Environmental expert Sophie Thomas will audit the Dezeen Day conference in London on 30 October to help us minimise the impact of the event.
Sophie Thomas, environmental communication design studio Thomas.Matthews, will review aspects of the conference including how people got to the venue, what they ate and what happened to the food waste.
She will also examine the environmental credentials of the venue, BFI Southbank, and the way the Dezeen team organised the conference and specified materials.
"The key points to look at would be travel, the building and its energy use, food, water and 'stuff' including printed collateral and things given to guests," said Thomas.
Regarding travel, Thomas will look at how many delegates used public transport or walked to the venue, and how the speakers travelled to the event.
For food, she will look at what people ate and drank, how much waste was created and what happened to the waste afterwards. For water, she'll ask how many people brought their own reusable bottles.
Thomas will present a summary at the end of the conference and point out improvements we can make in future. Her findings will be published.
"The idea is to shine a light on the environmental impact of organising a day-long conference," said Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs.
"We know we're not perfect and could probably do better on many aspects of Dezeen Day, but we're not afraid to be told where we're going wrong and what we could improve next time."
Thomas has worked in the fields of sustainable design, behaviour change and material process for over 20 years. She has served as director of circular economy at the RSA and in 2012 founded The Great Recovery, an initiative to explore how principles of the circular economy could be applied to supply chains.
Through her studio Thomas.Matthews, she works with governments, designers and businesses businesses around the world to improve understanding of how to live and design more sustainably.
Dezeen Day is an international architecture, interiors and design conference, which will take place at the BFI Southbank in London on 30 October. It will focus on key topics in architecture and design including entrepreneurialism, the circular economy and the future of design education.
Read about all the speakers announced so far and sign up to the newsletter to receive all Dezeen Day updates. See the full schedule for the day here.
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