The Top Women in MICE Awards were created to celebrate the women in our industry who are exceptional role models β not only in terms of their professional skills, but also for their integrity, creativity, passion and for giving back to the industry.
These are all traits that Lorraine Jenks embodies. She received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award for the amazing work she has done, and continues to do, to improve the environmental sustainability of our industry – and therefore its longterm viability.
The Planner [TP]: For those who donβt know you, can you briefly tell them who you are and what you do?
Lorraine Jenks [LJ]: I am amazed to find myself where I am today. It was never part of the plan! After a career in many sectors, I find myself an international speaker on climate change; a trainer and consultant on sustainability; an expert on going green; and an ethical food activist.
With my wonderful little team, we build eco projects at exhibitions and have two successful online directories of products. These were originally for hotels but are now used by everyone β www.hotelstuff.co.za and the linked www.greenstuff.co.za which lists only eco-friendly products from Hotelstuff. We donβt sell anything. They are like the Yellow Pages.
TP: For those who do know you, can you share something about yourself that might surprise them?
LJ: I have a passion for remote regions and being on the ground with the people. Even when I worked for a hotel chain and could have had free five-star accommodation, I preferred exploring unspoiled places to adjust my own value systems. My favourite destinations have been an overland trip through Tibet, a few weeks on an uninhabited island in Alaska where we were dropped on the beach by a float plane, a foray into Mongolia to join an organic food festival in Ulaanbaatar, and a trip into the upper reaches of the Amazon River in a dugout canoe. Iβve visited 52 countries in total β easy when you get to my age!
βWe are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it.β β World Wildlife Fund
TP: Congratulations on achieving the Top Women in MICE 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award! What were the defining moments or influencing factors in your life that made you decide to pursue the role of environmental activist?
LJ: Iβve received 17 awards or honours in my late 60s and early 70s. And youβre right, the MICE Lifetime Achievement Award is very special in that it takes my whole story into account.
Regarding the defining moments, I think my first was after reading Rachel Carsenβs βSilent Springβ in 1969. It was the beginning of the Hippie era and we were living in California. We became βanti-establishmentβ, and were becoming acutely aware of the damage being caused to ecosystems. We chose to live in well run communes. We grew organic food. We didnβt wear polyester, protested against the Vietnam War and marched for civil rights, equality for women and the first Earth Day for the environment in 1970.
I was very lucky to be employed by a parastatal doing research for the new Environmental Protection Agency, and for the first time it was suspected that it could be vehicle emissions that were killing trees in Los Angeles.
When I came back to South Africa, I had a choice of being a tree hugging wuss or an effective activist.Β I chose the latter. Β The biggest defining moment came after fifteen years as Purchasing Manager for a large hotel group.Β I had tried for all those years to encourage βgreenerβ operations and procurement practices, but was too far ahead of the game.Β No one was being delinquent, they just werenβt ready.Β I took early retirement and used that deep frustration to find the courage to go it alone.Β
I built the Hotelstuff and Greenstuff websites, and what should have been a comfortable, quiet hobby, exploded into being called back to run workshops at hotels, building eco exhibition stands to demonstrate greening, training and consulting, and getting awards when we didnβt even know there were competitions.Β Since then I find myself speaking around the country and with some awesome engagements in China, Singapore, Denmark, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and India.
βI learnt to, as the Australians say, βankle biteβ with constant, relentless little nips until people changed their habits without actually noticing.Β Now, as I get older, I never keep quiet!βΒ β Lorraine Jenks
Iβve done training with the UN Environmental Programme on Lifecycle Analysis and Conscious Procurement; the course with National Cleaner Production Centre of Green Manufacturing; Green Design and DΓ©cor with Green Building Council; Carbon Auditing with Green Leaf; and have trained as an African Climate Reality Leader with former US Senator, Al Gore.
TP: What would you say have been your favourite achievements on this journey, and why?
LJ: Three come immediately to mind:
Our first Decorex Eco Home where we furnished four rooms with only eco-friendly items throughout: furniture, fittings, appliances, dΓ©cor, lighting, carpeting, paint, food, beverages, cleaning equipment, landscaping, waste, water saving and renewable installations. We wanted to illustrate how beautiful being green can be.Β We won best stand against 600 other exhibitors and didnβt even know there was a competition.
Being invited to be Chief Judge for the Lilizela Imvelo Environmental Awards for SA Tourism made me realize people were taking me seriously, and that gave me a much-needed boost in confidence.
The most encouraging is this past year itself. There has been a phenomenal awakening on the existential threats of climate change and the loss of ecosystems since the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report came out.Β This is the first time in 50 years of being an activist that I am seeing a huge spike in concern.
TP: It must have been especially hard trying to get people to take sustainability seriously in the 70s to the 90s. How did you get them to listen to you?
LJ: So hard!Β I was patted on the head at work and called βThe Little Green Queenβ.Β So I learnt to, as the Australians say, βankle biteβ with constant, relentless little nips until people changed their habits without actually noticing.Β Now, as I get older, I never keep quiet!
TP: Now that people believe climate change is a real threat, what is your advice to the MICE industry?
LJ:
- Stop buying plastic altogether, except essential safety or medical products.Β Recycling plastic is a scam β even Greenpeace are realising that.Β We must revert to aluminium, glass or refillable containers.
- Boycott. Boycott. Boycott.Β The destruction of our ecosystems is actually much more critical than climate change.Β We have much more control around what we do and buy.Β We have the power to influence Big Oil, Big Agriculture and Big Pharma by boycotting any products that use conflict minerals, illegal palm oil, child labour, cause deforestation and over fishing and the rest.
- Demand action by your Government.Β The big corporations and politicians are the decision makers who can turn things around.Β Demand that they reduce burning fossil fuels; build factories for renewable energy; fire all incompetent water and sewage treatment managers; change to regenerative agriculture; forbid illegal logging; stop over fishing; and plan intelligently for extreme weather, energy, water and food shortages.
TP: In your personal capacity, how do you follow a more sustainable lifestyle?
LJ: I travel by train rather than fly whenever possible or affordable. My flat is furnished with only eco-friendly items. I buy organic veggies, free range meat and non-toxic cosmetics. No synthetic fabrics, except for super light clothing for travelling. I donβt bother to recycle because we have no facilities here and for now we rely on the pickers to sort and collect what they can. The carbon footprint for me to drive to community bins is impractical.
TP: Burnout is a common occupational hazard for activists. How do you protect yourself?
LJ: I run away. I hide in the Kruger Park. Sometimes I am overcome with βcompassion burnoutβ and think I canβt do this anymore. Then something angers me and I get a fresh surge of energy and I start again.
TP: While most people would have retired by now, you are still going strong. Do you have any big plans for what you would like to achieve next?
LJ: Yes, I would love to give a keynote at the World Travel Market in London because they represent the sector where my career change started. I would like to build another green home at an exhibition to demonstrate how easy it is to make better choices for everything you use, every day. I would love to visit Bhutan which is completely organic, community and kindness based, and where they measure their GDP as GDH, or βGross Domestic Happinessβ. Lastly, we are pathetic at PR and marketing and I would like to increase our number of opted-in Hotelstuff subscribers and followers from the present 24,000 to 100,000 so we can have more clout.
βGo and tell your grannies, moms and aunts to never give up. It is never too late to start a completely new career if you do the right thing at the right time for the right reason. I was 69.βΒ β Lorraine Jenks
TP: Do you have any final words of wisdom or inspiration for our readers?
LJ: Yep. Go and tell your grannies, moms and aunts to never give up. It is never too late to start a completely new career if you do the right thing at the right time for the right reason. I was 69.
Then go out and be ambassadors for the environment. Speak to anyone who will listen β in the lift, the queue, your office, the meat counter, at the traffic light. Get a group together and Iβll come and share my work with you, and explain climate change and how we must mitigate, plan and adapt for an uncertain future. Tell companies about what we do and weβll be there!
