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Green Spa Network first-annual conference unveils new
resources for spa businesses
to "go green" |
San Francisco, CA—Green Spa Network (GSN) recently held its first annual spring conference featuring the theme, "Essential Tools for Green Prosperity ." Spa owners and industry professionals traveled from across the country and Mexico to participate and learn in the day-long event. Michael Stusser, Chairman of the Board of GSN and owner of Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in Sonoma County, California, said, "It was very gratifying to see both our attendance and the excitement as professionals shared, networked, and learned some of the next steps in making their businesses more sustainable."
Rhana Pytell , owner of Gaia Day Spa in La Jolla, California, presented the Green Spa Network's new Sustainability Awareness/Assessment Tool (SAT). "SAT" is a comprehensive and systematic tool for spa owners and operators to understand and plan current sustainability practices for their business. It provides specific guidelines for implementation of eco-friendly practices. SAT is the result of a collaboration of industry professionals and green pioneers who are committed to "green" practices. The study was sponsored by GSN member Chado-En.
Pytell suggested that spas "...look at sustainability as a practice, much like yoga or other paths of improvement that require discipline and focus to improve a little each day. It's not that consumption [of certain resources, such as water] will lessen or stop overnight in a spa. It's the quality of consumption that aligns a spa with its overall mission of transformation and a healing guest experience. Planetary wellness must be a core value."
Tara Grodjesk, owner of Tara Spa Therapy of Carmel, California, and Lisa Sykes, Sustainability Specialist for Universal Companies, Abingdon, Virginia, presented GSN Personal Care Advisory Forum's Touchstones of Green Personal Care to assist spa operators and spa goers in selecting products that truly reflect the values and practices of sustainability, consumer safety, and efficacy. Noting that clients are no longer looking only for luxury, but are also practicing "conscious consumerism," Grodjesk and Sykes outlined what makes a product "green" and how to navigate the sometimes daunting realm of product labels. More of their research, including a "Dirty Dozen" ingredient list, is available to GSN members online.
Keynote speaker Chip Conley, author of "Peak: How Great Companies Get their Mojo From Maslow," and Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, gave an energetic and inspiring presentation on how companies can turn their culture around to look at "best practices" using some the tenets of famed psychologist Abraham Maslow and his "hierarchy of needs." Conley emphasized that spa employees can find a deeper sense of meaning in their work by being encouraged to view it as a calling—one that changes lives--rather than a task.
Future plans for Green Spa Network include participation in the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) business conference June 17-19, 2009, in Boulder, Colorado. GSN will be sponsored at LOHAS in part by AgeBest anti-aging supplements.
In November, 2009, GSN members will convene in an interactive working session with industry leaders to further develop tools and resources for spa businesses to develop their sustainability practices and implement specific ways spas can support the eco-transformation of their businesses.
Green Spa Network is a working/resource network of nearly 100 of the world's finest spas and resource members/partners, all of which are making local and planetary sustainability a driving force in their business plans. For more information about being a member of Green Spa Network and accessing the tools and resources spa businesses need to "go green," please contact Mark Fassett, Green Spa Network, 800-275-3045, mark.fassett@greenspanetwork.org, www.greenspanetwork.org
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