"During daytime, half the casino's lighting comes from skylights. Drinks are served only in glasses: no cans or bottles. "green" casino, designed to make the lightest possible footprint on the landscape without sacrificing profitability. Its owners, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, are among a growing number of casino builders and operators interested in environmental stewardship." "In April, the Palazzo Las Vegas resort became the world's largest building project to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council." "The resort has its own well and a sewage treatment system that purifies 90,000 gallons daily ... It also uses nature's cleanup crew: trees and other plants. The 2,400-square-foot "green roof" over one section of the building will filter storm water contaminants and provide insulation. In slight depressions on the grounds will be about 100 black willows. They'll be clones of an ancient giant black willow in Traverse City. The species absorbs toxins from runoff before it reaches the groundwater, says David Milarch, founder of the Champion Tree Project. If the trend catches on, green casinos could be ideal showplaces for environmental stewardship, said Anne Woiwode, director of the Sierra Club's Michigan chapter." Casinos going green to save energy, money: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
Skylights for lighting in the daytime and 10,000 watts of neon light signs at night. Bigger mark-up on glasses of drink.
I have to wonder if the Indian tribes are authorized to landfill their garbage off their land. Because if they have to build landfills on the reservations, they would be the first to realize the implications of non-recycled items being thrown out. Let's keep in mind that recycling should be the third and last option. First reduce your consumption (with skylights and other natural daylighting technologies), then reuse (by washing your glasses and cloth handtowels), and only then recycle those things whose usefulness is over.
Tribes are certainly allowed to use off-reservation landfills, and to pay the fees like everyone else. Some tribes operate on-reservation landfills, accepting outside waste as a source of revenue.
Amen my bro ~ I have a dream. One day - a man will walk into a green casino ... and it will truely be green ... one day - a man will be able to grab a drink, and NOT be able to light up . . . I have a dream ~ where a liver can be pickled, and the lungs still won't need to cough. .
