Green Wedding Certification is Launched; Couples to Find Out How Green their Wedding is
Environmental Research Organization Live Green, Live Smart Institute®, the organization that in 2008 brought North America the world's greenest certified house (The Sustainable House®) announced today that they have launched a free, green wedding guideline and self-certification program.
Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) February 8, 2009
For 2009 the organization is introducing a green wedding guideline and a self-certification program that will help couples reduce their carbon and resource footprint. This certification program is available to everyone at the Live Green, Live Smart Institute ® website (www. livegreenlivesmart. org).
According to the Live Green, Live Smart Institute® Executive Director and founder, Peter Lytle: "This is the first green or eco-wedding certification program introduced globally. For several years we have been looking at what motivates a couple to live a sustainable lifestyle and stay committed to it. Our initial research indicates that couples that start their relationship with low-impact, green weddings are making a social and moral commitment to stay green for the long-term. What was important to us is they appear to go on and remodel homes and apartments or build new green homes, further reducing their footprint. We also believe these couples are becoming mentors and peer leaders, fostering their friends to go green with their weddings."
"The thing that was missing with green weddings was an agreed upon set of guidelines and a way to certify the wedding as green or eco-friendly. As an environmental research and certification organization we spent hundreds of hours focused on what makes a wedding green and what couples had done to green their weddings. The result is a comprehensive set of guidelines and a free certification program which we are letting any person or organization use or reproduce."
Research by the Live Green, Live Smart Institute ® shows a traditional North American wedding will generate an average of 50 to 200 tons of CO2 per event, depending on the size of the event. That is an amount of CO2 equal to what is produced over 2 years to 9 years by a family of 4 outside of this continent. The average wedding will waste up to 38% of the food and beverages served and send to a landfill up to one-third metric tons of solid waste. Between wedding rings that are not certified as having non-conflict diamonds or clean gold, a wedding can be inadvertently responsible for the permanent loss of health and death of up to 6 individuals from a third world country. The average traditional wedding in the US will cost a couple $28,000 this year. Green weddings have been reported to cost both more and less.
Green weddings are designed to reduce the carbon footprint, reduce waste, recycle and reuse materials. They tend to focus on sourcing local foods; they reduce extensive air travel, embrace socially responsible buying and consuming habits and begin life-long donating practices. They are less conspicuous while still being a celebration that can be enjoyed and remembered by the couple and their guests. It is estimated that over 23,800 weddings had green components to them in the US last year and the Live Green, Live Smart Institute® believes that this number will triple by 2010 and then mushroom up to 40% by 2013. These trends will be driven by the economy, greater awareness of global warming and sustainability and social and peer pressure to be eco-friendly and less conspicuous with waste and spending.
Live Green, Live Smart Institute ® is a Minnesota-based organization dedicated to promoting a sustainable planet through education, primary research, linking of resources, and fostering a global, green community. The organization is formed for the benefit of those individuals concerned about the impact their housing, transportation and lifestyle choices have on the environment.
For more information: Visit our on-line Press Kit and Press Room and the Sections called Wedding Facts, Green Weddings and Green Wedding Research Initiatives on the Live Green, Live Smart website.
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Peter Lytle
Live Green, Live Smart Institute
1415 East Wayzata, Blvd
Wayzata, Mn 55391
Phone: 612-805-6447 (cell) or 952-473-3831 (office)
Fax: 952-476-0264
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