* Put one or more environmentally enthusiastic people on the planning team.
* Encourage the planning team by using a positive message such as "Let’s try this....."
* Get program committee support for environmental responsibility (when it applies).
* Get environmentally-friendly policies in place within your level of the organization -- this will be a helpful foundation from which to begin implementation.
* Meet objectives and objections creatively. (For example, one conference wanted to discourage the use of disposables but there was no dishwasher where they held their meeting. Instead of succumbing to disposables, the program committee volunteered to wash dishes.)
* Make the change convenient. (For example, have recycling bins clearly marked and in handy locations.)
* Ask for corporate assistance or sponsorship when appropriate. (Some environmentally-friendly companies are willing to lend or donate products or services, or make them available at a discount, if it will give them greater exposure and good "PR".)
* When you get the "it’s too expensive" excuse, talk about the real (total) costs which include the health, social and environmental costs of not making the change. When there is extra expense, talk about it in terms of investing in a better future. Try making a case for the extra expense as a mission expense -- the costs of living out one’s faith.
* Develop guidelines for the use of the church kitchen which include environmentally responsible measures. This will multiply your impact and create a policy framework for future events you would like to stage in the church.
* Develop rental use agreements for your church and/or other buildings which include environmentally responsible procedures.
* Put announcements, articles, graphics, facts about what we need to do and why in church bulletins, on bulletin boards, in conference newsletters, etc., to move people toward greater environmental responsibility.
* Write and post little environmental educational items in bathroom stalls: "Stall Stories".
* If you are serving food, make place mats which explain what you are doing and why related to the environment.