The Green Behind the Green Convention

“The 2008 Democratic National Convention, like our great party, is about the future – the future of our country and the future of our planet.  That is why we are ensuring that this Convention will be the greenest, most sustainable, most successful political Convention in history.”

— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Below are some of the corporations that have helped the Democratic National Committee — led by the “Director of Greening,” Andrea Robinson — to achieve its goal of a low-impact Convention for an estimated 50,000 attendees:

• Coca-Cola: Sponsor of the “official recycling program,” which aims to recycle 85% of waste generated by conventioneers.  They’ve also placed pairs of waste bins throughout the city — one for waste and one for recycling.
• General Motors: Provided a fleet of hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles.
• Staples: Sold office products made from at least 50 percent consumer waste to the DNC — online, instead of through paper catalogues.
• Coors: Donated ethanol made with thousands of gallons of its beer waste.
• Xcel Energy: Donated $30,000 to both the Democratic and Republican conventions to go toward use of wind power.
• Camco: The convention’s “Official Carbon Adviser.” I used the online carbon counter to calculate the carbon I would generate if I traveled on a non-stop flight from JFK to Denver and stayed for 5 nights in a hotel — see below. The carbon offsets for the 0.8188 tons would cost me $16.38, through a program run by the City of Aspen.
• Sustainable Cards and Hyatt, Sheraton, and more than 70 other hotel chains: Replaced plastic key cards with Sustainable Cards, biodegradable wooden key cards printed with the DNC logo. The cards haven’t always worked as intended.
  
• Freewheelin: A bike sharing program that loaned more than a thousand bikes to convention-goers.
• Mezcal: Restaurant chain offering a “greenarita,” a margarita made with “100% organically grown tequila from Mexico, mixed with organic and freshly squeezed lime juice.”

Sources: DNC, Rocky Moutain News 1 & 2, Discovery News, Fox News, Examiner.