Social & Environmental Responsibility

While it is difficult for any conference to be completely "green," PAINWeek is working to reduce its carbon footprint through a variety of steps. For us however, it's not solely about being green; it is also about being socially responsible in all operational areas.

What you see

• We publish the PAINWeek course content on CD-ROM and online rather than providing a printed syllabus, thereby reducing our paper use by nearly 500,000 pages
• Our holiday greeting cards are purchased from UNICEF. We are committed to improving lives of children all over the world. When you send UNICEF cards, you help bring hope, health, and happiness to children around the world
• We reuse your plastic name badge holders. Turn them in to the registration desk at the end of the meeting

What you don't see

• We have hired Opportunity Village to assemble your convention tote bags and inserts. Opportunity Village is a not-for-profit organization that serves people with intellectual disabilities by providing them with vocational training, employment, and social recreation services that make their lives more productive and interesting. Through Opportunity Village’s programs and services, hundreds of people with disabilities are learning vocational skills and being placed in jobs throughout the community.
• Many of our employees are members of Kiva. Kiva.org is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.
• Employees are encouraged to print only when strictly necessary, and double-sided
• Most of our office paper is 60% post-consumer recycled paper
• We recycle all office paper, cardboard, magazines, and newspapers
• Some of our staff ride their bikes to work and others carpool