Lights OFF... Glow Sticks ON!

We are 125 hours away (and counting!) from Earth Hour 2012. Genius has struck here at HI-Chicago…and a Glow Stick Party is in the works for when we shut off all the lights at 8.30pm on March 31st. Earth Hour is the world’s largest public environmental action, and by taking part in this global ‘lights out’ event HI-Chicago will be acknowledging its commitment to operational actions that benefit the planet in the year ahead.

Last year some of the world’s most famous man-made marvels and natural wonders, including China’s Forbidden City, Eiffel Tower, Table Mountain, Great Pyramids of Egypt, Buckingham Palace, Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue, Niagara and Victoria Falls, Empire State Building, Sydney Opera House and many more global icons stood in darkness as a powerful symbol of landmark environmental action.

EGYPT

CHICAGO

Join us this Saturday night to celebrate saving electrical energy and expending energy of our own while having a glow-stick-induced fun time! Glow sticks and snacks are free!

To get a better sense of the magnitude and inspiring nature of the event, take a moment to watch the Earth Hour 2012 official video at www.youtube.com/earthhour .

Earth Hour is Coming Up Soon!

HI-Chicago will be participating in a worldwide event called Earth Hour on March 31st at 8.30pm!
Click to watch the video below to learn more about it, and check out http://www.earthhour.org/

Green. Verde. Grün. 녹색. Vert.

Chicago will be seeing green this Saturday in celebration for St. Patrick’s Day.  Here we don’t just wear green to avoid getting pinched… we add 100 pounds of green dye into the Chicago River to add to the festivities! The question is, how “green” is this tradition? Prior to 1966, the green dye was oil based, which sparked complaints by environmentalists who pointed out that the oil was detrimental to living organisms. Thanks to them, the green dye was changed to a vegetable based dye. So our crazy tradition has been environmentally friendly since 1966!
 

Green Dye into the Chicago River

At HI-Chicago we are getting greener…and not just for St. Patrick’s Day! This week we have implemented a new protocol for check in that cuts sheets of paper used per guest by 33%!

Instead of printing out the HI-Chicago rules for each guest to sign, the guidelines are now displayed on the front desk, and the guest’s signature to affirm that they will abide by them is captured on their receipt. Over time this will significantly decrease our paper usage and reduce our waste!

Let’s picture it this way – Considering the number of check-ins we had in 2011, and eliminating one sheet of paper per check in, we can estimate how much paper we can save in this upcoming year. From numbers in 2011 we estimate that 29,760 sheets of paper can be saved, and since one tree can make about 8,350 sheets…we will be saving 3.5 trees per year!  

Other Green Events to be aware of…

Earth Hour is coming up on March 31^st at 8.30 pm. Across the globe people will be shutting off their electricity for ONE HOUR. Last year, More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011. HI-Chicago will be participating in this event, and so should you! Check out http://www.earthhour.org/  for more information!

Earth Day on April 22, 2012 Learn how you can participate in activities to help the earth at http://www.earthday.org/

Green Festival @ Navy Pier in Chicago on May 5-6^th. Don’t miss this event, a project of Green America and Global Exchange. There will be over 125 visionary speakers, hands on workshops, green shopping, family activities, organic food and a lot more (including an HI-Chicago table!)

There are opportunities to volunteer! Just log on to www.greenfestivals.org/volunteer   

Sustainability: Listening to Our Guests

This month HI-Chicago is taking steps to improve sustainability! Current projects include: installing motion sensors in offices, bathrooms, and storage rooms to ensure that lights are only on when they need to be, adding new recycling bins and signs to make recycling easier, and switching out paper towel dispensers for automatic hand dryers.

Reuse can be beautiful and creative!

Involving our guests in a discussion about sustainability at the hostel and in their travels is an important part of this green initiative, so we held a focus group to talk about sustainability. Ten travelers from around the world joined two interns – Kristen and Jackie – to chow down on Giordano’s deep dish pizza and bounce around ideas. We had guests from Brazil, USA, France, England, Chile, and Venezuela.

Ideas that were brought up include installing clotheslines in the laundry room, offering drying racks to guests, and investigating solar power. This international perspective was great, as we found out that the recycling bins are not designated a blue color in all countries! Most of all, it was encouraging to hear that sustainability is an important issue to our guests, and we hope that when you stay with us you can join us in our efforts!

On Monday, Kristen, our sustainability intern, gave a presentation to the HI-Chicago staff about sustainability – Here are a couple links to videos that were shown:

By Nasa – showing the temperature changes of the Earth from 1880 to 2011.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2011-temps.html

Energy for the world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh5KzBQBGcE&feature=share

Remember to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!

If you are interested in learning more about Hostelling International’s sustainability efforts around the world, then follow HI-Sustainability on Facebook and @HIsustainable on Twitter.

Caring for the Environment

Greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside have been a part of Hostelling International’s worldwide mission statement since 1932. And since its construction in 2000, Hostelling International Chicago has worked to lessen its impact on the environment. We rehabilitated a mostly vacant building in Chicago’s central business district and prevented it from being demolished and thrown into a landfill. Green technologies available in 2000 were used to lessen energy consumption and encourage recycling by travelers. Now after 11 years of operation, we are taking a fresh look at what it means to be a sustainable organization. Sustainability is broader than only caring for the environment. We now include caring for people, caring for the environment, and maintaining our financial health as the three necessary parts to being sustainable.

With respect to environmental responsibility, HI-Chicago is taking a more critical look at the impact that we make on our planet and sharpening our efforts to further green the hostel. An important part of this renewed focus is to listen to you, the travelers. We know that care for the environment is important for you as well, so we encourage you to come alongside us and join our efforts to be kinder to the earth.

Right now HI-Chicago is conducting an internal audit to assess its energy consumption and waste management relative to other hostels and hotels. One immediate goal is to improve recycling in all areas: guest rooms, kitchen, common rooms and offices. In addition, current and emerging technologies and strategies will be reviewed for their applicability to reducing energy and water consumption.

HI-Chicago has many colleagues around the world in Hostelling International that are also looking at sustainability in this broader view of environmental responsibility, plus social responsibility joined with financial performance. We are excited to be a part of an emerging, virtual, sustainability team alongside our friends at the Reykjavik hostels in Iceland, leading environmentally-friendly hostels. More than that, we are eager to make HI-Chicago a place where guests and staff make eco-friendly choices every day!