Emergency Preparedness
Father’s Day Thoughts: How My Dad Helped Build Our Company
Sunday, June 20th, 2010VANCOUVER—Father’s Day was a travel day for me this year, so this post is as close as I’m going to get to talking to my dad. That’s just as well, in a way, because I can’t think of a better way to start bringing our blog back up to date than by tracing some of [...]
After Copenhagen: How Meetings Can Kick the Carbon Habit
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009By the end of this week, the 192 countries represented at the Copenhagen Summit may or may not reach a global deal to control climate change and reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.
But whether or not humanity rises to the challenge, the science doesn’t lie. With or without an agreement, this is the moment for industrialized nations [...]
Orlando Underwater: Here’s What’s at Stake at Copenhagen Summit
Thursday, December 10th, 2009Map of projected sea level rise from Carbon Solutions America, reposted on Climate Progress.
How will climate change affect the meetings industry if we don’t slow down and reverse the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Start with a map that shows coastal Florida and Orlando underwater by 2100, and gives you an idea of [...]
Preparing for a Pandemic
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009At our regular staff meeting last week, we introduced a standing agenda item that will be a part of our working lives for the foreseeable future.
Our COO, Woody Huizenga, unveiled an advanced draft of our pandemic preparedness plan, and summarized the best available information on what we can expect during this year’s flu season: On [...]
Pandemic II: Preparing for a Dangerous World
Thursday, May 7th, 2009With this post, we’re pleased to welcome Nelson Fabian as a guest blogger. Nelson is the Executive Director of the National Environmental Health Association in Denver, Colorado.
As counterintuitive as this may sound, I believe the swine origin H1N1 outbreak may soon prove to be one of the best things that could have happened to us.
It [...]
Pandemic I
Friday, May 1st, 2009So this is what a Level 5 pandemic alert feels like.
I walked home along Ottawa’s scenic Rideau Canal Wednesday afternoon, just hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the global pandemic threat level to five on a six-point scale. In WHO parlance, Level 5 means a global pandemic is imminent.
For practical purposes, the [...]
“Water Where It Didn’t Used To Be”
Friday, August 29th, 2008The Arctic is changing so quickly that it’s become one of the many early warning systems for global climate change. Each year brings new reports of ice sheets breaking off into the sea, along with a mad scramble to plan shipping routes and resource development projects that would have been difficult or impossible a generation [...]