Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited
Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 25A
Paper Date: Wed, Dec 5, 2001
Byline: by Terry Ally
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Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited |
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Bougainvillea/Sand
Acres now Green Globe Hotels
IT WAS something she wanted to do for sometime and last month her dream came
through.
As a Guyanese, Patricia Affonso-Dass grew up in a country which focused on nature and when she left Guyana and came to Barbados she wanted to maintain that environmental focus and through the Green Globe 21 programme she got the opportunity to turn the Bougainvillea Beach Resort and Sand Acres Hotel, of which she is general manager, into environmentally friendly properties.
"Green Globe 21 is an organisation and certificate which provides us with a focus and structured means to work towards that goal and to measure our success," she said.
Last month the two properties received their Green Globe 21 certificate at the World Travel Market in London. This means the two hotels which cover three acres of prime beach front land can target a niche market of ecologically conscious travellers. Environment Manager Wendy Sealy paid tribute to the 100-strong staff. Ordinarily, the biggest hurdle in making environmental change or any changes is the unwillingness of people to change their attitudes and the way in which they have done things but Sealy said that the staff willingly came on board.
"A lot
of what we practise are procedures we already had in place for a long time
so it did not require a complete transformation and changing of
attitudes. In fact a lot of the staff were relieved and happy that we were
formalising what we were already doing and going ahead for the Green Globe
certificate," said Sealy.
It is yet early days to see tangible
benefits but the hotels' "green champion," Avril Clarke, reports that there
has been "substantial savings"
in the housekeeping department which makes its own organic cleaning
compounds replacing cleaning chemicals. For example, instead of commercial
window cleaner they use a simple mixture of vinegar and water; instead of
the regular toilet bowl cleaner, they use a mixture of borax, lemon oil, and
vinegar and instead of aerosol air freshners (some of which use ozone
depleting chemicals) they use lemon oil or orange oil.
"This is part of our health and safety programme, it benefits the staff and the guests," said Clarke.
Dass said that implementing Green Globe 21
was not cheap. There was heavy capital cost upfront to install things like
energy saving systems and
savings were expected in the long term but what was more important right now
was value for money.
"The customers will be getting better value
for money that they might have got in the past and at the end of the
day this is usually where their
emphasis is. If they are receiving good value for their dollars then they
are happy," said Affonso-Dass.
On December 15 the housekeeping staff will
sit a Green Globe 21 exam and if they pass they will become the first
housekeeping staff in Barbados to be certified. Environmental consultant
Suzanne Shillingford-Brooks of Earth Solutions said this was not required by
Green Globe but Bougainvillea/Sand Acres insisted it be included in their
programme. With Green Globe 21 tucked away, what next? Blue Flag
certification of the
beach and nearshore marine area.
Climate change and health focus next year
IT HAS long been suspected that climate
change could have an impact on human health and next year researchers will
present evidence to a regional conference and workshop in Barbados. The
event is being hosted by the Pan American Health Organisation and the World
Health Organisation under the auspices of the Interagency Network on Climate
and Human Health in collaboration with several related agencies.
Caribbean Programme Co-ordinator Veta Brown told regional journalists last
week the conference, slated for May 20 to 21, will address climate and
health aspects of infectious diseases, the marine environment, water
resources, agriculture, natural disasters and adaptation for climate change.
Conference papers are presently being solicited until the end of December.
The workshop which follows, May 22 to 24, will focus on hands-on training to address the climate and health objectives for small island nations of the Caribbean. Workshop participants will be drawn from public health agencies, climate/ weather services and the environment in the Caribbean region. Nineteen nations will each send a public health specialist and a climate/weather specialist. Six nations will each send an environmental specialist. Other agencies which are participating include the US Environmental Protection Agency, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, World Meteorological Organisation, UN Environment Programme, and the Barbados-based Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change.
Registration begins in January 2002.
Details are at www.pahocpc.org.
THE number of vehicles is doubling every 20 years and the mileage of well-maintained roads is shrinking. In addition, journey times are increasing filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other gases, and frustration which has led to road rage. The environmental group, Treading Lightly, has created an exhibit which summaries the many ways in which other countries are dealing with these problems. The exhibit will be the centre of the final environmental rap session for the year at the Edgehill, St Thomas Treading Lightly Centre tomorrow evening. The exhibit will be open from 5 p.m. and the discussion, with many experts in attendance, will start at 7:30 p.m. Telephone 425-0073 for further information.