will reuse them) and bale and recycle the plastic used to protect the linens. They also rent recycle bins for your event!

Waste Neutral Group helped us make this a zero waste (or nearly zero waste) by recycling and composting our waste. Our biggest bin was the compost bin, followed by the recycle bin and then the SMALLEST container of them all was the evil landfill bin.

Thanks again for your support! Now go out and support CCAN and our generous sponsors at your next event!

Help Me Fight Global Warming

For the third year, I’m taking a cold plunge to fight global warming. In 2 ½ weeks, on January 23rd, I'm going to jump into the icy Chesapeake Bay for a cause I am extremely passionate about: the fight against global warming.

I am going to plunge right on the beach at the headquarters of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation which happens to be one of the greenest building the country! I’ll join hundreds of other crazy folks in the Fifth Annual Polar Bear Plunge. The event, organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), is meant to raise awareness about the growing crisis of global warming and to raise the funds needed to continue the fight against it.

The basics are right below. For those who want to read more about CCAN, see the end of this email.

How to Make a Pledge
Last year, I raised over $1,000. This year, due to the economy, I’ve set my goal at $1,000. I realize times are tough, so pledge what you can. If I can get 200 people to pledge $5 each, I will meet my goal.

Contributions are tax deductable and it only takes about ONE MINUTE to make a pledge! IF you pledge, I promise to email you photos of me plunging!

Credit Card
Go to the following secure webpage

Check
Make your check out to "CCAN" and mail to
P.O. Box 11138
Takoma Park, MD 20912

On the memo line, write Plunge/Lori Hill on the memo line, so they know who your pledge is supporting.

Thanks in advance for your interest and support in the fight against global warming - and for supporting me while I turn a little blue in the process! If you're not busy, please consider coming out to join me I the plunge or cheer me on this January 23rd. It's a really fun event and we’ll have coffee from Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company and delicious food from New Leaf Vegan Society (they provided muffins and cookies last year and everybody ate ‘em up!!)

Green Up in 2010

Happy 2010! This is the first day back for most of us and we are all focused on the goals we want to achieve this year. As you list those tasks, I hope you will think about what you can do in your work and home life to be more sustainable. Perhaps you’ll make an effort to print less frequently, print on recycled paper, print on reused paper OR maybe you’ll lead the effort to become a paperless work environment. If the building you work in doesn’t have a recycling program, begin a petition to start one. If your office still engages in practices that are not Earth friendly, start a green committee where you can brainstorm with your co-workers about policies you can initiate like replacing bottled water with filtered and providing all staff with an aluminum water bottle.

At home, perhaps you can begin to compost your leftover food scraps and unplug major appliances when they are not in use. Swap your incandescent lights with compact florescent light bulbs and turn off lights when you leave a room. Switch to wind power.

There are so many things we can all do and most take little or no effort. Here are some things you can do in your HOME that don’t cost a penny.

Turn off the lights in any room when it is not in use.

Unplug your TV, DVD and phone charger when not in use.

Take a 3-minute shower.

Wash clothes in warm or cold water and always rinse in cold.

Wash dishes by hand or run the dishwasher only when it is full. Don’t rinse plates in advance.

Say NO to bottled water. Drink filtered or tap water from a glass or reusable water bottle.

Set your thermostat to 65 degrees in the winter and your water heater
to 120 degrees.

Don’t let your vehicle idle for more than 20 seconds.

Say NO to paper AND plastic bags wherever you shop. Bring your own canvas bag leftover from a conference or trip.

Recycle every scrap of paper, newspaper, cardboard and junk mail as well as every plastic, glass or aluminum container.

Pledge to NEVER throw anything in a trash can – at home or outside the home -- that can be recycled, and then recycle!

Lori Hill Honored by SmartCEO Magazine

Lori was honored by Baltimore’s SmartCEO Magazine as an ECO-CEO in their December 2009 issue. Read more about Lori and her fellow ECO-CEO’s.