Went to an interesting ISES (International Special Events Society) meeting Wednesday night - the topic was "greening your meeting". It is all the buzz. And of course it is socially responsible - to care about what we are doing to Mother Earth.
The speaker gave some examples of "greenwashing" where companies try to do the right thing but fall short on their environmental practices and procedures. So for example - having a recycling trash can at a meeting or inside hotel rooms. But then failing to dispose of the recycle trash in a recyle bin - just mixing with the regular trash. Or instead of individual bottled water a water jug. But then styrofoam cups provided (you know the material that is NOT biodegradable) that sit in landfills forever.
For the transportation business car makers still are falling short of making luxury hybrid vehicles. The safety, longevity, and unitarian feel of a Toyota Prius make it not a good option for a chauffeured transportation business. There are a few - Cadillac has come out with a hybrid Escalade - that will probably be our next purchase. But it is not the ESV so doesn't really work for 4+ people and luggage.
But I still feel at the core of the business is carpooling. Many butts in seats taking a group of people to a destination is better than 1-2 people in a passenger car going to a destination - right? And of course if any of those drivers are going to be drinking at the event they are headed to . . . . well that just makes doing the socially responsible thing doubly important.
There is a lot of talk these days about going “green” - saving the planet is a serious issue. And our fossil fuels are being depleted because of our huge consumption of oil in America. But realistically, limousine companies are already green just by their nature! Chauffeured transportation companies have larger vehicles so people can carpool. Carpooling and mass transportation are big components of saving fossil fuels!
Think about it - at a business convention, the company can pay for 10 of their staff to get rental cars and all drive separately to the meetings and events in a given town. Or the company can schedule chauffeured transportation - a couple of SUVs or an executive van for all 10 atttendees to take them all around. The fuel savings in huge! Not to mention if the attendees don’t know their way around that town - it’s a big time and stress saver for the employees to have the professional chauffeur drive so they can focus on preparing for the meeting, checking their Blackberry for important messages, etc. - instead of fighting traffic and navigation. And of course if they want to enjoy a cocktail at the after 5pm networking event-taking a chauffeured ride is the only option!
Share the ride - save the planet.
