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Democrats: It's not easy being green

Eco-friendly convention vexes caterers, organizers, spinners

By Valerie Richardson (Contact) | Sunday, July 20, 2008

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DENVER | Throwing the "greenest national political convention to date" is easier said than done, as Democrats are learning the hard way.

Amid much fanfare, Democratic National Convention officials have for months promoted their commitment to an environmentally sustainable event.

They've hired a first-ever "director of greening," set an ambitious recycling goal of 85 percent, and banished plastic water bottles and plastic foam cups from the premises.

With the convention a little more than one month away, however, it's apparent that some Democrats are greener than others. Only three state delegations have agreed to eliminate entirely their carbon footprints by purchasing travel offsets, despite the pleas of convention organizers.

The heavily vegetarian "Lean 'N Green" menu has touched off a slew of gripes, ranging from caterers who can't find enough Colorado-grown organic vegetables to Denver City Council member Charlie Brown calling menu planners "the food police."

The biggest environmental disaster to befall the convention hit two weeks ago, when the Barack Obama campaign announced that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would make his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium.

The decision to move to the stadium threw a Chernobyl-sized wrench into the sustainability plan. Switching the venue from the Pepsi Center, which seats fewer than 20,000, to Invesco, which holds 78,000, threatens to saddle the convention with the Shaquille O'Neal of carbon footprints.

Democratic officials have remained tight-lipped on the environmental impact of the move, saying they're still crunching the kilowatt numbers.

"We're still in the early stages of planning for Invesco, so we can't give any early estimates of what the impact will look like," said Damon Jones, spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee.

That void has allowed Republican bloggers to chime in with their own estimates without fear of contradiction. The most scientific-sounding analysis comes from blogger RiNOsaurusRex, who says the move to Invesco Field could quadruple the event's carbon-dioxide emissions.