Earth Day Must Become Earth Year

Last year around the same time I invited the global meetings industry to pay more attention to the celebration of our planet. What does that mean?

Who invented the name “Earth”? Nobody knows exactly. We do know why the Earth is round. However, what is happening to Earth right now is something that few people care about. This year on Earth Day (every year April 22nd), I was chatting with a nature lover about the state of nature on Earth. He was telling me that nature will save us from all evil things in the world. Food, health, healing, fitness, agriculture, etc. must become one big chain in our daily life. He was also arguing that one day’s celebration is not enough to save our beloved planet. Year after year we have to give full attention to our daily activities in the surroundings of air, land and water. But starting with a day is already a perfect start.

Have you ever wondered how Earth Day started? The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, when San Francisco activist, John McConnell, and Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson, separately asked Americans to participate in a grassroots demonstration. Dealing with dangerously serious issues related to toxic drinking water, air pollution and the effects of pesticides, a staggering 20 million Americans – 10% of the population – ventured outdoors and protested together. President Richard Nixon led the nation in creating the Environmental Protection Agency, which followed up with successful laws including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. McConnell had originally chosen the spring equinox (March 20, 1970), but Nelson chose April 22, which eventually became the official date for the celebration.

Today, Earth Day is not only a day meant to raise awareness of environmental issues, it is also becoming a popular time for many communities to gather together to clean up trash, plant trees or simply reflect on the beauty of nature. We also now know that the Meeting Industry is a major polluter on Earth and we definitely need to do more about it in the future. Over the past few years, I have often thought that sustainability was a hackneyed concept, but after reading more about Earth Day, I realised that we are just at the beginning of a battle with the Earth.

This HQ #104 brings us several concrete examples of environmental action, interviews with experts and initiatives carried out by destinations at the top of this agenda. How to articulate destination marketing with sustainable features applied by hotels, convention centres or restaurants? How to integrate environmental concepts in associations and how to convince members that profit and sustainability can go hand in hand? How can industry leaders and political authorities support and strengthen services and products that promote, vis-à-vis, the ecology and sustainable development of their cities? See the answer to these and more questions on the following pages.

By Marcel A.M. Vissers, HQ's editor-in-chief
marcel@meetingmediagroup.com