Tired and after many flight delays, I have arrived. Being here just 30 minutes, here are some initial surprising observations:

1) The only food options at the little cafeteria were either froi grois (sp?)with bacon, turkey, or sweets, yet they were handing out pins that promoted vegetarianism. I wanted to eat a salad or something that wasn’t a cookie with some nutrional value but there were no options without meat.
2) Although they have recycling, there is no composting and they don’t use bio-degradable plateware. There just so be little attempt to create anything close to zero-waste.
3) There is a significant amount of paper. I feel like they should have just created user accounts for the attendees, then posted the materials online for us to download rather than have all of these colorful, thick-paper, printed booklets. Wasteful!

Besides those observations, it’s very exciting to be here surrounded by respected organizations and people. More updates tomorrow after I get a chance to attend some sessions and events!

Written by MERRY WALKER.