As a follow-up to the one question posed below about what to do with a ton of cups, I thought I would share a list of 20 questions event organizers should ask themselves as they begin to develop goals, objectives and plans for a greener running event. Before I do, however, I should point out that these questions were originally written for the second edition of Road Race Management’s Guide To Greener Running Events, which you can now order directly from RRM’s Web site.

This new booklet provides more than just an inventory of the green initiatives running events are implementing, and I hope it demystifies a lot of things event directors could and should consider doing. It also explores opportunities for “green” certification, presents a summary of hundreds of race directors’ thoughts and opinions about the environmental impact of their events and offers far more “how-to” guidance and narrative than the sold-out first edition.

The booklet is being sold for $55, including shipping and handling. The price for Road Race Management Members is only $50.

OK, here are 20 questions I think you should consider carefully as you begin to plan your road race:

Pre-race:

• What are your goals and objectives for going green?
• Who is going to manage the greening of your event?
• How much are specific green objectives going to cost, and how are you going to pay for them? 
• Who among your sponsors, vendors and civic partners will support your efforts? 
• What is the strategy for building awareness for your green initiatives? 
• What printing, if any, is absolutely necessary? Are there environmentally friendly printing options available to you for both paper and signage/banner needs? 
• How can you minimize shipping distances and impacts? 
• What alternatives to the ubiquitous goodie bag are available to you (consider both the bag itself and its contents)?
• What other traditional features of your event can be made more green (pasta feed, expo, t-shirts, race merchandise, etc.)? (more…)

Q: What to do with a ton of soggy paper cups?

A: Ask Eco-Logistics for help.

photo courtesy Chris Bovey

The Lilac Bloomsday Run uses as many as 500,000  cups each year. This year, Bloomsday asked us to help minimize the event’s solid waste. We focused on cup usage and found a local yard waste composter who would accept compostable cups. So, instead of being incinerated at the local waste-to-energy plant, Bloomsday sent 2,080 pounds of cups to a more useful afterlife as garden mulch.

It really is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Find a local composter who is willing to work with you.

2. Make sure the cups and trash bags you use are compostable.

3. Work with your hauler to arrange for proper collection and delivery to the composter.

Q: What can Eco-Logistics do for you?

The recently concluded Summer National Senior Games in Palo Alto, California, displayed a broad and consistent commitment to sustainability. From Sunny, the 2009 Senior Games Mascot, to the solar-powered torch and cauldron (pictured below), organizers were serious about impressing upon us seniors the value of pursuing sustainable actions — and they did it in an innovative and lighthearted way.

You probably can’t read the sign above, but it talks about the departure from traditional fossil-fuel burning torches typically used at the Olympic Games and other major sporting events. For these Games, the torch was powered by the sun and lit with LED lights (sorry no picture, I didn’t arrive in time for the torch relay), while the cauldron is made up of some 800  tiny mirrors that reflect the sun’s energy. Solar panels built into the cauldron capture energy from the sun throughout the day, so the cauldron can glow at night. The torch and cauldron were created by the folks at IDEO.

(more…)

A couple of posts ago, I introduced the concept of the LOTOJA Green Team and the challenge most ultra-distance sporting events face — what to do about the tremendous CO2 emissions associated with transporting participants and their support crews from point A to B and back again.

Through the registration process, LOTOJA participants were given the chance to purchase a range of carbon offsets for the event — from a Prius ($1.50) to a Hummer ($3.50).

Here’s the good news: 340 riders contributed generously to the Green Team initiative, enabling us to offset about 115 metric tonnes of CO2, or about 1/2 of the CO2 emissions associated with participant vehicles on race weekend. These contributions will directly support the development of three Certified Emission Reduction (CER) projects in Utah and Idaho:  the Granger South Jordan Landfill Gas Destruction Project in West Jordan City; and Intrepid Technology Resources’ Anaerobic Digesters at the Westpoint Dairy in Wendell and at the Whitesides Dairy Farm in Rupert. CERs will be purchased from EcoSecurities, a global leader in the business of sourcing, developing and trading emission reduction credits.

The Council for Responsible Sport just announced that the 2009 Austin Marathon achieved ReSport Certification, earning 25 of 41 possible cerdits to qualify for the distinction — the first certification issued by CRS this year, and only the third certification awarded to a major U.S. marathon since CRS began its pilot certification in January 2008. Eco-Logistics is proud to have worked with two of the three certified marathons in their pursuit of certification, with the Nike Women’s Marathon being the other certified event we’ve worked with.

“The Austin Marathon works to showcase the best of our city and we know that includes being environmentally responsible,” said Michelle Sandquist, Managing Director and leader of the green initiative.  “After having such great success in reducing our environmental impact in 2008, we aimed to take even bigger eco-friendly steps this year; obtaining a certification from ReSport was a validation that we’re heading in the right direction.  Striving for a sustainable and environmentally friendly marathon and half–marathon comes with constant challenges and we’ll continue to make every effort to raise the green bar for our event.  We look forward to achieving the next level of certification in 2010.”

A PDF of the complete CRS press release can be downloaded here.

Great news!

After first blogging about the carbon footprint of LOTOJA back in September 2007, I’ve finally been able to do something about it. Earlier this year, I approached Brent Chambers, the race director, and convinced him to offer participants the chance to offset their race weekend carbon emissions. Working with Steve Gutmann in EcoSecurities‘ office in Portland, Oregon, we’ve put together an offering of offset options that cover the full range of LOTOJA support vehicles, from a Prius ($1.50) to a Hummer ($3.50)

As you can see from the screen shot above, LOTOJA participants are being encouraged to confront an issue that is fundamental to this event–and fundamental to long distance running relays as well. Driving an average of 500 miles, some 1,500 vehicles rack up over 750,000 total miles over the course of LOTOJA weekend. Assuming the average vehicle gets 20 miles per gallon, with emissions of 19.56 pounds of CO2 per gallon, the carbon footprint of LOTOJA participant travel is 733,500 pounds, or 332 metric tonnes of CO2! That’s equivalent to the energy use of 30 single-family homes for one year.

By joining LOTOJA’s Green Team, race participants will be directly supporting the development of three Verified Emission Reduction projects in Utah and Idaho:  the Granger South Jordan Landfill Gas Destruction Project in West Jordan City; and Intrepid Technology Resources’ Anaerobic Digesters at the Westpoint Dairy in Wendell and at the Whitesides Dairy Farm in Rupert.   The offsets will be independently verified to the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR) protocols.

Green Team members will receive a LOTOJA Green Team decal, along with special vehicle signage and a wristband to wear proudly on race day.

The folks at Conley Sports–our clients in Austin, Texas–are truly committed to doing their best to stage a sustainable event.

Recognized by Runner’s World Magazine as the Greenest Race in North America in 2008, the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon issued a press release today detailing efforts to raise the bar and make the 2009 event even more environmentally friendly.

It all starts with a dedicated Green Team and a focus on eliminating unnecessary waste and pollution at every turn:

Major reductions will come from less plastic waste at water stops, fewer supply vehicles, eliminating paper inserts in the runners’ goodie bags, and distributing only one plastic bag to runners throughout race weekend (with instructions for ways to reuse it after the race).

A key component of Austin’s efforts this year goes beyond just being green: race organizers are seeking third-party certification of their efforts from the Council for Responsible Sport. ReSport Certification is making its public debut this year, after conducting a pilot program in 2008. Participation from events like the Austin Marathon will surely help raise this budding non-profit’s profile in the running world.

Who knows, the next time Runner’s World ranks green races, maybe they’ll base those rankings on points earned in the ReSport Certification process? Hope so.

For a full accounting of Austin’s green initiatives, please download the green-team-release.pdf.

Last weekend, I gave a presentation to Road Race Management’s annual meeting of race directors. The topic was Greening Your Event, and the theme of my talk was Catch The Wave. I’ve posted the presentation on SlideShare.net and encourage you to take a look.

As mentioned in the previous post, the November issue of Runner’s World listed the 10 Greenest Races in the U.S. No doubt every race on the list deserved recognition for the good work they are doing, but there are a lot of other races across the country–and around the world–that are also doing their part to minimize their environmental impact. So how are we to know which races are truly the greenest?

One thing is for sure: objective measures are needed if the running media is going to be promoting one race as being greener than another.

I’m a big fan of the Council for Responsible Sport and their ReSport Certification program for participant sporting events. Their five metrics and the standards they are developing would be a much better way to figure out which races are the greenest than a simple review of what the races have to say for themselves in press releases.

Here’s hoping that next year Runner’s World will base their top-10 on the number of points participating races earn in the ReSport certification process.