by Bo Glover, President & CEO, and Lori Whalen, Vice President, Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach, California
Nature centers across the country spend their days teaching communities about sustainability, conservation, and climate change. We interpret ecosystems, explain environmental science, and encourage people to live more responsibly on the planet. But eventually every environmental organization must confront a difficult question: Are we modeling the world we say we want?
At the Environmental Nature Center (ENC) in Newport Beach, California, that question forced us to look closely at our own operations — what we purchased, what we consumed, and ultimately what we were throwing away. What began as an effort to reduce trash evolved into something deeper: an organizational commitment to reduce consumption, align operations with our mission, and model climate-conscious behavior for the communities we serve.
Today the ENC is proud to be TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) Platinum Zero Waste certified by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), a recognition of our organization’s commitment to sustainable waste management practices. Through these efforts, the ENC now diverts more than 97% of its waste from the landfill, prioritizing waste reduction, resource conservation, and public health benefits.
While we are proud of that achievement, the certification itself was never the ultimate goal; the real objective was cultural change within our organization and within the community that looks to us for environmental leadership.
How the ENC Started Its Zero-Waste Journey
The ENC serves tens of thousands of visitors each year, and as our programs expanded so did the amount of waste leaving our facility.
“We began looking closely at what we were sending to landfills,” says Bo Glover, ENC President & CEO. “As an organization dedicated to protecting nature, we had to ask ourselves whether our operational practices were truly aligned with the message we were teaching.”
Like many organizations, our early efforts focused on what appeared to be environmentally responsible alternatives. We replaced Styrofoam with compostable plates, utensils, and cups, assuming we were making the right choice. Over time we discovered that our region lacked industrial composting facilities capable of processing those materials, meaning the compostable products we had switched to were still ending up in the landfill.
That realization led us to a different conclusion: the real solution was not better disposable products, but fewer disposable products altogether. We began transitioning toward durable, reusable service ware — cups, plates, utensils, and cloth napkins that could be washed and used again and again.
“That realization forced us to rethink our assumptions,” Glover says. “It pushed us to look more carefully at the full lifecycle of the materials we were using.”
Another important influence came from the ENC’s earlier work pursuing LEED Platinum certification for our buildings. That experience demonstrated the value of established third-party programs that identify sustainable strategies and provide guidance on achieving best practices.
“Going through the LEED process was transformative,” Glover explains. “It introduced strategies we hadn’t considered and helped guide us toward better decisions.”
When we later discovered the TRUE Zero Waste certification program, we saw an opportunity to apply that same kind of structured thinking to our operational systems. For Lori Whalen, who has worked at the ENC for more than two decades, the shift reflected a long evolution in thinking.
“Over time there was a cumulative change in our outlook and procedures,” Whalen says. “Eventually it became completely clear that operating conventionally was inconsistent with our mission.”
Seeing the Problem Clearly
One of the most powerful moments in the process occurred during the waste audit required as part of the TRUE Zero Waste certification process. Staff collected weeks of accumulated trash and sorted the materials across the parking lot to better understand what the organization was discarding. The visual impact of seeing that volume of waste in one place was profound.
“It was shocking,” Whalen says. “One of the things we found was an enormous number of disposable latex gloves. We used them every time we handled certain animals during programs, and we were also using them for cleaning and food preparation.”
The solution was simple but impactful: switching to reusable rubber gloves that could be sterilized and reused repeatedly.
“That one change alone dramatically reduced our waste,” Glover says.
The audit also revealed a broader lesson about the scale of everyday habits.
“When you throw something away one item at a time, it doesn’t seem significant,” Glover explains. “But when you see weeks of accumulated waste laid out in front of you, the scale becomes undeniable.”
The experience reframed how the organization thought about daily operational choices and encouraged a much deeper evaluation of consumption patterns.
Zero-Waste Is About Carbon
Zero-waste is often misunderstood as a recycling initiative, but in reality, it is a climate strategy. The majority of a product’s carbon footprint occurs long before it reaches a trash can — during extraction, manufacturing, and transportation. By reducing consumption and designing operations around reuse, composting, and durable systems, organizations reduce greenhouse gas emissions at their source.
As Whalen puts it, “Zero-waste is not primarily about trash. It’s about carbon.” At its core, zero-waste is about reducing consumption and redesigning systems around reuse rather than disposal. If we are serious about climate education, we must also be serious about consumption.
Nature centers frequently teach about climate change, but the connection between everyday consumption and global environmental systems can feel abstract.
“One of our responsibilities is helping people make that connection,” Glover says. “Climate change can feel distant, but waste is something people can see — plastic washing up on beaches or piling up in landfills. Starting with what people can see makes it easier to connect behavior with larger environmental impacts.”
Reducing consumption therefore becomes part of environmental education itself.
“If we don’t adopt more sustainable ways of living,” Whalen says, “we won’t have the ecosystems we’re trying to protect.”
Modeling the Behavior We Teach
Nature centers occupy a unique position in their communities. Visitors come not only to learn about nature but also to experience what environmentally responsible living looks like in practice. Operational decisions therefore become educational tools.
“What message do we send if we teach sustainability but don’t model it ourselves?” Whalen asks.
At the ENC this philosophy extends beyond staff operations to visitors as well. Guests are expected to follow our zero-waste policies, including restrictions on single-use plastics.
“There was a point when we realized we couldn’t just suggest these practices — we had to require them,” Glover says. “If we allow behaviors that contradict our mission, we undermine the example we’re trying to set.”
Occasionally that stance creates friction, but those situations are rare and the overall response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“One misconception is that people will be upset by sustainability requirements,” Glover says. “In reality, most people appreciate the opportunity to participate in something positive.”
Whalen recently saw this firsthand when she brought reusable zero-waste materials to a local Native Plant Society meeting.
“People were incredibly grateful,” she says. “They were excited to have the chance not to create trash.”
The ENC also had the opportunity to model this approach directly for our professional peers when we hosted the 2025 ANCA Annual Summit. Over the course of several days — through multiple lunches, dinners, and evening gatherings — not a single disposable plate, utensil, cup, or napkin was used. More than 140 leaders in our profession experienced firsthand how large gatherings can operate entirely with reusable systems, demonstrating that zero-waste operations are not theoretical — they are entirely achievable.
The Ripple Effect
The purpose of a zero-waste policy extends beyond the boundaries of a single facility. Operational decisions influence not only staff and visitors but also vendors, caterers, and suppliers. When organizations set clear expectations about packaging, materials, and purchasing practices, those expectations ripple outward through the local business community.
Caterers adjust how they prepare and transport food. Vendors reconsider how products are packaged. Suppliers begin offering reusable or lower-waste alternatives. In this way, a single organization’s operational standards can influence an entire network of businesses.
Some of the most visible ripple effects at the ENC occur in our Nature Preschool program, where students are not allowed to bring single-use plastics or disposable water bottles to school. At the beginning of each year teachers remind parents about the policy, but the most effective messengers often turn out to be the children themselves.
“It’s the kids calling their parents out,” Glover says. “They’re the ones insisting on reusable containers.”
Change often begins through modeling everyday choices. When people see alternatives demonstrated in real settings, it becomes easier for them to adopt those practices themselves.
Advice to the Field
For organizations considering zero-waste initiatives, Glover’s advice is simple: start. Begin by taking an honest look at your operations and conducting a waste audit. Examining what you purchase and what you throw away is often the first step toward meaningful change.
Third-party certification programs such as TRUE Zero Waste can be incredibly valuable because they provide structure and external accountability. They also introduce organizations to best practices they might not have been aware of.
Beyond certification, small operational shifts can also make a meaningful difference. Printing on both sides of paper when printing is necessary, reducing disposable purchasing, and collecting batteries or electronic waste for proper recycling are all simple steps that can begin shifting organizational habits. The key is committing to continuous improvement.
“This is an ongoing process,” Whalen says. “Even after certification we’re constantly looking for ways to do better as technologies evolve and better practices emerge.”
Beyond Sustainability
For the ENC, zero-waste is not the final destination but part of a broader shift toward regenerative thinking. Sustainability often focuses on reducing harm — using fewer resources and producing less waste — while regenerative approaches go further by asking how our systems can actively restore ecological balance and strengthen our relationship with the natural world.
As Potawatomi botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in Braiding Sweetgrass, “All flourishing is mutual.” The health of human communities and natural ecosystems are inseparable, and the goal is not simply to minimize our impact but to build relationships of reciprocity with the Earth.
Nature centers are uniquely positioned to model this shift. We are not only educators but also living laboratories of environmental practice.
“Our communities look to us for leadership,” Glover says. “If we want people to live more sustainably, we have to show them what that looks like.”
The environmental challenges facing our planet — from climate change to plastic pollution — are no longer distant concerns. They are unfolding realities shaping the world our communities will inherit. Nature centers therefore have a choice: we can continue teaching about sustainability while operating within the same systems of consumption that created these challenges, or we can align our operations with our values and model the future we are asking others to create.
If the nature center community embraces that responsibility, the ripple effects could extend far beyond our campuses — shaping how communities think about consumption, climate responsibility, and our relationship with the living world.
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