In today's society "green" is used to describe everything from products to communities to blogs. But what does "green" really mean? "Green" equates environmental responsibility. Routine decisions, such as which household cleaner to purchase or when to water the garden, can affect our environment. Understanding how these daily choices can impact our environment is key to conserving and preserving our natural resources, and ensuring a healthy environment for present and future generations.

One of our goals is to make SAACURH 2009 an environmentally friendly conference. Our hope is that all attendees of the conference will offset their air and rail travel so that we can have a Carbon Neutral conference!

Carbonfund.org gives you the opportunity to calculate the amount of carbon you're contributing to the atmosphere through your daily activities, whether it be by a train, car, or airplane.

Once you calculate just how many tons of carbon you've emitted, Carbonfund.org present the option of offsetting those tons by supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. These projects are third party verified and certified to the highest standards available to ensure you're carbon outputs are completely negated while you're promoting a clean energy future.

Because one of our new campus initiatives is to be green, recycling bins will be at all campus facilities being used for the conference. Also, all of the paper that will be used to print conference materials on will be recycled paper. In addition to these qualities, our dining is also green in the elimination of trays and use of green friendly plates and silverware.  We will also post the abstracts about each program being presented on the conference website and not in the conference binders in order to save paper.  However, the schedule with the title of each program will still be posted in the binders.  Also, we will work with all presenters to post their presentation materials on our website both before the conferene and after in order to reduce the amount of paper.  In additon to this, we are working to make as many materials used in the conference as green friendly as possible including shirts and pens.  We are also working with AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) and our Residence Life Sustainability Coordinator to see what else can be done to make our conference as environment friendly as possible.