Making Sustainability a Stanford Event Staple

Laura Ventura, Community Manager with Stanford Data Science (SDS), and her team put on around 60 events per year, and sustainable event planning is a pillar of how her team operates. “We’re planet Earth advocates,” Ventura says. “Environmentalism is such a no-brainer.” 

On April 10th, SDS organized the Stanford Sustainability Data Science Conference. Inspired by a food summit Ventura attended, catered by Stanford’s Chef Andrew Mayne, she wanted to ensure that the conference demonstrated the “joy of healthy, sustainable, delicious food.” With a menu that was almost entirely plant-based, Ventura aimed to surprise people with a mouth-watering and sustainable meal.

In fact, the whole conference was designed with sustainability in mind: from fully digital advertisements to reusable badges, great care was taken by the organizing team to minimize waste: “It’s not just about the money – there’s an environmental cost to resource use.”

Ventura reflects on her childhood in Italy, visiting her family farm. The generosity and abundance of the Earth are something she holds infinite gratitude for; as far as we know, this is the only planet habitable by life with astounding biodiversity. Ventura sees that as the core tenet of why environmentalism matters, even when making the sustainable yet harder choice may feel unnecessary or mundane. Through humor and positive reinforcement, Ventura and her team hope to share their ethos of care with the broader community. In her words, “for all of us, sustainability means planning thoughtful, community-focused events, and respecting resources.”

If you are interested in resources for sustainable event planning, check out our tools for event planners. 

Check out the SDS event recap from the Sustainability Data Science Conference in April, with details on their zero-waste efforts and more photos.