Greening your trip to Seattle

Heading to Seattle for ALA Midwinter this week?   The Seattle Convention Center is actually LEED certified silver! Of course, by actually traveling to the conference you (and I!) are already  being unsustainable  – especially for me to fly from southeast to the northwest.

But what else can be done to be greener or more sustainable to and from and while in Seattle? Here are some tips:

1. Bring your own water bottle (You can fly with it – go through security with it empty and fill up on the other side! Many airports like Seattle’s offer nice refill stations according to this blog post)
2. Bring your own coffee mug (In rainy chilly Seattle a mug of tea or coffee will be welcoming especially on the-go with your own to-go and many place offering discounts for BYOM)
3. Bring your own snacks on the plane or rail or car .. and for hotel room: snack mix, fruit, granola bars, instant oatmeal, popcorn (Usually its cheaper, better and healthier!)
4. Try public transportation if you are flying in – light rail from airport to convention center is only $2.75 (well it’s Westlake Center stop, located 3 blocks from the  Convention Center) Great local info by YALSA here – check out the recreation walking map link too!
5. When eating out try for local, sustainable, eco-friendly places  (Check out this list!  Or the  list complied for ALA from a local – you can always ask a place about their policies!)
6. Limit your swag and picking up promotional materials or handouts that will just be tossed. Can you access the handouts online? Do you really need extra plastic swag?  Also note, if you are flying, carrying all that material back home uses energy which really does add up if everyone were to bring back a few extra pounds.
7. Stop by the Task Force on the Environment meeting (via SRRT) on Friday night at 7:30pm AND join us for a discussion at the Networking Uncommons on Saturday at 4pm to discussion the possible new Sustainability Round Table of ALA.

other travel helpful resources:

• though a few years old, this post still has some good tips to consider when booking a flight.
• For planning a meeting or conference; or try these tips.
• Read the book chapter from Greening Libraries Going Green at the  2009 ACRL  14th National Conference in Seattle.