| dc.description.abstract | The main purpose of this research project was to highlight a new area of improvement for
sustainability on Dalhousie University’s campus. Currently, there is limited research on the
environmental impact of typical conference practices, however there are a few published studies
that suggest conferences are quite unsustainable due to greenhouse gas emissions and wasted
materials. This report focused on conferences held on Dalhousie’s the Halifax campus. The
organizers of five conferences were interviewed in order to get a better understanding of the
factors that determine their planning decisions and to assess the degree to which environmental
impacts of their conferences were considered.
Our study found that conference organizers are most concerned with conference costs and
food when planning conferences, with paper use and transportation also viewed as areas of
interest.
Based on our findings, we recommend that a conference planning policy with a
corresponding guidebook be created to incorporate sustainable practices. This type of assistance
will mitigate any uncertainty around what practices are sustainable and provide a sense of ease
for people who wish to hold a conference at Dalhousie but have little experience with thinking
sustainably. We also recommend that a comprehensive review of large conferences held at
Dalhousie should be conducted, in order to better asses the extent to which sustainability
practices are considered in conference planning. | en_US |
