Sustainability: Can we walk the talk?

It is a recurring topic also in the meetings industry, given its environmental footprint.

Several sessions at IT&CMA 2019 addressed sustainability, focusing on different aspects of this subject.

Supawan Teerarat, Thailand Convention Bureau vice-presidente, mentioned the effort being made in the country about this issue. And she says we can't solve problems with the same mindset we create them. She presented the 12 values ​​of sustainability that can pose as a guide to a paradigm shift, contrasting to the old values.

Before:

1: More is better

2: I

3: Transaction

4: “They” have to solve it

5: Growth / Profit

6: Taking from nature

7: Money is power

8: Top-bottom approach

9: Knowing

10: Isolating and solving

11: Taking, doing; wasting

12: Focusing on differences

Sustainable values

1: Enough is enough

2: We

3: Relationship

4: I am the solution

5: Person, planet, profit

6: Learning from nature

7: Money is energy

8: Bottom-top and top-bottom approach

9: Living

10: Seeking Consensus

11: Conscientious Use of Resources

12: Holistic Approach

Since 2008, Thailand convention bureau has had a green events program, environmental certification for venues and awareness raising activities for suppliers.

Pairach Piboonrungroj, from Chiang Mai University School of Economics, points out that in business it is reputation and demand that force companies to be more sustainable, or to strive for more sustainable events. And that is why it is important to involve suppliers and top management.

Walk the talk

No one else embraced this “walk the talk” spirit quite like Marissa Jablonski. This environmental activist engineer reminded the audience that plastic lasts forever. And in this part of the world, plastic is a problem of epic proportions, as those who travel around here can easily understand. Together with the US Embassy in Thailand, Jablonski has developed a project to reduce the use of plastic in Phuket hotels. The result was incredible and Marissa Jablonski decided to adopt the same principle of not using single use plastic in her personal life. This means not using plastic bottles - that's easy - nor shampoo (but she found an alternative). You can follow Marissa's journey against plastic at https://www.instagram.com/marissajablonski/.

Cláudia Coutinho de Sousa*

* Invited by IT&CMA