Going Green Isn't Anything New to Janie!

Janie describes her experience as a panel member at the 2007 Hall of Honor Think Tank Series Session, “The Green Movement in Hospitality” at the Conrad H. Hilton College at the University of Houston on October 17, 2007.

Four Texans were invited to participate in a 'green panel': two of us were property owners or operators (myself as an owner-operator, 1 a general manager of a Big Bend operation owned nationally); 1 was a supplier of a national vendor of an ecological laundry detergent(Ecolab), and 1 was a person with broad national experience, the president and founder of the Green Hotels Association. Our audience of graduate students writing their theses on green practices had varying backgrounds in accounting, construction, design, food service, general hospitality, etc.

The panel was facilitated by a savvy graduate student who formatted the interchange as a dialog between panel participants with comments and questions at the end from the audience.

I must have been asked to participate (aside from being a “Green” Hotel Association member since 2000) because the Inn is a unique property, small, built from scratch, rural, on ecologically sensitive land, and with a mission statement to apply and conserve the best of the late 1900's practical engineering practices in a .setting that allows people to experience quality local produce and the beauty of the land to nourish the spirit and celebrate Texas.

The one innovative practice that drew the most attention was our recycling of laundry water to irrigate nonedible plants in our garden. Our practice of composting of all but meat, using our garden for room flowers and herbs in the kitchen, buying local food, recycling, conserving water with our towel option, and being on the green grid of the local electrical supplier were less surprising conservation practices of a small rural country inn.

Our design choices also drew a great deal of attention: Siting the Inn on the highest point of the land to take advantage of the prevailing southeast breeze and designing porches to take in the amazing view of open land to the west. 'Dog trot' was new language to some in the audience - but you Inn guests already know it's got the best breeze all year around. The reclaimed building products you love - the old cypress doors, the Mexican jail doors (not an energy saving feature, however!!), the electrified gas light sconces, the pine dining room and library floors were of interest. The large number of double hung windows was something these students did NOT find in currently designed properties.

Conservation easements were familiar to the audience. When we went from ownership of the original 500 acres to the current acreage of 100 the results included land across the creek now owned by the City of Austin as water protection land for Barton Springs (the Edwards Aquifer). It is as if we live across from a preserve.