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Celebrating PRIDE month: Guam’s first woman Governor signs first PRIDE Pledge

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In an historic first in the nation, the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration of Guam signed a PRIDE Pledge, along with its cabinet members, pledging to support and maintain safe workplaces and work environments for all employees.

“We are an Administration of firsts. As the first woman Governor of Guam, I am extremely proud to have Lieutenant Governor Joshua Tenorio, the first openly-gay Lieutenant Governor of Guam and of the nation, as my partner,” said Governor Lou Leon Guerrero. “His passion for serving our community and desire for positive change is inspiring and should serve as a reminder that your sexual orientation does not define you and that we should never fear expressing who we are to anyone.”

In addition to signing the first PRIDE Pledge, Governor Leon Guerrero and Lieutenant Governor Tenorio also proclaimed the month of June as PRIDE month. PRIDE month activities kicked off with the first annual Guam PRIDE 5k/2k Run/Walk on June 2, which raised $2,000 for the ISA LGBTQ Scholarship Fund at the University of Guam.

Cabinet members or their representatives gathered today to take the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration LGBTQ PRIDE Pledge, signing off on and committing to the belief that “all LGBTQ employees should have the freedom to be safe, healthy and visible.” The Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration further committed that “As Government Leaders, we pledge to use our voice and influence to support visibility, safety, tolerance, love, diversity and inclusion.”

“As we celebrate PRIDE month, let’s remember what gay pride is all about. When people support a member of our LGBTQ community with their presence during PRIDE events, especially if they don’t identify as LGBTQ, it means that they also don’t lump them  into a group that is unaffected by them – it means that they are able to see and understand the value of a person’s humanity,” said Lieutenant Governor Tenorio. “I also want to recognize one of my inspirations, Speaker Benjamin Cruz, a trailblazer in the LGBTQ community, who was the first openly-gay Chief Justice of any Supreme Court in the country.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Janela Carrera, Director of Communications, 671-472-8931, [email protected]

IMEX exhibitors invited to make Sustainable Exhibiting Pledge

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IMEX in Frankfurt has invited exhibitors at this year’s show (21 -23 May) to make a Sustainable Exhibiting Pledge as it continues to increase its commitment to demonstrating and leading through best practice in sustainability.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, said: “Our approach to sustainability is to lead by example, to encourage others to aim higher and to shine a spotlight on key industry campaigns. This year I’m inviting exhibitors to make a sustainable exhibiting pledge, to implement three simple green initiatives to help reduce their environmental impact at the show. A list of ideas on how to do this features in our IMEX in Frankfurt 2019 Sustainable Exhibiting Guide.”

In January the IMEX Group highlighted its commitment by making sustainability the third ‘pillar’ of this year’s IMEX Talking Point “Imagination.”

Carina Bauer explained: “We’re asking everyone in the global meetings industry to imagine a new beginning: to ask what if we all really committed to cutting down waste?

“We’ve continued to improve our own sustainability performance at both of our shows each year and we’re proud to say that our Frankfurt show is now 100 per cent hydro-powered. Thanks to our waste donation program plus the responsible recycling systems at Messe Frankfurt, we now send zero waste to landfill. This is virtually unheard of in the exhibition business!

“Our work to reduce and recycle more waste generated by both exhibitors and visitors is explained in our first ever IMEX in Frankfurt sustainability report which joins our annual IMEX America sustainability report.”

In line with its determination to lead the industry forward, IMEX was a launch partner when the Events Industry Council introduced its Principles of Sustainable Events in January after hosting two forums at IMEX in Frankfurt and IMEX America in 2018 when these principles were formulated.

A further element of its commitment to leading the industry, the IMEX team believes in sharing what it knows and has learned through experience. At IMEX in Frankfurt, learning about sustainability will feature prominently throughout the show. Starting on EduMonday, 20 May, there will be more than 20 opportunities to learn about sustainability among the 250 plus sessions in the extensive education program at the Inspiration Hub. What’s more, the first ever Sustainability Policy Round table, supported by Edmonton, will bring together industry leaders and experts to share insights at the InterContinental Frankfurt on 21 May.

Furthermore, in partnership with the Events Industry Council (EIC), IMEX will salute an organization making a significant commitment to reducing its environmental impact by announcing the winner of the IMEX-EIC Innovation in Sustainability Award at the IMEX Gala Dinner on 22 May.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, says: “At both shows we continue to work closely with our partners including Meet Green, EIC, The Venetian®| The Palazzo® and the Sands Expo®, Messe Frankfurt and GES. We are wholeheartedly committed to providing education, inspiration and leadership on sustainability issues. The business events industry still has a long way to go before thinking green is the first thought, not the last.”

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eTN becomes a SUNx SDG 17 Partner calling for Climate Sanity in Tourism on Earth Day

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In nature, nothing exists alone is the message for Earth Day 2019. Announcing the public launch of its “SDG17 Partners Program” on Earth Day 2019, Professor Geoffrey Lipman co-founder SUNx, calls and president of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) asks the Travel & Tourism sector to join its “Plan For Our Kids” and take the “Climate Sanity” Pledge.

Professor Lipman, former Executive Director at IATA, President of WTTC and Assistant Secretary-General UNWTO, said:

“I’m confident that Travel & Tourism will play a leadership role in the global shift to a New Climate Economy: we just need a pathway for change and that lies in our faith in the next generation”

SUNx a legacy for Planetary Champion Maurice Strong has created a “Plan For Our Kids”, aiming to recruit 100,000 STRONG Climate Champions to advance its vision of a no Carbon 2050 sector totally compliant with the evolving goals of the Paris Accords.

He added “During the past year we have seen a welcome intensification of the pressures for a new commitment to Climate Sanity, which stops discussing whether climate change is existential and just gets on with solutions. That’s the common message from Greta Thunberg’s Friday’s for Futures and AOC’s Green New Deal: it’s the message from Earth Scientists and Nobel Economists: it’s the plea from Sir David Attenborough.

”Lipman concluded “SDG 17 Partners will share our long-term vision on the fact that Climate Change is eXistential and that we have to act NOW, as if this Earth Day is the first day of the rest of our lives. We all have different starting positions, based on our separate realities: but we have a shared goal of meeting the Paris Agenda and together taking a “No Carbon 2050 moonshot”. We can deliver Climate Friendly Travel ~ measured plans: green growth: 2050 no carbon proof “

Juergen Steinmetz president of the eTN Corporation said “We are proud to become a SUNx SDG 17 Partner and provide preferential support for this great cause. As long as I have known Geoffrey Lipman, he has been drumming home the message that Climate Change is eXistential and that if we don’t fix it now, it will fix us. We are in, and will use all our links, like ICTP and the African Tourism Board to support Climate Friendly Travel. going forward”.

For more on SUNx and its SDG 17 Partnership Program please contact: go to www.thesunprogram.com

What is Earth Day?

The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in more than 190 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage.

On April 22, 1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development.

In the U.S. and around the world, smog was becoming deadly and evidence was growing that pollution led to developmental delays in children. Biodiversity was in decline as a result of the heavy use of pesticides and other pollutants.

The global ecological awareness was growing, and the US Congress and President Nixon responded quickly. In July of the same year, they created the Environmental Protection Agency, and robust environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, among many.

One billion people

Earth Day is now a global event each year, and more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world.

It is a day of political action and civic participation. People march, sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their towns and roads. Corporations and governments use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. Faith leaders, including Pope Francis, connect Earth Day with protecting God’s greatest creations, humans, biodiversity and the planet that we all live on.

Earth Day Network, the organization that leads Earth Day worldwide, has chosen as the theme for 2018 to End Plastic Pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate primarily single-use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics.  EDN is educating millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics, including pollution of our oceans, water, and wildlife, and about the growing body of evidence that plastic waste is creating serious global problems.

From poisoning and injuring marine life to the ubiquitous presence of plastics in our food to disrupting human hormones and causing major life-threatening diseases and early puberty, the exponential growth of plastics is threatening our planet’s survival.

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Ethiopian Airlines CEO believes in The New Spirit of Africa and pledges to work with Boeing

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Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines issued a statement today.

He wrote: “It has been more than two weeks since the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. The heartbreak for the families of the passengers and crew who perished will be lasting. This has forever changed their lives, and we at Ethiopian Airlines will feel the pain forever. I pray that we all continue to find strength in the weeks and months ahead.

The people of Ethiopia feel this very deeply, too. As a state-owned airline and the flagship carrier for our nation, we carry the torch for the Ethiopian brand around the world. In a nation that sometimes is saddled with negative stereotypes, accidents like this affect our sense of pride.

Yet this tragedy won’t define us. We pledge to work with Boeing and our colleagues in all the airlines to make air travel even safer.

As the largest aviation group on the continent of Africa, we represent The New Spirit of Africa and will continue to move forward. We are rated as a 4-star global airline with a high safety record and member of Star Alliance. That will not change.

Full Cooperation

The investigation of the accident is well underway, and we will learn the truth. At this time, I do not want to speculate as to the cause. Many questions on the B-737 MAX airplane remain without answers, and I pledge full and transparent cooperation to discover what went wrong.

As it is well known in our global aviation industry, the differences training between the B-737 NG and the B-737 MAX recommended by Boeing and approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration called for computer-based training, but we went beyond that. After the Lion Air accident in October, our pilots who fly the Boeing 737 Max 8 were fully trained on the service bulletin issued by Boeing and the Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the USA FAA. Among the seven Full Flight Simulators that we own and operate, two of them are for B-737 NG and the B-737 MAX. We are the only airline in Africa among the very few in the world with the B-737 MAX full flight Simulator. Contrary to some media reports, our pilots who fly the new model were trained on all appropriate simulators.

The crews were well trained on this aircraft.

Immediately after the crash and owing to the similarity with the Lion Air Accident, we grounded our fleet of Max 8s. Within days, the plane had been grounded around the world. I fully support this. Until we have answers, putting one more life at risk is too much.

Belief in Boeing, U.S. Aviation

Let me be clear: Ethiopian Airlines believes in Boeing. They have been a partner of ours for many years. More than two-thirds of our fleet is Boeing. We were the first African airline to fly the 767, 757, 777-200LR, and we were the second nation in the world (after Japan) to take delivery of the 787 Dreamliner. Less than a month ago, we took delivery of yet another new two 737 cargo planes (a different version from the one that crashed). The plane that crashed was less than five months old.

Despite the tragedy, Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines will continue to be linked well into the future.

We also are proud of our association with U.S. aviation. The general public does not know that Ethiopian Airlines was founded in 1945 with help from Trans World Airlines (TWA). In the early years, our pilots, flight crews, mechanics and managers were actually employees of TWA.

In the 1960s, after the handoff, TWA continued in an advisory capacity, and we’ve continued to use American jets, American jet engines and American technology. Our mechanics are Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified.

Our first direct passenger service to the U.S. began in June 1998, and today we fly direct to Africa from Washington, Newark, Chicago and Los Angeles. This summer, we will begin flying from Houston. Our cargo flights connect in Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

U.S. travel to Africa has increased more than 10 percent in the last year, second only to travel to Europe in term of the percentage increase — traveling to Africa has increased more than traveling to Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, South America, Central America or the Caribbean. The future is bright, and Ethiopian Airlines will be here to meet the demand.

In less than a decade, Ethiopian Airlines has tripled the size of its fleet – we now have 113 Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier aircraft flying to 119 international destinations in five continents. We have one of the youngest fleet in the industry; our average fleet age is five years while industry average is 12 years. Moreover, we have tripled the passenger volume, now flying more than 11 million passengers annually.

Each year, our Aviation Academy trains more than 2,000 pilots, flight attendants, maintenance workers and other employees for Ethiopian Airlines and several other African airlines. We are the company others turn to for aviation expertise. In the last 5 years, we have invested more than half a Billion dollars in training and other infrastructure in our Addis Ababa base.

We will work with investigators in Ethiopia, in the U.S. and elsewhere to figure out what went wrong with flight 302.

We resolve to work with Boeing and others to use this tragedy to make the skies safer for the world.”

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