Marriott on the Move

They say you can't be in two places at once, but I learned today you can, thanks to technology!

Today we celebrated two big milestones with one big event. First, the Courtyard Portland City Center in Oregon, which opened just a few months ago, officially received its LEED-Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and there are only 20 hotels in the United States that have earned that label.

At the same time, the Courtyard Chevy Chase in Md., officially opened today after a $35 million renovation. This hotel also expects to be LEED-certified by the end of the year. It's among 50 Marriott hotels currently registered for LEED certification.

Even though I could only be in Chevy Chase today, I was able to join the Portland event too via our live webcast. The two events were linked . . .

Our company has joined the worldwide effort to save the Brazilian Amazon Rain Forest from the deforestation that contributes to climate change. It is something I have blogged about before. We have contributed money to build a middle school, a dormitory and a health clinic in the Juma Sustainable Development Rain Forest Reserve in Brazil. Two more schools are now being built. We're thrilled that some of our business partners have joined us in supporting this project, including the World Travel and Tourism Council - their president Jean-Claude Baumgarten recently visited the Reserve.

Our company's President and Chief Operating Officer Arne Sorenson is spearheading our efforts and recently passed along an email from a friend who visited Juma. In the email, the friend says, "-the people here are beginning to get a sense of self confidence that they are beginning to have a chance to create a meaningful life for themselves and their families."

We are working with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation to support the employment, education and healthcare for the 3,000 people who live in Juma. Often the . . .

To kick off Environmental Awareness Month this April, we are participating in an event on Saturday created by the World Wildlife Fund called Earth Hour. At 8:30 p.m. local time on March 28th, many of our hotels and offices around the world will be turning off all their non-essential lights for exactly one hour to conserve energy, raise awareness of the need to address climate change and create global conversation about the environmental future of our planet. The World Wildlife Fund's goal is to unite 1 billion people from 1,000 cities around the world in this great effort.

At Marriott, we take our commitment to protecting and preserving the environment very seriously. I've blogged many times before about what we're doing to become a greener company - reducing our energy consumption, greening our supply chain and ensuring all of our Marriott golf courses become certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries. You can read about our strategy on our website or on our new Travel Green Facebook page.

I blogged a few weeks ago about . . .

When my executive team started talking with me about carbon offsets, I said, "What's that?" I'm old enough to remember "carbon copies," which is how you made multiple copies before we had computers and printers. I've learned since that carbon offsets are a way to offset the greenhouse gases generated by the energy consumed in our operations.

Almost everything we do - from driving our cars, to turning on the lights - is powered by carbon-based fuels like oil. This creates the greenhouse gas emissions that get trapped in the earth's atmosphere and create global warming or "global weirding" as Tom Friedman describes in his new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded.

At Marriott, we're working hard to reduce our emissions through energy conservation and . . .

Today, I'm going to talk to you about toilet paper . . . and Marriott's commitment to the environment. Seriously, there really is a connection.

Earlier this year, we announced our five-point environmental strategy to help address climate change. One of these goals is to green our $10 billion supply chain. Because of our size and scale, we can ask our vendors, "How can you make your products more environmentally friendly?" And they've come up with some great solutions that don't cost any more money, which is good news in the current economy.

Now, the next time you check in at one of our hotels, chances are you'll unlock your guest room door with a key card made of 50 percent recycled plastic. Or, you may be sleeping . . .

Today kicks off a very special week for Marriott and our customers. Every October, we celebrate Global Customer Appreciation Week. We do this to thank our customers around the world for the business and their loyalty.

This year, the theme is "The Spirit to Preserve." Marriott has done a lot to be a greener company over the past years. We want to make sure our customers know what we're doing to be sensitive to our carbon footprint.

We're offering our group customers the opportunity to host green meetings in our hotels, which includes a carbon offset program where we'll donate a contribution on their behalf to protect the endangered rainforest in the Amazon. Forests are the lungs of the planet, inhaling carbon dioxide, and through our Spirit to Preserve the Rainforest, Marriott and . . .