Green Business Roundtable

The Roundtable’s goals are simple –NETWORK, INSPIRE, EDUCATE, IMPROVE:  Enjoy lunch and network with advocates of sustainability; Improve our voice in the community; Improve our individual and company contributions to sustaining the environment. GBR is non-partisan.  For more information, please call Tracy Daniels at 970-259-3583. 

Our attendees include main avenue businesses, home office entrepreneurs, city employees, and environmentally oriented businesses. We operate on a strict schedule, with the speaker starting at 12:30 and ending at 12:55 for a question or two. We aspire to end promptly at 1:00.

Place a reservation by phone to 259-3583, ext. 201 or by email to GBR@sanjuancitizens.org

GBR Block Reservation Form [pdf].



The Details, 2008

When: 12:00 noon for one hour, the second Wednesday of each month

Cost: $12

Where: Strater Hotel, The Henry Strater Theater, 669 Main Ave. Durango

The Topic: See details at right.

RSVP: please RSVP by 9:00 am the Monday before the luncheon. Call Tracy Daniels at 970-259-3583 or email GBR@sanjuancitizens.org. Let us know the number of attendees and choice of meat or vegetarian meal. Consider signing up for a block reservation for the season.



Reservations Preferred

The Roundtable has been successful beyond our dreams and the success is a great problem to have! Because attendance naturally fluctuates (low 60, high 102), it is hard to know how many meals to guarantee and have the restaurant prepare. The "best guess" method has sometimes resulted in not enough meals and people turned away or going hungry, and occasionally too many meals prepared resulting in food waste and a financial loss. In response, GBR has converted to a reservation system. Pick one of 3 easy options!

1) Buy the Block Reservation.  Highly Recommended!  This is the best way to support the Roundtable. Pay $100 to be a Roundtable member from September to April (8 meetings, $12 per meal and a name tag). Saves you time as no RSVP will be required each month. No refunds for missing a meeting. If you can’t attend, please consider sending a colleague in your place. Your reservation will be given up at 12:10 if no one attends in your place.  View the block reservation form [pdf]

2) RSVP: Place a reservation by phone to 259-3583, x 201 or by email to GBR@sanjuancitizens.org by 9:00 AM the Monday preceding the Roundtable. Payment commitment is implied with your reservation. Your reservation will be given up at 12:10 if no one attends to take your reservation, but we will contact you regarding payment.

3) Take Your Chances: At 12:10 we will release reserved seats not yet claimed by reservations.


GBR sponsorship has a new look this year. When you choose to be a sponsor, your company or organization will be sharing sponsorship of our fall and/or spring sessions (4 months for fall/4 months for winter). All participating sponsors will receive:

  • Your business/organization name on all the fall and/or spring email invitations
  • Your website link on the GBR page of the San Juan Citizens Alliance website
  • Announcement of your sponsorship at all 4 sponsored roundtables
  • Table cards with your business name at each table
  • Business/organization name displayed on large sponsor board


For the 2007-2008 GBR season, part of each meal will be organic and/or include local items! Your sponsorship money will help to offset the increased cost of adding local and organic foods to our menu. As in the past, sponsorship money will continue to help the San Juan Citizens Alliance pay for administrative, printing, and postage costs. Additional funding would also allow us to attract higher-profile speakers through coverage of travel expenses and the provision of small honoraria.

Cost is $250 for 4 months (September - December or January - April). You may sponsor both sessions for $500. Payment for the fall session is due August 1, 2007 and payment for the spring session is Due November 15, 2007. Contact Tracy Daniels, 970-259-3583.


The Details

To elaborate, the idea is to mimic the systems used by Rotary and other service clubs to influence the community:

  • We gather to enjoy lunch and network with other conservation minded business leaders. One can talk about anything of course, but if you can, bring the topic around to environmental issues. Perhaps projects or companies you have heard of or admire for their sustainability efforts.

  • We want to improve our own and our companies contributions to sustaining the environment. So hopefully we can exert some good peer pressure on each other to take back to work.

  • We want to improve our voice in the community. The environmentally willing, eager, and concerned business people of our community are not networked as well as could be, and as a result our voice is often marginalized compared to the groups that are well networked.

  • The rules are simple:

    • Any business leader who is committed to being more environmentally involved is welcome;
    • Any attendee does not necessarily endorse the views of any other;
    • One-hour monthly luncheons will run on a strict timetable, includes an approximate 20-minute presentation;
    • We are a non-partisan group and the group will make no policy statements.   

GBR History

The San Juan Citizens Alliance launched GBR in 2002 as an outreach program, and is already seeing spin off benefits such as renewable energy workshops, Chamber of Commerce awards to Green Leaders, and sales of energy efficiency devices. Help us by inviting business owners and managers to the lunches, which average 60 attendees.


Upcoming Speakers, Spring 2008

 

April 9, 2008 –  Water Use for Landscaping




Previous Speakers to the Green Business Roundtable

January 9, 2008 – Solar Energy Case Study

February 13, 2008 –  Green Marketing vs. Greenwashing

March 12, 2008 – Local Land Use

January 10, 2007 – Steve Andrews, Co-founder Association for the Study of Peak Oil

February 14, 2007 –  Local foods- The Farm to School Program

March 14, 2007 –   Solar Incentives-  Why now is the time

April 11, 2007 – Scott Case, The Responsible-Green Purchaser

September 12, 2007 – Built Green Colorado
Built Green Colorado is a state-wide residential program designed to encourage homebuilders to use technologies, products and practices that provide energy efficiency, reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.  Built Green is a point based system with multiple categories.  Eight Durango area Builders use this system, with approximately 70 homes certified.  -- Guest Speaker Elizabeth Salkind is Executive Director of the Homebuilders Association of Southwest Colorado.

October 10, 2007 –  Systematic Improvement for Any Business

November 14, 2007 – Life in the (Stormwater) Gutter

December 12, 2007 –  "Go Local"...Santa Fe Business Alliance Case Study

Speakers 2002- 2006



Business Sponsors Spring 2008 - Thank you!

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