Earth Day is coming up this weekend — April 22 — though I recently heard someone refer to April as Earth Month, which I like very much. Of course, every moment and each action we take impacts the natural world, and it’s imperative we consider sustainability in all aspects of our existence. In this instance, let’s examine how we incorporate environmental stewardship into our leadership in the travel and hospitality space.

At a past Women Leading Travel & Hospitality Virtual Exchange, three sustainability leaders spoke on a variety of industry issues in a panel discussion. Panelists included Lisa Bertini, vice president of sales, Aurora Expeditions; Denise Naguib, vice president of sustainability and supplier diversity, global operations, Marriott International; and Misty Belles, vice president of global public relations, Virtuoso. Listen to the panelists delve into ways that all leaders can contribute to positive environmental change within their organizations through their day-to-day actions and messaging, and more useful takeaways.

In this clip from another Virtual Exchange, Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, delves into sustainability as it relates to leading a state tourism department.

Carly Biggart is the vice president of sales, Americas at Hurtigruten, the world’s leading sustainable adventure travel group. In this video interview, Biggart shares how Hurtigruten’s sustainability focus drew her to join the organization, the initiatives it’s leading in the space, and what changes she’s seen when it comes to consumers’ demand for sustainable travel options.

From better managing energy and water consumption to eliminating single-use plastics and food waste, many in the industry are working toward championing responsible business and tourism. This coverage summarizes a Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration’s Center for Hospitality Research panel on opportunities and challenges of sustainability in hospitality.

I hope you’ll find this content inspirational and encouraging — we have a lot to do, but thank Mother Earth for those that are already actively working on solutions to be better stewards of this planet.

Is your organization doing something innovative? Let me know!