SpaceShare Carpooling & Green Logistics September Newsletter
Greening the Meetings Industry: Many Small Steps
The Idea Factory -- "the trade show and conference that transforms the events industry" -- just finished last Thursday. I'd estimate there were
between one and two thousand attendees, so it's great to see green ideas percolating throughout the industry.
Shannon Kilkenny gave an important talk introducing scores of event planners to the basics of holding a green event, and I
had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of people in the event industry, sharing ideas and even helping an attendee initiate a discussion with the Miami Mayor's office about recycling.
Hotel greening in Miami Beach is not so far along, I just wrote the hotel I stayed in about even the most basics, but improvements are on the horizon. Laura is working
on a greening guide for SpaceShare, which hopefully will make it very easy to make clear and helpful suggestions to hotels you stay at.
Next up in the "event planning" field: In February, we'll be participating in the
Green Meetings Industry Council conference in Vancouver.
My perspective: Greening professional events is really about two years old:
like a toddler learning to walk, there is the constant pitter-patter of little feet, small steps towards being green mixed with lots of enthusiasm, not really going anywhere fast
just yet but at least the potential for change. Knowledge about the environment and environmentalism is both frightening people and inspiring them.
I hope the environmental movement, I hope we can "grow up," learn to clean our room rather than just talk about cleaning our room. This is a tremendous opportunity: environmentalism
as a movement might be a temporary fad (followed by disasters), or might move itself into part of human consciousness. As a movement we have done a good job at spreading fear about
truths that people should be afraid of, an ok job at spreading inspiration, and a rather weak job at helping someone both fearful for their kids and inspired to make a difference
actually become more active. That's the niche SpaceShare is trying to fill, and you're welcome to participate.
Upcoming Festivals, Volunteers Needed:
Events within 3 hours of San Francisco
Festival season is winding down...
Power to the Peaceful
is just around the corner on September 8 in Golden Gate Park.
We're considering a small exhibit for that
event, a good opportunity for new volunteers to join for an hour or two.
EarthDance follows
September 14-16, a spectacular
festival about 3 hours north of San Francisco. Volunteer tickets for EarthDance
are in hot demand, and our team of experienced volunteers will likely grab
all the tickets we've been given, though we may have one or two
approximately half-price
tickets for moderate volunteers. EarthDance is a huge event, lots of
fun and the organizers have good heart, they've been a consistent
record breaker at carpooling with over 600 people signing up each of the last
few years. Plus it's one of the most fun events when our booth closes.
Design Month Mostly Complete:
August ends with some major design changes
percolating. Join the graphics team being led by Mindy Lue
during her summer internship
at SpaceShare. Mindy's icons are now built into the latest generation of SpaceShare sites, and her web work is ongoing. If you are interested in helping,
whether you are a professional designer or just ready to help proofread and
give your advice, email Mindy (reply to this email and it will reach her).
Internship: Learn Content Management and Online Community Building.
SpaceShare's community website
is continuing to inch along. We'd love to help teach someone very valuable
(and reasonably simple) web skills, come be the coordinator, editor and
cheerleader for our online community!
September is Content Month: Redesigning the Web Content
Laura and I will be working on various parts of the website, integrating
Mindy's changes and updating the content of both the website and the
greening guide. We'd love to have you join us! More hands would make
a big difference in what we can accomplish.
Tomorrow's News
- Very big news: the First Congregational Church of Christ in Berkeley
is confirmed
as our first House of Worship carpooling community. Work begins in September --
more soon!
- A new school year is approaching -- know anyone looking for a solid
world-changing volunteer role or internship?
Breathe & Create,
Stephen
SpaceShare.com
newsletter@spaceshare.com
6420 Colby St.
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 520-6175 (Stephen)
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