A Carbon Neutral Event
FCSI World Wide Conference in Beijing 2008 is a Carbon Neutral Event.
Corporate air travel is one of the biggest contributors to CO2 damage and global warming. For the FCSI WW Conference in Beijing, we are committed to offset carbon emissions that are a direct result of air travel by our conference attendees. We will participate in the Tree Planting program established by JGI-Shanghai. (the Jane Goodall Institute in Shanghai).
The number of trees to be planted will be based on the following calculations:
Short flights (domestic flights within China): 1 tree; medium haul flights (8-16 hours round trip): 2 trees; long haul flights (from Europe or North America, Africa or South America): 4 trees. In all we will plant 500 trees and some members of our conference planning committee will personally participate, as volunteers, in the tree planting excursion in March 2008.Our theme for the 2008 FCSI World Wide Beijing conference is Foodservices Future: A Brave New World. Indeed, this is one brave and new step forward for FCSI, embarking on our journey to save our environment and planet.
Chair, Beijing Conference Planning Committee
Clara M. PI, MSC. RDN, FCSI
Jane Goodall Institute
Founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, JGI is a global nonprofit that empowers people to make a difference for all living things: by creating healthy ecosystems, promoting sustainable livelihoods and nurturing new generations of committed, active citizens around the world.
Roots & Shoots
A program of the Jane Goodall Institute, is a powerful, youth-driven, global network of more than 8,000 groups in almost 100 countries. Together, youth of all ages are taking action to improve our world through service learning projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment and the human community. www.rootsandshoots.org
JDI- Shanghai (The Jane Godall Institute-Shaghai)
Every individual has a role to play
Every individual makes a difference
— Dr. Jane Goodall
Program Goal:
To guide people in China to take responsibility for their energy and lifestyle choices, and to give them a hands-on opportunity to understand the physical and technical aspects of tree planting in a tree plantation in Inner Mongolia
Program Description
JGI-Shanghai is launching a Carbon Footprint/Tree Planting program. It can be easily accessed on our website (www.jgi-shanghai.org). It is a simple, straightforward message to our audience: you are responsible for the energy, waste and lifestyle choices that you make, please make environmentally wise decisions. Through the Carbon Footprint/Tree Planting program we offer a way to pay back the earth for the damage every person creates, by purchasing trees which will be planted in a tree plantation in Inner Mongolia. (www.npo-greenlife.com)
We offer the opportunity to involve our R&S students and adult volunteers in the physical tree planting, by allowing them to travel to Inner Mongolia and help the plantation workers plant trees. Our goal is to plant one million trees. We have a long term MOU in place with the GreenLife organization to reach this goal. We need all kinds of support from the community to meet this goal.
Measurement of Results
JGI-Shanghai will monitor this program by website “hits” and by tree sales. Number of trees planted will be monitored and reported. Number of students physically involved in tree planting, their feedback and written reports will be recorded. In addition, JGI - Shanghai will conduct questionnaires for the planters, the plantation workers, the donors, and the website manager to gain feedback on the functioning of the program as a whole. JGI - Shanghai will provide this feedback via our website and newsletter. Detailed and updated reports on exactly where the budget money goes, and how it is used will also be provided. Any further evaluations or reports can be provided upon request.
JGI-Shanghai is cooperating with the Director, Nursery Technology Cooperative/Director, Vegetation Management Research Cooperative from the College of Forestry, Oregon State University. We work with them to assess all the technical aspects of tree planting, the soil evaluation, the viability of the saplings, the watering regimens used, the volunteer community support and to help find answers to any other questions we might have.
How can you get involved?
There are many ways to get involved with fighting global warming. This problem is not going away, and we must all take steps to help.
Personal commitment
Make a personal commitment to change the way you live, and use less energy, less natural resources, recycle more, eat more local foods, and turn off your lights. Visit our website and read other ways each person can help. These are not difficult changes to make, yet every person who changes their lifestyle helps to reduce our pollution potential. Determine how many trees it will take to offset your personal (or your family’s) carbon footprint per year, and buy the trees from JGI-Shanghai Roots & Shoots. Calculate how many airplane trips you (and your family) have taken during the year, and use the website to offset this amount of carbon dioxide damage: buy the trees from JGI-Shanghai Roots & Shoots.
Professional/Corporate commitment
Every business office and factory is considering how to be more environmentally friendly. One of the most straightforward and simple ways to begin to approach the problem is to ask each employee to go to our website, calculate their personal carbon footprint and buy the requisite number of trees to offset their personal CO2 damage. Corporate funding of this commitment, or matching funds commitment show the employees that your company truly supports their actions.
Corporate airplane travel is one of the biggest contributors to CO2 damage and global warming. Set up a mandatory program to offset every airplane ticket purchased by your company for corporate travel.; Short flights (domestic flights within China):; 1 tree; Medium haul flights (8-16 hours round trip): 2 trees; Long haul flights (to Europe or USA, Africa or South America): 4 trees. Business class tickets should double these amounts.
Off set the amount of CO2 your office creates, on an annual basis.(Or your retail space, your warehouse, your home.) Ask one of our Eco Office teams of students to come in and calculate your office CO2 footprint, or we can supply you with simple formulas to calculate this amount. Make the commitment to be environmentally correct by buying the trees from JGI-Shanghai Roots & Shoots.Then make the changes we suggest, and watch your CO2 footprint shrink from year to year.
Buying irrigation wells and pumps is an offshoot of this program that employees may support.
For every 10,000 trees that we plant we need to dig a well, for proper irrigation. The water is carefully monitored, and watering is managed to control water table depletion. Each well costs rmb 8000.
We encourage you to consider the simplicity and efficacy of this program.Educate your employees about global warming in a way that encourages them to make practical changes in their lives to reduce their environmental damage. Changing lifestyle choices is the biggest key to protecting our future. Then get them involved in a program that allows them to offset their actual CO2 damage by having Roots & Shoots plant trees in Inner Mongolia, China. The trees will be growing for a minimum of 20 years, creating oxygen, absorbing CO2, and fighting desertification. The employees are invited to join Roots & Shoots on one of our four annual tree planting trips, and actually plant the trees that they have purchased.
Together we can make a sustainable difference, and fight global warming in a real and practical way to protect our planet.
We believe the program will truly make an impact towards encouraging an environmentally sustainable China. We welcome any questions, comments or concerns. Any support is much appreciated.