With what seems like almost weekly reports of temperature records being broken, wildfires in the west, flooding in the south, etc., more and more event planners recognize that we must collectively do better for our only planet. But the collective quickly divides into communities, groups and, yes, individuals. If you’re an event planner or sport program manager looking to ramp up sustainability in your organization and at your events, but you don’t know where to start, keep reading.
Alex Baxter, Director of Special Events, Blue Strike Environmental
In part one of a two-part series featuring the people and work of Blue Strike Environmental (Blue Strike), the Council for Responsible Sport (Council) got the chance to sit down with Blue Strike’s Director of Special Events, Alex Baxter, who has been implementing sport sustainability strategies with the company since 2018.
Blue Strike Environmental is a majority woman-owned consultancy with offices in California, Texas, Ohio, and Massachusetts that is focused on helping its clients increase their social footprint while decreasing their environmental footprints. In that way, Blue Strike’s values and those of the Council’s directly align.
Blue Strike was originally a non-profit organization (The Offset Project) based in Monterrey, California that came about by implementing recycling grants to environmentally and socially vulnerable communities. It was a simple single-use bottle redemption operation (California is one of the ten US states with a deposit on aluminum, glass and plastic containers to increase recycling of those materials) that blossomed into working with the resort and events at the world-famous Pebble Beach golf resorts.
From executing state grants, to putting together client programs for Research Triangle Institute, and working with the US Open in 2019, Blue Strike Environmental has come a long way, creating scalable programs for events and organizations of all sizes, lowering barriers so that more people can start their journey.
Among its strengths, Blue Strike helps coordinate and implement programs that reduce and divert waste at events of all sizes.
Blue Strike offers strategies, innovation, sponsorship opportunities, technical analysis, communications, and organizational development programs for sustainability. Essentially, Blue Strike helps bring it all together —from finding allies from existing or potential corporate partners and within the community of an upcoming event, identifying the gaps in planners’ approaches towards more sustainable events, and providing a framework in the hopes that, as Baxter put it, “clients don’t need me down the road.”
Council: What are a few simple recommendations you would suggest to event planners and directors?
An internal audit is necessary before getting started. Assessing against an existing framework like the Responsible Sport Standards for Events can be very helpful to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.
Conversations must not begin in the days leading up to an event. Sustainability is “year-round conversations,” states Baxter.
Get creative, gather many voices and perspectives, and put all ideas and options on the table when brainstorming
Sustainability is not just energy, waste, and carbon, it’s really about thinking bigger-picture for the overall betterment of people and places
Being bold and setting ambitious goals is as exciting as it is intimidating for many organizations and events. The word ‘sustainability’ is vague yet carries immense social and moral weight. When asked what advice he would provide to those trying to get started without much budget, Baxter’s immediate response was “find allies in your community.”
Another format Baxter recommends for getting a sustainability program off the ground is to create an internship role. “Get someone who can make 10% of your time be 100% of their time.” Finding champions with a true passion for this work will reap many benefits for an organization or a company while generating valuable experience for the intern.
Council: What challenges keep organizations on the fence with regards to sustainability?
Baxter lists:
Not knowing where to begin
Making the leap into the unknown of sustainability – feeling like you don’t have enough knowledge or experience
Not quite understanding why they should take part in sustainability programs
Lacking internal advocates or champions
Insincere agendas (e.g. trying to ‘cash in’ or perceiving sustainability as just one more popular trend)
If these are some of the issues you are currently facing, an email or call over to Blue Strike might be a wise idea. The Council for Responsible Sport believes in Blue Strike Environmental because of their proven ability to help events earn responsible sport certification, to listen, to be understanding without judgement, and to help scale and customize programs to the needs of event organizers and the communities in which they operate.
The first step is always the hardest, but by collaborating--with partners, vendors, local grassroots groups and sponsors, you’ll be amazed what events can help achieve in service of helping bring about a more responsible world by putting values into action and leading by example.
Green Team volunteers organized by Blue Strike Environmental sort waste for composting and recycling at the Big Sur Marathon.