Green or Bust

Vaulted onto the international stage, Denver set out to make this year's Democratic National Convention the greenest political convention ever and establish the city as a leading green destination.
By Angela Chiarello

In a press release issued shortly before the 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper vowed the event would be the "greenest political convention in history." The City of Denver—in conjunction with the Denver Metro CVB (DMCVB) and the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee—created 10 green task teams, developed 50 corporate and nonprofit partners, registered 450 green business vendors and recruited hundreds of volunteers to work together to design and implement green strategies and leave a legacy of sustainability programs and opportunities for Denver.

"Denver has a long history of environmental innovation," said Denise Stepto, who is in charge of marketing for the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, Greenprint Denver.

In 2005, Hickenlooper joined 49 other U.S. mayors in a pledge to improve the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (As of October 2007, the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement has 691 signatories.) Next, the mayor established Greenprint Denver, the city's action plan for sustainable practices, and appointed a director of greening, Parry Burnap. When Denver was chosen to play host to the 2008 DNC, Hickenlooper wanted to make it the greenest political convention in history.

"Hosting the DNC has given Denver an opportunity to showcase our environmental stewardship before an international audience," Stepto said.

The DMCVB embraced the convention, the mayor's green outlook and the city's future.

"We're a battleground state," DMCVB President and CEO Richard Scharf said. "The people and the place are high-energy and enthusiastic. That's the image [the Democrats] wanted for their party and that's why we were chosen. They picked a destination that told a story."

The CVB and Greenprint Denver got to work developing the strategies and partnerships to achieve the goal of greenest political convention in history and tell the world that Denver was the greenest spot on the map.

"We felt other than the economic impact of 50,000 people in your city for a week that there are thousands of journalists broadcasting us around the world," Scharf explained. "It was special for us to be on the world stage."

Businesses, venues and citizens—even the Denver International Airport (DIA)—got in on the greening. City-owned facilities such as the Red Rocks Amphitheater, the Colorado Convention Center and the Denver Performing Arts Complex put environmental management systems in place.

The convention center was refitted with low-flow water fixtures and hired a sustainability coordinator. Reusable water bottles were provided to DNC delegates and media, and water bottle-filling stations were in place throughout convention venues, including a "Water Wagon" for outdoor events. Recycling bins were located at all convention events and along the 16th Street pedestrian mall. The Colorado Convention Center offered recycling and composting services. Walking and biking maps were provided to delegates, and light rail and alternative-fuel buses provided mass-transit options. One thousand bicycles were on loan for use during the convention, some of which will stay in Denver to kick-start a legacy bike-sharing program. Denver's goal is to roll out a 1,000-bicycle program by spring 2009.

These efforts not only made this convention one of the greenest on record, but offered citizens, meeting planners and future delegates the opportunity to take part in sustainable events.

"The efforts shown by our venues to conserve energy, conserve water and recover recyclable and compostable materials have all been in place for a number of months, and they all support Denver's Climate Action Plan," Stepto said. "The bicycle program supports Denver's effort to encourage residents to utilize alternative transportation methods, also supporting our long-term Climate Action Plan. None of the green programs Denver has had on display this week will disappear [now that the delegates are gone]. These programs are part of the fabric of Denver, and will remain in place far into the future."

Planners know that an event reaches beyond its venue and how delegates get there. That's why it was so important to get local businesses and vendors involved. A Green Vendor Directory was created to help convention delegates, event planners and Denver residents find green businesses, products and services. (This directory will be institutionalized in the city's Greener Denver Business program and will be available to meeting planners.) And to get everybody green, a series of workshops were conducted to educate the restaurant, hotel/lodging, catering, event planning and fleet industries about how to green their businesses and operations. Approximately 530 businesses attended the seminars. Denver restaurants even offered healthy "lean & green" dining options on menus, including organic and locally grown ingredients.

"When Mayor Hickenlooper challenged the Denver community to play host to the greenest political convention in history, the community responded in force," Stepto said. "The Denver business community was eager to show its green footprint to the rest of the world."

The Democratic National Convention Committee initiated a comprehensive greening plan a year before the convention and incorporated sustainability principles in all aspects of planning and subsequent restoration. According to the greening section of the organization's Web site, "Our programs range from minimizing waste at resource recovery stations to measuring our carbon footprint. Our goal is to holistically design-in environmental sustainability measures in every possible way, take responsibility for our impact on the climate and create a lasting environmental legacy for the Democratic Party and the city of Denver."

Meanwhile, the DNC Denver 2008 Host Committee pledged in press releases to "conserve energy and natural resources, avoid waste and prevent pollution. When possible, we will mitigate the negative environmental consequences of our actions."

According to Stepto, "we were aware that a convention of this size has a huge footprint, therefore we made every possible effort we could to reduce that impact."

Beyond pulling off a thoroughly green convention, the mayor's office and CVB are proud of and can't wait to share the city's green infrastructure with meeting planners and future groups.

"Things are happening here and in our region," Scharf said. "That's the tone of the destination, and [the Democrats] are creating that tone for their party and candidate."

He hopes that planners trying to work the environment, sustainability and innovation into their programs will see those goals reflected in the city.

There's also been a lot of talk about footprints and legacies.

Fortunately, planners can follow in Denver's green footsteps, and their groups can reduce the impact of meetings, conventions and events in the city. According to Scharf, the city hopes to keep the greening workshops going for local businesses.

For instance, the Colorado Convention Center will now play host to a permanent bike station, the Pepsi Center is working to become the first the arena in the U.S. to go completely green, operating entirely on renewable wind and solar energy.

Planners, delegates and visitors can get in on the act, too. Last month, the CVB launched the first Carbon Calculator and Offset Program on the CVB's Web site (www.visitdenver.com). Visitors can access information to help green their meetings and events. The site allows individuals or groups to measure their carbon footprints using an online carbon calculator, and then offers the option to purchase carbon offsets to support new, verifiable greenhouse gas reduction projects in Colorado that deliver both environmental and social benefits.

"We made the effort to be the greenest convention in history and I think we were successful," Scharf said. "Now we want the word to get out. In the future, more meeting planners will be looking at green cities and selecting green cities. We hope that will be our legacy after the convention."

However, it's not easy being green. The much-hyped wooden electronic hotel key cards resulted in mixed reviews. At some hotels the cards worked almost flawlessly—at least as flawlessly as standard plastic hotel key cards. Other frustrated attendees reported the wooden key cards worked sometimes or failed entirely and had to be replaced by plastic key cards. It's definitely a developing technology—and was an eye-catching addition to the greening of the event—and the DNC took a leap of faith with its implementation. The wooden key card producer, as well as some hotels, reported that the problem was "user error." The wooden key cards weren't perfect, but they weren't a total flop as declared by media reports during the event.

ANGELA CHIARELLO is a New York-based freelance writer.