Prove It, You Say?

Saving Green By Going Green, our newest book, was written to help you learn how to incorporate sustainable meeting practices to save your organization money. We promised you will save money and now it is time to prove it! Here is just one of the examples covered in the book:

Eat well. Watch the food-and-beverage industry trends and you will see quickly that what people want is fresh, healthy food. They are asking for local, organic fare and enjoy knowing where it is coming from. In addition to being good for your body, it is also good for the environment and the local community. Get back to basics. In Portland, Oregon, the local newspaper investigated three examples associated with delivering a pound of fresh blueberries to points of sale.

1. Air freight from Chile. You pay about $18 per pound (berries typically come in 4.4 ounce containers and sell for $5.) This does not include customs clearance or ground handling on arrival in the U.S., which could add 20 cents a pound to the cost.

2. Ground transportation. You pay about $3.50 per pound. This is based on a refrigerated trailer traveling within 100 miles following major multiple retailer channels to the point of sale.

3. Local farmers market direct delivery. You pay about $2.50 per pound. This is based on a shipment originating 20 miles away traveling in a non-refrigerated pickup truck. (The Oregonian, Sunday, August 10, 2009)

Saving money can come from simple ideas like by serving whole fruit instead of paying additional money for the labor to produce sliced fruit platters or having an iced tea and lemonade break served out of colorful pitchers instead of individual cans of soda and bottled water.

There are more great ideas where that came from...here's a link to more information http://tools.meetgreen.com/book