A Closer Look: Terrell Rich

Name: Terrell D. Rich

Position: National Coordinator for Partners in Flight

Affiliation: Partners in Flight is an association of public and private groups in the Americas concerned with conserving bird populations in this hemisphere.  An ornithologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rich plans several association meetings each year for 30 to 60 people and an international event every few years for 600 to 1,000 people. Meetings are open to anyone interested in bird conservation.

Event: 4th International Conference of Partners in Flight was held at the McAllen Convention Center in Texas, which is only six miles from the Mexico border, an ideal locale for 700 attendees from throughout the Americas. With 18 meeting venues and 178,000 square feet of space, the center hosted the group’s eight concurrent sessions each day, using almost all the center’s facilities including half its exhibition space.

Special Challenges: “We went into it with a green attitude,” Rich reports. “We encouraged everyone to bring their own coffee/beer/wine cups, tote bags and water bottles.” The center provided coffee cups made from recycled paper for those who needed them. However, coffee presented an immediate crisis. “All our meetings and conferences have at least shade grown, if not triply certified, coffee,” Rich says. “We learned that the center’s coffee makers used only their own liquid coffee concentrate.”

Solution: “As soon as we began talking about food we realized the coffee problem,” Rich says. Because Caffe Ibis had already contributed triply certified Bird Friendly coffee for the entire event, it was a must on the menu. Big, rental brewing pots were immediately rounded up. “People got educated on the value of certified coffee, both the conservation value and human value as well as the taste,” Rich says.

Results: “This convention pushed us into action,” says Nancy S. Millar, vice president and director of the McAllen Convention and Visitors Bureau.“ We started a name badge recycling program, a carbon offset program, and now both the center and the CVB offer meeting planners an array of green choices.” They recycle office paper, plastic, aluminum cans and ink cartridges. Newspapers go to a local animal shelter. Soy ink is used in the in-house print shop and Green Mountain Energy donated and installed a solar panel. The city’s new Green Hotel Certification Program allows all lodgings including local B&Bs to participate.

Advice: Guests and hosts learned from each other about the growing importance of going green, even in areas (such as the coffee) that were previously unknown to the vendor. Anticipate environmental needs, cultural differences and basic hardware that may be needed when you least expect it.

— Janet Groene