Collaborative Conservation Efforts Between Casinos and National Parks

Published on Tu, Feb 20, 2024 by Devon Bowker

Sustainability and green initiatives are high on the agenda for both individuals and organizations, which is why so many businesses are doing their best to adapt to modern concerns in this area. The hospitality and leisure sector is particularly keen, given consumers' wide range of choices and the desire to appeal to potential customers. From the great outdoors of national parks to casinos, more and more sites are doing their best to limit their impact on the natural environment, using smart design to reduce heating bills, recycling, using LED lighting, taking advantage of solar panels and other forms of renewable energy, and installing EV charging stations to cater to visitors with electric cars.

Casino Diamonds and Crown

Casinos and Conservation

While online casinos in the USA continue to adopt eco-friendly practices without the physical constraints, brick-and-mortar casinos naturally have a slight disadvantage when it comes to green issues thanks to the necessity of a real-world presence. This entails heating, lighting, and traffic to and from establishments. However, there are many steps that casinos can take, and are taking, to minimize their impact on the ecology of the planet. One of the most straightforward steps casino hotels can take is to add EV charging stations to encourage drivers of electric cars to visit, which many places (including Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino near Yosemite National Park) have done already.

MGM’s Green Efforts

MGM is one of the biggest names in betting and has put together an ambitious series of policies and targets in the green arena. From a 2007 baseline, the firm has committed to reducing energy used per square foot by 25% (by 2025). Impressively, up to 90% of daytime power (30% of total annual usage) for Las Vegas could be supplied by the firm’s Mega Solar Array. This enormous solar facility can create 100MW of power, the lion’s share of MGM’s 110MW installed renewable capacity. In a similar vein, the organization has replaced 1.4m existing lights with LEDs, a more energy-efficient means of illumination that cuts down on the overall power consumption of a casino or resort.

MGM Casino I

Improving existing facilities is a good step, and MGM’s new developments have also incorporated green thinking from the start. Over 20 million square feet of new developments (from 2009 to 2019) were certified to Gold or Platinum levels of LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design). And the aforementioned Mega Solar Array covers 640 acres with 323,000 solar panels to generate 100MW of power. In addition, the entertainment company has installed 26,000 panels on the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in a rooftop solar array capable of generating 8.3MW of power, with a further 3,456 solar panels on MGM Springfield’s parking garage.

The same 2007 baseline to 2025 target year will see MGM aim to cut water withdrawal intensity by 33%, and more than 5.6bn gallons of water use has been avoided thanks to conservation efforts. Recycling is another major area of green concern, and over 280,000 tons of food materials were diverted by MGM from landfills to better uses, such as charity, farms, compost, and biofuel, from 2007 to 2021.

National Parks

National parks are devoted to preserving the environment so that millions of visitors can enjoy their unspoiled wonder every year. However, green challenges are still faced by the USA’s national parks due to the necessity of traffic, littering, energy requirements, climate change, and other factors.

National Parks and Casinos

Solar panels have been installed by many casinos, and national parks have also been quick to benefit from advances in this renewable source of energy. Cutting down on carbon emissions is an obvious advantage but far from the only one. Solar energy can also be used to power solar showers, such as those at Redwood National Park (within Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park). Solar panels also enable national parks to cut costs and spend their budgets on matters other than power and have a smaller impact on the environment compared to other forms of energy generation. As part of the 2023 Green Parks Plan, the NPS (National Parks Service) aims to have a net zero emission rate of greenhouse gases, and solar panels and other forms of renewable energy are one way this can be achieved. Other targets in the same plan include net-zero water use, net-zero waste, and using zero-emissions transportation methods.

Eco-Tourism

Eco-tourism is an area of overlap between organizations such as national parks and casinos, in addition to the ethical motivations of travelers when deciding where to spend their valuable holiday time. It means that tourism involves the preservation of a geographical, cultural, and/or historical nature of a location, and fits neatly alongside the raison d’etre of national parks.

As climate change and other green concerns continue to rise in the public consciousness, it’s anticipated that eco-tourism will rise in value to be worth more than $374bn within a decade, adding a financial as well as moral and ecological incentive for national parks and other tourist destinations to take heed. Colorado’s quartet of national parks and numerous towering mountains makes it a top state in the USA for eco-tourists.

Eco Tourism

Another popular choice is Yosemite National Park in California, which aspires to preserve and (where necessary) restore the ecosystem. There have been over a dozen such restoration projects in the past, and three are currently ongoing. Climate change has seen glacial reduction, drier waterfalls, more fires, and broader changes to ecosystems within Yosemite National Park during its long life.

This serves to highlight the risks that are faced by national parks due to climate change. Alaska’s Denali National Park is facing a loss of glacial and sea ice so significant that sled dogs cannot use their traditional routes for long-distance runs. There are even fears that Joshua Tree National Park could lose its eponymous trees before the 22nd century arrives.

Because of this, national parks have a role in adopting conservation methods to help preserve the environment as well as educating visitors not just about ecologically sensitive behavior at the parks but in life generally.

Common Ground

While casinos and national parks operate in very different ways, both can benefit from eco-tourism, which means similar approaches and strategies can be employed to cut emissions and promote environmentalism.

  • Solar Panels - Enables both cutting costs for a better bottom line and providing energy on a renewable basis.

  • Water Bottle Filling Stations - Reduces plastic waste with reusable bottles and filling stations.

  • Clean Green - Have custodial staff use safer, greener products.

  • Recycling Bins and Initiatives - Recycling bins help cut back on waste, and initiatives can include the recycling of soap, chopsticks, curtains, and much more which would otherwise head to landfill.

  • EV Charging - Eco-tourists are likelier to use electric vehicles, so making them feel at home with EV charging stations is common sense.

  • Buy Local Food - Buying locally not only allows an organization to present authentic cuisine with regional flavor, but it also cuts back on emissions related to long-distance transportation.

  • Donate Food - Instead of throwing out food that is perfectly good, casinos or national parks can donate it to charitable causes. If past its best, the food can be used for composting .

From energy to food, there are lots of steps that casinos and national parks can take together in their conservation efforts.

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