What’s Happening in Las Vegas Should Definitely Not Stay in Las Vegas

 

Las Vegas City Hall, entrance to the building lined with solar trees

Photo courtesy of TimDan2, Flickr

 

Have you been to Vegas recently? I was there recently and had the opportunity to experience a very different side of the city.  Las Vegas has traditionally been known for excess, indulgence and consumption (read: drinking, partying and gambling), however “Sin City” is starting to become a model for sustainable development. On the strip, casinos are heavily investing resources to drive efforts in green building, water conservation, recycling and community involvement. In downtown Las Vegas, city officials are committed to create a tighter community bond through environmental programs that will benefit local residents and building public parks and recreational spaces to bring them together.  And, happily, Saatchi & Saatchi S client Caesars Entertainment is helping to lead the change.

While there I met with 12 “CodeGreen Ambassadors” over lunch at the Bacchanel buffet, voted one of the nation’s best buffets. CodeGreen is Caesars’ award-winning environmental strategy, and the ambassadors volunteer their time to help drive various initiatives to generate awareness, excitement and participation for the program. Their stories were pure inspiration: the energy engineer who helped reduce energy consumption by replacing decades old piping for HVAC systems, a restaurant manager working to source sustainable uniforms, and a front-of-house employee who helps to organize farmers markets at various Caesars properties.

 

While I won’t disclose everything that happened in Las Vegas, here are a few highlights that made this trip exceptionally memorable:

- Beyond the strip is the real Las Vegas and its LEED Gold city hall, one of the city’s most sustainable buildings. The interior and exterior of the building is absolutely breathtaking with solar trees lined up on the entry way, a flavor of the Nevada dessert with cactus planted outside, artwork from local artists, EV charging stations and electric bicycles available for the staff to use.

- Container Park, a retail/entertainment space made up of re-purposed shipping containers, is part of Zappos CEO, Tony Hseih’s Downtown Project , which is commitment to “transform downtown Las Vegas into the most community-focused large city in the world.”

- Sights and sounds of Freemont Street with vintage-like neon signs, street performers, interesting casinos (check out El Cortez) and a drink at The Griffin, one of the coolest bars I’ve been to in a while.

- And the highlight: the opening night party for BLVD at the LINQ, a new Caesars project that includes an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment district. To top off the evening, we were treated to a VIP ride on the High Roller to enjoy breathtaking videos of the Las Vegas strip, while talking about the potential for rooftop gardens and hosting sustainable concerts.

 

Las Vegas is increasingly receiving external recognition for its sustainability work, and is setting a strong example for businesses, officials and citizens driving these efforts.  Caesars, Zappos and other Las Vegas companies not only are investing time and resources into making their operations more sustainable, they are championing projects that support small businesses, spur progressive development, improve transit and school systems, and encourage local government to focus on the environment. As a result of the city's efforts, Las Vegas is significantly helping to contribute to Nevada’s #1 state ranking for LEED building, investing more on renewable energy and optimizing power consumption by installing innovative technologies solutions. There is no doubt that the city is on the right path to reinvention.

 

Have you seen sustainability at play in Las Vegas? Please share!