How Your Event Can Help Fight Climate Change

Because of the nature of my business, you may have already assumed that I believe in human-caused climate change. Until this point, I’ve avoided talking much about climate change on my blog and social media, because I want to avoid being polarizing or political.

First of all, if you’ve made this assumption, you’re correct — I do believe, based on the consensus of thousands of scientists, that human activities are changing our climate. However, I no longer believe that climate change is a political issue. I wouldn’t even call it an environmental issue.

It’s an everything issue. The growing instability of our climate will affect — and in many cases is already affecting — national security, the economy, health, public safety, agriculture, and even tourism and event planning.

In my largely conservative state of Indiana, Republican Senator Mike Braun recently co-founded the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, a group focused on starting bipartisan climate discussions in the Senate. People from all over the political spectrum are realizing the climate crisis is real, and they want to have a seat at the table as we design the solutions our communities need to adapt to the coming changes.

One of the most helpful frameworks I’ve found for understanding solutions to the climate crisis is Project Drawdown, a global research organization that analyzes the most viable and effective solutions to climate change.

The following list is just a handful of the Drawdown-endorsed solutions that you can put into practice at your events:

• Reducing food waste
• Serving plant-rich menus
• Sourcing energy from wind turbines, solar panels, or nuclear power
• Using LED lighting
• Disposing of organic waste at an anaerobic digester or composting facility
• Recycling
• Planning virtual meetings
• Using recycled paper

Because climate change is an everything issue, it’s also an everyone issue. We all have a role to play, both professionally and personally, in helping our communities reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby limit the harmful effects of our changing climate.

I encourage you to explore the Drawdown solutions above for inspiration, and also to find others in your city or state you can collaborate with — start by searching for “Drawdown” and the name of your city or state. Indiana folks, check out Indiana Drawdown.

Even though I started my business before I learned about Drawdown, I’m proud and excited that many of my event services overlap with Drawdown solutions and can help events lower their carbon footprint. If there’s a Drawdown solution you’re interested in exploring for your event that I don’t currently offer, give me a shout — I’d love to help you talk through it and connect you to resources that can help.