ATW 2010 GREENING PLAN

The Organizing Committee (OC) for this year’s Aquatic Toxicity Workshop (ATW) is committed to designing and executing a plan for a green ATW 2010. This plan outlines initiatives and ‘best practices’ that will be adopted while organizing and running the workshop. Greening is focused on the following five areas: workshop venue, travel, CO2 offsets, document production and showcase.

Venue
The Marriott Toronto Downtown Eaton Centre is the host for this years ATW. The Marriott’s accommodation, conference, catering and restaurant facilities will all be used for the duration of the workshop. The Marriott has a 4 green-key eco rating from the Hotel Association of Canada , meaning that it has shown national industry leadership and commitment to protecting the environment through its wide-ranging policies and practices.  For more information on the Marriott’s green initiatives refer to: The Marriott Green Initiatives Page

In addition the OC is working with the Marriott to ensure ‘best practices’ with respect to their food services, by:

• Minimizing use of disposal products
• Having recycling on hand for those few recyclables generated
• Serving locally sourced food where possible as well as fair-trade coffee and tea

Travel
Workshop participants will attend the workshop from across Canada. While at the workshop, there will be several opportunities to explore the vibrant and exciting city of Toronto.  We encourage all participants to reduce their contribution to carbon emissions.

Here are examples of concrete actions to reduce the environmental impacts of the ATW 2010:

• Use of public transport and car sharing (click here for more information on planning your trip to Toronto);
• The ATW 2010 OC is inviting you to offset the carbon emissions associated with your transportation to Toronto (round trip) by using the following table to calculate the amount associated with your method of travel. You can include this amount in your registration process through the website or on site during the workshop. We've committed to purchasing high quality carbon offsets on behalf of attendees who desire to make this valuable contribution.

• When travelling to and from the airport (Lester B. Pearson), using an airport shuttle or the TTC will reduce carbon emissions compared to renting a car (beside, parking is expensive downtown!).
• Participants may consider flying directly into downtown Toronto by way of the Toronto City Centre Airport (http://www.torontoport.com/airport.asp) and taking the Porter shuttle to the TTC.

• Exploring Toronto on foot. A walking map of downtown Toronto will be included in the workshop program.
• Exploring Toronto using public transportation. Bus schedules will be posted by the registration desk.
• Don't forget to bring your pens, paper and bag!

Green Power

We're very excited to announce that ATW 2010 will be bullfrog powered with 100% green electricity.

This means that Bullfrog Power will inject renewable electricity onto our local or regional grid to match our event's usage.  Bullfrog's electricity comes exclusively from wind and hydro facilities that have been certified as low impact by Environment Canada under its EcoLogo™ program instead of from polluting sources like coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear. The ATW2010 OC will provide a donation to Bullfrog Power equivalent to the cost of the energy used for our workshop.

Document Production
The Organizing Committee is committed to minimizing use of paper leading up to and during the workshop. The collection of abstracts will be available on the ATW web site in advance of the workshop. Conference proceedings will also be posted on the ATW web site. Recyclable paper having 100% of post-consumer recycled content will be used for all printed documents. Abstracts will be available only in an electronic version on the ATW website;

Summary
There are several ways we can minimize our environmental impact throughout the Aquatic Toxicity Workshop. Through this plan, the Organizing Committee for the workshop is setting the environment as a priority, raising participants’ environmental awareness and, most importantly, reducing our impact on the environment. The Organizing Committee would appreciate feedback on how to further green future Aquatic Toxicity Workshops. Comments can be directed to Trudy Watson-Leung or Denina Simmons.