A Guide for Event Planning Interests

Going Green in Event Planning

My name is Emma and I am a junior here at Ohio University studying organizational communications. Organizational communications deals with the communication among corporations and companies. As an organizational communications major you will find that there are many different careers that one can go into. My perspective career field is concentrated toward the event industry. I am interested in every aspect of the event planning process from the fine details of a table layout and to the overall feel and experience the event creates. I’m not here to tell you about where my career is going, but instead to help inform you a little about the event planning industry and what it is doing to be environmentally sustainable.

Most likely you became interested in event planning from planning high school dances and watching wedding shows on TV that provide huge elaborate events. They consist of huge flower arrangements, over-the-top lighting, fine catering, fancy invitations and much more. Before looking into the industry, I never thought about how much harm a single event can have on the planet. In reality, events can produce countless amounts of waste including paper, food and decorations. Many companies have noticed this environmental issue and are taking great strides to fix the problem.

Some event companies have even changed in their ways in order to create events that are 100% eco-friendly and they are proud to offer that service to their clients. A process known by almost any human being to help save the environment is reducing paper use. Most events have invitations, itineraries and other pieces of information printed on some sort of paper with important information needed for guests. An alternative to using so much paper is web-based forms of information. Sending an E-invite for example, is a lot cheaper, gets the information to the guests and keeps more trees growing on our planet.

(E-invites are a fast and easy alternative to using paper.)

Another way to be more eco-friendly at events is by looking into the food and how it is used. It is hard to get an exact estimated number of guests, and you do not want to run out of food, so more food is prepared. Instead of just throwing the food away, some companies offer to donate the extra food to local food shelters. Most clients are very pleased to know that their extra food is going to a good cause and not going in the garbage. A good idea to save money for you and the client is to purchase food that is locally grown and in season. This helps the local farmers and creates a great and tasteful menu for all the guests to enjoy.

“Green” and eco-friendly events are somewhat of a new idea in the event industry. Many companies do not realize the large amounts of waste they are producing from each event, but also do not care. Looking for sustainable events in this industry is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. They are out there, but only as of recently. You may not want to work for or own a company that goes 100% “green”, but It does not hurt to practice these few simple tasks to help keep our planet more sustainable. Eliminating paper, donating food and buying locally are simple changes that any company can make. “Eco-friendly” planning is not expensive for companies, but it is actually cheaper for you and your clients.

There is not a specific major here at OU for anyone interested in an event planning field, but the closest one to help you get there is an organization communications major. Classes give you a lot of information on businesses and how to communicate, but experience gives you the most knowledge. I highly suggest you to get involved with organizations on campus to help you build you resume and get a feel for planning events. I have planned events for parents and sibs weekends as a member of our University Program Council along with the Yell Like Hell pep-rally for homecoming. These great experiences have taught me how to communicate with many different people and organizations and I know that they will prepare me for my future career. I wish you luck in your journey to becoming an event planner and encourage you to get involved during your time here at Ohio University.

Green Event Planning

As an organizational communications major there are many different careers that one can go into. Organizational communications deals with the communication among corporations and companies. My perspective career field is concentrated toward the event industry. I am interested in every aspect of the event planning process from the fine details of a table layout and to the overall feel experience the event creates. My position for each of the organizations I am involved in deal with planning and executing events for students on campus. Currently I am looking for internships with event planning companies in hopes to help implement their elaborate events. They consist of huge flower arrangements, over the top lighting, fine catering, fancy invitations and much more. Before looking into this assignment I never thought about how much harm a single event can have on the planet. In reality, it totals countless amounts of waste including paper, food and decorations.

“Waste audits conducted by the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) through a USDA-funded project, demonstrated that more than one pound per person of food is generated. At each of these events, food and serving packaging averaged 41% of the waste by weight. A study conducted for the California Integrated Waste Management Board found that food, leaves and grass, and compostable paper make up to 54 percent of the potential diversion from an event’s waste stream; recycling paper and cardboard another 12 percent, and beverage containers about nine percent” (Bradley, 1)

Many companies have noticed this environmental issue and are taking great strides to fix the problem. Some event companies have even changed in their ways to creating events that are 100% eco-friendly for the environment and are proud to offer that service to their clients. A process known by almost any human being to help save the environment is reducing paper use. Most events have invitations, itineraries and other pieces of information printed on some sort of paper with important information needed for guests. This paper produces a lot of trash if not recycled. An alternative to using paper is web-based forms of information. Sending creative invites online is a quick and easy way to get a client’s information out and a much cheaper option. The guest just opens their email and emails their RSVP right back. No worries about wasting paper and killing more trees. By posting an events itinerary online a planner not only saves money and trees, but also gives the guest the option to individually print the info if needed. With circumstances that absolutely call for printed material there are other options to staying environmentally sustainable. Using vegetable based inks to print on recycled paper makes the task more eco-friendly. Even though paper is a huge form of waste, many companies have found more sustainable ways of spreading their messages.

For any event, guests have to travel to a location or venue where the event is held. This means that the more guests attending, the more vehicles being used, therefore, there are more fumes polluting the air. Not many people think about transportation effecting the sustainability of an event, but that is all part of it. “Most ozone pollution is caused by motor vehicles, which account for 72% of nitrogen oxides and 52% of reactive hydrocarbons (principal components of smog)” (Automobiles: Pollution…). To cut down on this, an event can be held in a central location minimizing the transportation time. Shuttle services and carpools can also be offered or suggested by the client. The location choice can mean a lot for the client, but also a lot for the environment. If the location is outside lighting is an important feature needed to create a great experience. Holding the event during the day eliminates a need for artificial lighting and also reduces energy use and costs.

Food is a basic element for social, corporate and personal events. Who doesn’t like free food at? By purchasing produce locally and seasonally, once again, costs and transportation can be condensed. This also helps the local farmers and their business along with obtaining healthy and tasteful foods. A planner needs to acquire an accurate number of guests to prevent from paying for extra food that is not needed. Composting bins are obtainable to eliminate the waste of food. Biodegradable utensils are great to purchase since they are compostable as well. In the case that there are leftovers and no composting site, these meals can be donated to local food shelters. dkk events is one event company located in Los Angeles that strives to “create stylish and sustainable events that are as extraordinary as they are eco-friendly” (dkk events). They provide the service of delivering all left over food to a local food shelter in their area after events.

Dkk is proud of the unique services they offer and state,

“in fact, it's one of our favorite things to do on our clients' behalf. Our thinking is what makes each event an explora-party experience. How can we nurture what is most unique about the client / mission / vision and reflect it back in a sustainable and responsible way? This is truly our hardest work and our greatest talent.”

Knowing that any extra food from an event was donated to someone that needs it can mean a lot for clients.

Environmental sustainability in the industry is somewhat of a new idea. Many companies do not realize the large amounts of waste they are producing from each event, but also do not care. Throughout my internship search and countless hours of looking up possible positions I never found one company that was practicing eco-friendly planning. Conducting research for this assignment, I reluctantly came across a few. Looking for sustainable events in this industry is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. They are out there but only as of recently.

One of the few companies that I did come across was Green Planet Events. It is owned by Jessica Welle in Miami, Florida. Her pride is in keeping the environment clean while creating flawless events for clients. Welles shares, “I didn’t want to be the same event planner as everyone else [in the market], and [green events] was a good niche for me,” she says. “There is so much waste produced from events that this seemed like a natural way to help the planet.”

Green Planet Events offers all services that events need while still utilizing all eco-friendly and sustainable products.

The event industry as you can tell from my research is not one to think about saving and sustaining our environment. Though there are few companies out there that care they seem to be the ones with a true passion for going green. There are multiple ways to make events more green while still creating a unique and extraordinary experience for clients. Eliminating paper, donating food and buying locally is not that big of a change. Even though there are not hundreds of companies striving to be sustainable, I can see this trend picking up in the future. More and more of our population are becoming more interested in being eco-friendly and will hunt for planners that can help them achieve that. Not only is it helping the environment but it’s leaving more money in the client’s and planner’s pockets. Now that I am finished with this assignment, I am interested in interning or working for a company that care about the environment through their events. Who knows, maybe I will jump on the bandwagon one day and own my own sustainable event company.

Environmental Sustainability in Event Planning

As an organizational communications major there are many different career that you can go into. Organizational communications deals with the communication among corporations and companies. My perspective career field is concentrated toward event planning. I am interested in every aspect of the event planning process from the fine details of a table layout to the overall feel of an event. With planning experience and research of events I can see the outcome of what takes place after an event is over. In reality, it totals a lot of waste of paper, food and decorations.

Many companies have noticed this and taking great strides to fix the problem. Some event companies have even changed in their ways to creating events that are 100% eco-friendly for the environment and are proud to offer that service to their clients. A process known by almost any human being to help save the environment is reducing paper use. Most events have invitations, itineraries and other pieces of information printed on some sort of paper with important information needed for guests. This paper produces a lot of trash if not recycled. An alternative to using paper is web-based forms of information. Sending creative invites online is a quick and easy way to get a client’s information out and a much cheaper option. By posting an events itinerary online a planner not only saves money and trees, but also gives the guest the option to individually print the info if needed. With circumstances that absolutely call for printed material there are other options to staying environmentally sustainable. Using vegetable based inks to print on recycled paper makes the task more eco-friendly. Even though paper is a huge form of waste, many companies have found more sustainable ways of spreading their messages.

For any event, guests have to travel to a location or venue where the event is held. This means that the more guests attending, the more vehicles being used, therefore, there are more fumes polluting the air. Not many people think about transportation effecting the sustainability of an event, but that is all part of it. To cut down on this, an event can be held in a central location minimizing the transportation time. Shuttle services and carpools can also be offered or suggested by the client. The location choice can mean a lot for the client, but also a lot for the environment. If the location is outside lighting is an important feature needed to create a great experience. Holding the event during the day eliminates a need for artificial lighting and also reduces energy use and costs.

Food is a basic element for social, corporate and personal events. Who doesn’t like free food at events? By purchasing produce locally and seasonally, once again, costs and transportation can be condensed. This also helps the locally farmers and their business along with getting healthy and tasteful foods. A planner needs to get an accurate number of guest so they do not pay for extra food that is not needed. In the case that there are leftovers, these meals can be donated to local food shelters. Knowing that an extra food from and event was donated to someone that needs it can mean a lot for clients. They state,

“in fact, it's one of our favorite things to do on our clients' behalf. Our thinking is what makes each event an explora-party experience. How can we nurture what is most unique about the client / mission / vision and reflect it back in a sustainable and responsible way? This is truly our hardest work and our greatest talent.”

More draft to come....

Food Inc. From A Farm Girls Perspective

I had heard so much about Food Inc. before we watched it in class. None of the comments were ever good. So I tried to prepare myself for what I was going to see, and you know what, I was not surprised at all. Yes, not many people think about where their food comes from and the entire process. When most Americans think about food, there first thought is the grocery store shelf.

Coming from a farming community I know better than to think that. Many farmers in my area have a few heads of cattle or hogs, but mostly we are a grain community. When my family started farming we worked around 1,000 acres of corn, wheat and soy beans. Due to the economy, in the past years we cut down to about 100 acres of seasonal summer produce such as sweet corn, green beans and a variety of other vegetables. Looking back on our years in the grain business, I never knew how much we were involved in the food industry. So many items of food are made from corn which more than likely was made from some of our labor.

This film was very interesting and opened my eyes a lot. I do not agree with how animals are a thought of quantity not quality and are treated horrible. I would like to think that not every company is like that, but I can't say that is true. There were some farmers in the film that raise their animals correctly, butcher then and sell their meat themselves. Living and understanding that life, these are the kinds of people I agree with. Yes, some viewers might not like seeing animals be killed, but guess what, that is the reality. If you want to eat meat, that is where it is coming from. And that is a better and friendlier way of doing it instead of coming from the mass producing food companies that do not care about the animals at all.

I enjoy eating seasonal vegetables and am spoiled that it is right in my back yard during the summer. But honestly, anyone can grow vegetables and it saves a lot of money. The best feeling is that you know where your fresh tomatoes or cucumbers came from and exactly what went into growing them. I also enjoy eating meat and no, I will not stop. I have decided that I will cut down on my consumption of the bad forms though. Staying the beginning of January I have not eaten fast food and plan to continue this throughout the rest of my year. It saves on money and keeps me healthier. The littlest things that I or anyone decides to change about their eating habits can impact the food industry. If you want to see a better change, start it now and spread the word.

Extra Credit - Living Downstream

When the extra credit opportunity came up I was really not sure if I wanted to do it. Most college students don't want to spend their Friday evening in a film and discussion about the environment, but I decided the extra credit was worth it. I honestly was not looking forward to it, but after seeing Steingraber's film I was very happy that I went. It was very moving and full of a lot of information that I will further look into.

Sandra Steingraber is an environmental biologist from Pekin, Illinois that as a junior in college was diagnosed with a form of bladder cancer. Many of her family members before her had been diagnosed with a form of cancer, but this was not so normal in Sandra's case since she was adopted into her family. It was also noticed that her community had a cancer cluster among them. This was thought to be caused from the many factories and farming chemicals that ran off into the water. After surviving her cancer she devoted her life to studying about cancers and the roll that chemicals such as atrazine play in the cause. She has spent her time speaking across the nation to government officials and anyone who will listen to try to get laws passed about the use of chemicals and getting them all tested. Steingraber stated that "when you have carcinogens in the waster supply... someone will get cancer." In the film, biologists studied frogs from rivers that were exposed to run off of atrazine. The frogs had physically changed making them male and female. Obviously if atrazine has that much of an affect on frogs, it could very easily cause cancer in humans from drinking, eating a breathing substances with atrazine. This story hits a lot deeper later when we find out that Sandra's cancer had come back after multiple years. Steingraber travels to make her story and research known so that we as a nation can stand up and get laws changed and start an environmental human rights movement to prevent this from further happening.

After the film, a panel of local supporters conducted a discussion.The panel consisted of members from the Ohio Environmental Council, Center for Health and Environmental Justice, Sunday Creek Watershed and Ohio University Environmental Studies Department. They first spoke about how they enjoyed the film and how much it hit home to them. One panelist in particular knew Sandra very well so her words were very moving. They then wanted us to think about why all of this was happening and more importantly, what we can do about it. There are many local issues like these around Southeastern Ohio that we can help prevent. By just looking at the land we see all its beauty and trees, but if we look further we then notice all the pollution that has been caused. They mentioned many meetings with companies and events that are being held that we can participate in to get the word known and help make a difference. The main idea of the whole discussion, as one of the panelists put it, was to "get involved, get involved, get involved" so that we can get a change we want to see.

Working Hand In Hand

Throughout all of the readings that we have done in class, there has been one idea or another connecting each of them. Whether it’s been wilderness, ecosystems or nature in general, all of the essays relate in messages to their audience. I particularly noticed this between Louis Owens’ The American Indian Wilderness and Thinking Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold. In their writings, both these authors talk about our idea as humans of what should be in nature. We have in our minds that since we live on the land we should decide what should be here without even thinking of how it affects nature. We do not think about what has taken place in the past to get us here now, or about the future and what impact our actions have. These similarities can be found in the essays among other differences.

The American Indian Wilderness tells about a Forest Service ranger that pulls the duty of burning down a shelter in the Cascade Mountains after its roof had collapsed from the snow. They wanted to take away all “human-made objects” in order to return “White Pass meadow to its ‘original’ state” (Owens, 69). After burning the shelter and transplanting in the area, the ranger meets two elderly native women from the area. He soon finds that the shelter he had taken down was one that their father had built a century ago to store berries. It was meaningful to them, for they had come to visit it yearly. The ranger felt horrible for demolishing their family’s shelter, but the women did not seem to mind as much as he had thought. Owens says, “They forgave me without saying it – my ignorance and my part in the pattern of loss which they knew so well” (Owens, 70). The women were not hurt by the ranger’s actions because they understood that they were once using the land and it was time for the mountain to replenish itself from their use. In Owens’ mind, his thought of “wilderness” was never represented in White Pass. There have always been people using the land for themselves; “there was only the fertile continent where people lived in a hard-learned balance with the natural world” (Owens, 70). “Wilderness” is just an idea that cannot be reached when humans are around.

Leopold suggests his ideas a little differently. In his essay Thinking Like a Mountain, a man hunts for deer but comes across a wolf instead. His instinct tells him to shoot the wolf so that there are more deer around the mountain for him to hunt. After killing the wolf he starts to see the real picture of why the wolf is there; to help keep the deer population down for the vegetation on the mountain to survive. Leopold believes that wilderness is what is protecting the world from harm, not people. He states, “In wilderness is the salvation of the world” (Leopold, 89). The wolves control the deer so if the humans kill the wolves the mountain will not survive. Leopold realized that “just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer” (Leopold, 89). We as humans believe that we are the ones that have the power to control everything in the world. Owens on the other hand shares his idea that we help control the world to bring nature back. By tearing down the shelter in The American Indian Wilderness, the ranger felt that he was restoring the land and cutting down on the foot traffic in order to repair White Pass. Owens and Leopold both agree about restoring nature, but how to go about doing so is where they differ.

In both essays, the authors share the message that anything you do has an effect on another event. By building the shelters on the mountain, the native people created a lot of travel, compacting the land. Even though the building was meaningful to the two elderly women, they understood the purpose of its destruction as they knew it was harming the earth. The Native Americans see this, but Owens does not believe many people do. He states “the global environment crisis that sends species into extinctions daily and threatens to destroy all like surely has its roots in the Western pattern of thought that sees humanity and “wilderness” as mutually exclusive” (Owens, 70). We often do not relate people with wilderness, but this story has proved that they are affected by each other.

Thinking Like a Mountain agrees with this perfectly. Leopold sees that the mountain is its own ecosystem with every part of if working together. The wolves are there to keep the deer from over populating. The deer feed off the foliage on the mountain but if the wolves were not around, the deer would over populate and eat everything. In return, the deer would die because there would not be enough food for them all. We think that we are doing the deer and ourselves a favor by killing the wolves, but Leopold helps us see otherwise. “I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunter’s paradise” (Leopold, 89). Obviously everything is here for a reason and the mountain’s own ecosystem shows that.

Both authors make you think about what we as humans are doing to the environment. We have the idea that we are at the top of the world and can use that to our advantage. What we need to remember is that nature was here first and doing fine without us. We come and take over, but tend to hurt the world with our thoughtless actions. Working hand in hand with wilderness is the only way everything will survive. Owens says it best, that

“unless Americans, and all human beings, can learn to imagine themselves as intimately and inextricably related to every aspect of the world they inhabit, with the extraordinary responsibilities such relationship entails… the earth simply will not survive” (Owens, 71).

Each essay sheds light to working “with” nature by their stories. By conveying their messages in the form of a story, you can better visualize what each of the authors is trying to relay. It is much easier to understand than an essay that lectures you or just gives you information.

Overall, both Owens and Leopold’s writings were the most clear and relatable to each other. All of the essays we have read definitely make you think a little more about what impact you actually have on the environment. The American Indian Wilderness and Thinking Like a Mountain are the two readings that I can relate to better. After really looking into what both authors had to say, I can say that I will look at nature and the world in a new way. Not just that it provides for us, but that we help it provide also. We are an interlocking system with wilderness that works together to keep one another going.

Works Cited

Leopold, Aldo. “’Thinking Like a Mountain’ From A Sand County Almanac.” Saving Place. Ed.

Sidney Dorbin. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005. 87-89. Print.

Owens, Louis. “The American Indian Wilderness.” Saving Place. Ed. Sidney Dorbin. New York:

McGraw Hill, 2005. 68-71. Print.