Going Green

A carbon offset is a greenhouse gas reduction used to balance out existing emissions, and one would be surprised at how environmentally unfriendly a conference can be.

Enter BrighterPlanet, who (from their website): "Brighter Planet helps individuals and organizations combat climate change. Founded in Middlebury, VT in 2006 and advised by some of the country’s leading environmentalists, the company’s products and services reduce greenhouse gas pollution through conservation and carbon offsetting. Brighter Planet carbon offsets fund high-quality, domestic carbon reduction and renewable energy projects demonstrating environmental and social benefit. The company’s innovative website and web-based campaigns use the power of social media to help people reduce their environmental footprint. Brighter Planet is partnered with a diverse range of businesses and non-profits. To date, its members have funded 132 million lbs of CO2 reductions."

Brighter Planet and Gnomedex are hard at work trying to create a carbon neutral conference, but we need your help! 70-90% of an average event's environmental impact is the result of attendee travel. We strongly encourage those of you in the Seattle area to consider the following options for traveling to Gnomedex: take public transit, bike, walk, or carpool to the event. For those of you flying in, we have a partnership with Shuttle Express. Instead of taking a cab to your hotel, get a ride with Shuttle Express and get the Gnomedex discount by visiting the Gnomedex Shuttle Express link. Once at the event, swing by the Brighter Planet booth to get an estimate on the impact of your travel to the conference and join in on the greening initiative by offsetting your trip. In so doing, you'll not only mitigate the impact of your trip, but you'll help support the development of community based renewable energy projects.


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Supermarkets and grocery stores wastes "1.5 billion (bags) a year" for groceries. Gnomedex is about placing social relevance upon all of our efforts and instead of conference "swag bags" which no one uses after the conference, we will be putting branded goodies from our sponsors into reusable grocery bags. PCC Natural Markets, a Seattle based organic grocery store, graciously donated their reusable grocery bags for Gnomedex 9.0. Our hope is the attendees will use the bags long after the conference.

Together, we can make the world a better place.