Green Meetings in the Golden State

LEED-Certified
Building Redding’s first four-star hotel, the Sheraton Redding Hotel at the Sundial Bridge, to LEED certification was a no-brainer since the hotel is on the property of The Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The 130-room hotel has 33,237 square feet of meeting space, state-of-the-art technology, and fresh, sustainably sourced cuisine.

Vegan Vibes
As the only vegan resort in North America, The Stanford Inn in Mendocino hosts meetings with a wellness flavor. The property boasts its own USDA certified organic farm that generates many of the ingredients used at the Inn’s Ravens restaurant. The Inn offers both indoor and outdoor spaces for meetings.

Yosemite Beauty
Enjoy Mother Nature at her finest with a green meeting at the Evergreen Lodge in Tuolumne County. The property takes environmental stewardship seriously. In addition to energy conservation, waste reduction and local sourcing, the Lodge implemented the county’s first commercial greywater system. It allows the property to reuse over one million gallons of shower and laundry water for landscape irrigation each year.

Eco-Meet
Nestled in the heart of Sonoma’s wine country, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn offers a robust Eco-Meet program. The customizable program offers sustainable solutions for accommodations, cuisine, service and programming. Options include compostable plateware, event food donation, recycling and a carbon offset purchase program.

Environmental Pioneer
Named for Sierra Club pioneer David Brower, the David Brower Center designed by acclaimed architect Dan Solomon offers a top green venue in Berkeley. Utilizing the latest in energy-saving technologies and recycled building materials, the Center makes as light a footprint on the Earth as possible. A variety of meeting spaces are available.

Large Meetings, Small Footprint
The Moscone Center, the largest convention space in San Francisco, recently completed a $550 million expansion done to the highest LEED standards. The expanded facility produces less carbon emissions per delegate than any major convention center in North America, and has zero-emissions electricity, along with the largest solar panel roof in the city.

Tahoe Time
Amid the unparalleled beauty of North Lake Tahoe, the Resort at Squaw Creek offers its Destination Earth Green Meetings Program. Elements include decreasing energy and water usage, reducing waste, increasing recycling and composting, and purchasing local and organic food and beverages when possible.

Wine Not
Who doesn’t like an event at a stunning winery like the Berghold Winery in Lodi? What makes it even better is that the winery is part of the Lodi Rules program. Created by California farmers and accredited by world-class scientists, Lodi Rules is the United State’s original sustainable winegrowing effort. Today there are over 1200 vineyards certified by the program.

Five-Star Sustainability
The Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito marries luxury and sustainability with its new zero waste program, designed to divert 90% or more waste from landfills or incineration. The property has also eliminated all single use plastic water bottles and launched The Revere Room, a restaurant rooted in sustainability.

Green Desert
The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage, led by its own internal conservation team, has reduced its meeting footprint by reducing energy and water use, implementing a recycling program and using sustainable products throughout the hotel. Meeting groups can take an active role in sustainability by partnering with the hotel’s culinary team to prepare dishes for donation to hunger relief organizations in the Rancho Mirage area.

Hitting the Jackpot
Native Americans believe in leaving the Earth better than you found it so it’s no surprise that the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula has a strong environmental program. The property diverted 800 tons of waste in 2020, recycles 10 tons of food waste a week, and even recycles cigarette butts and unused toilet paper. There are water and energy saving measures implemented throughout the hotel.

Coastal Conscious
Nestled along the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Terranea is a resort committed to preserving the natural wonders of its place. With over 75 acres of its property dedicated to the natural landscape, guests can enjoy the natural bird abatement and trails on property. The resort offers a food waste recycling program, a dedicated Green Team and has a goal of becoming sea salt sustainable.

Anaheim Answers
Looking to plan a convention near Disneyland? The Anaheim Convention Center offers a large space with a host of green programs. From 300,000 square feet of solar array roof panels to a 2,000-square-foot green roof, the convention center is producing clean energy and plants and herbs for its catering team. Working alongside the nonprofit Chefs to End Hunger, food that would normally go to waste is distributed to those in need.

Paradise Found
Nestled on Mission Bay, Paradise Point is a 44-acre island offering 462 bungalow rooms set between lush gardens and lagoons. At its on-site conference center a host of green initiatives are in play to make meetings more eco-friendly. Over 50,000 square feet of turf was replaced with drought-tolerant plants, helping save one million gallons of water annually, while green laundry facilities help save 10 million gallons a year. The recycling and composting program earned Paradise Point the “Recycler of the Year” award from the City of San Diego.