NATIONAL REPORT—This Sunday is Earth Day. Members of the hospitality industry will be joining to mark the occasion—properties ranging from 1 Hotels in Manhattan, Brooklyn and South Beach to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Jasper, Alberta, to The National Conference Center in Leesburg, Va. All are planning activities. Here is a list of examples of celebrations throughout North America.
1 Hotels, a mission-driven, nature-inspired luxury lifestyle brand with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and South Beach announced the launch of its Earth Day Every Day campaign, a year-long initiative that will include activities across all properties focused on raising awareness of environmental issues, specifically around saving our shores. These programs will also be a fundamental part of the soon-to-open 1 Hotel properties in West Hollywood, Cabo, Sunnyvale & Sanya (China).
The campaign to save our coasts is focused on creating awareness of issues such as off-shore drilling, rising sea levels, beach pollution and other human activities that threaten the coasts where many 1 Hotels are located. 1 Hotels is working with the NRDC to help guide advocacy efforts.
“This brand movement supports our commitment for 1 Hotels to not be another hotel brand, but a cause and a platform for change that encourages consistent conversation and action,” said Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, creator of the 1 Hotels brand. “Our goal is to be a living laboratory for sustainable living, to incite urgency, and be an example for change amongst our esteemed clientele, the industry and the world. It is 1 world.”
Earth Day Every Day Activities
Earth Day Every Day consists of several brand wide initiatives including a Phone2Action campaign, a speaker series with advocate guest talks and sustainability screenings, establishing Earth advocates amongst highly engaged team members, a Save Our Shores (SOS) package, statement T-shirts and a letter writing campaign.
On April 22, 1 Hotels’ dining outlets will dim the lights for dinner to raise awareness about a more sustainable and responsible future.
For the entire year, each room will have digital letters that address environmental issues ready to be sent to Congress and relevant government organizations. By having e-letters already drafted, 1 Hotels is simplifying the first step in making guest voices heard.
1 Hotels has partnered with designers Knowlita, Timothy Goodman, Baron Von Fancy and But Like Maybe? to create statement T-shirts that will be sold at all properties and online. A portion of proceeds will benefit the NRDC.
The Saunders Hotel Group will offset the travel of all guests during the week of Earth Day.
This Earth Day, both Kimpton Hotel Palomar and Kimpton Hotel Monaco Philadelphia will be doubling the credit offered for their Choose to Conserve program to $20 for guests checking in April 20 to 22. The program allows guests staying two or more nights to receive a credit, usable at any F&B outlet or through in-room dining, when they forgo housekeeping services and reduce the amount of natural resources used to clean their room.
The Terranea Resort will continue its ongoing efforts to share leftover food with those in need, donate toiletries to the homeless, and clean the natural kelp forests along the resort’s coast.
Wilsonart, manufacturer of engineered surfaces, will fund efforts by high school students to restore a 70-year old plantation forest in Northern Michigan.
Among the activities planned at the The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge are a sustainable dinner featuring OceanWise Albacore Tuna, Earth Day-inspired cocktails, a wildflower seed giveaway upon check-in, and dark sky star viewing at night.
National Conference Center Partners with Four Local Farms
New this year and in time to celebrate Earth Day, The National Conference Center is enhancing its food and beverage program by partnering with four local Virginia farms. “There continues to be a demand for farm-to-table cuisine, but The National is taking things one step further and going ‘hyperlocal’ working with as many local farmers as possible to source the food,’ says Executive Chef Todd Goldian.
- CEA Farms is owned and operated by Donnie Virts, whose family has farmed in Loudoun County, Virginia, since 1797. CEA Farms produces enough lettuces, tomatoes and greens for The National to feed 1,200 people per day. The property’s partnership with Virts has grown over the years and Virts says, “I hope to be able to grow my business with the help of The National to someday have a greenhouse right on The National’s property. That to me would be fresh beyond fresh.”
- Silcott Springs Farm, located in Purcellville, Virginia, is farmed by Sam Grant. The National buys all the property’s pasture-raised beef and Bratwurst from Grant; and in return, The National’s kitchen staff saves all the leftover fruit and vegetable trim for his livestock. Let’s say, “We’re taking care of each other,” says Chef Goldian.
- Spring House Farm and farmer Andrew Crush’s pasture-raised pork contains no hormones, no antibiotics and are GMO-Free. The National purchases hot and sweet Italian sausage and specialty pork products from Crush.
- Yohanan Farm, a small-scale family farm in Purcellville, is farmed by Joel Johnson. The National purchases all its pasture-raised whole chickens (on average, 200/week). Every day, Johnson moves the birds to fresh pasture for unlimited foraging and play.
To continue the Earth Day Celebration, The National’s Black Olive Bar & Grill will offer wine from Trinity Oaks Vineyard for $5/glass the month of April. Trinity Oaks’ “One Bottle, One Tree” program is a program where for every bottle of wine The National purchases, a tree will be planted.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
