We are committed to sustainability and have planned our event to be green, in partnership with the Sustainability Committee in the UC Davis Department of Pharmacology. Here are some of our efforts, and we encourage you to take advantage of the suggestions below to “raise the sustainability bar”.
VENUE: The UC Davis Conference Center is a Platinum LEED Certified Green Building. This is the highest designation for standard LEED certification, and is achieved by several thousand buildings nationwide.
FOOD: Our caterer will provide zero waste food packaging (e.g., reusable or compostable utensils and plates) and right-size orders to avoid food waste; any food waste will be donated to the Yolo County Food Bank. Plant-based options will be offered, and meat, dairy, and seafood products will be sustainably sourced wherever that is possible.
BEVERAGES: we will do our utmost to eliminate single-use plastics. We first encourage you to bring your own reusable cup/mug/water bottle. We will also have the option for attendees to pick-up a custom CV symposium reusable mug. These will be available onsite and we will encourage a small donation to offset those costs.
WASTE: The venue features zero waste event accommodations. We will have waste bin monitors in place to ensure proper waste sorting. Fortunately, the City of Davis offers uniquely functional local facilities for recycling certain classes of recyclable plastics. Meaning that much of the locally generated recyclable plastics do not contribute to the global burden.
CARBON OFFSETTING: we encourage all attendees to offset their air travel to the conference. While offsetting schemes are often disparaged, they continue to contribute to forcing meaningful sustainable improvements in the travel industry, which accounts for up to 15% of carbon emissions annually. Easily the most substantial impact of the conference. We particularly suggest the simple, cheap, fully certified and easily tailored offsetting tools available through https://sustainabletravel.org/our-work/carbon-offsets/.
TRANSPORTION to and from DAVIS: We will organize shuttle buses from the Moscone Center in SF to Davis and help facilitate ride-share to and from the major local airports.
TRANSPORTATION in DAVIS: Most of the hotels are at a walking distance from the conference center. Please walk if you can! However, if you prefer motorized modes of transport, please consider ride-share options. {We understand that the COVID crisis will dictate different levels of comfort}.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION: we have attempted to minimize disposable communications of all forms throughout the conference. This includes conventional packet information, and identifiers such as name tags.
LODGING: all hotel blocks reserved for the conference include attendee-specified temperature control. Please try to limit that temperature control while you are away from your room. Some reservations include smart-thermostat facilities that self-adjust temperature control depending on whether you are in the room. Finally, we have requested that all rooms have optional daily refreshing of linens, towels and consumables. We encourage everyone to request these services only when needed.