Although his lobby to put the environment on the government's agenda began in 1962, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson finally managed to get this day celebrated for the first time in 1970. A lot of water, however, has had to run under the bridge so that Earth Day does not go unnoticed. And perhaps for the first time this year, companies decided to make their contribution to dignify this date.Therefore, we want to register in this space some initiatives with which the hospitality industry wanted to make its contribution and that due to the hectic day to day information were not registered in a timely manner.
In the U.S., kalahari Resorts, with presences in Wisconsin and Ohio, made the announcement on April 22 about their new AquaRecycle system that will save 26 million gallons of water each year. It is a water filtration and recycling system that will allow the resorts to reuse 70% of their water used in the operation of the laundry.
In New York, Luz, a new Latino restaurant located in Brooklyn, turned off all its lights that day. He arranged for acoustic music and replaced conventional lamps with gas lamps. That same day we learned about a bakery in New York that does its entire operation with wind energy.
For its part, the Holiday Inn San Juan hotel in Puerto Rico celebrated Earth Day for the first time by taking stock of its practices as a starting point towards a more sustainable operation. The hotel's response will be a commitment to a sustained long-term effort to improve its performance step by step.
Some suppliers in the sector also did the same by planting trees and with educational and environmental awareness days aimed at the children of the community. In contrast, some hotels limited themselves to using the date for their own benefit by creating spa programs that alluded to Earth Day.
According to the Royal Spanish Academy of Language, sustainability is defined as a process that can be maintained by itself, as does, for example, economic development without external aid or reduction of existing resources. Then one wonders: will the hotel industry one day be able to operate with a sense of sustainability? Difficult challenge for an industry where comfort and luxury define quality standards.
