Don Stillwaugh (GTC Treasurer)

The Gopher Tortoise Council is looking to make annual meetings more sustainable and environmentally-friendly. Keep reading for more on this effort by GTC's Treasurer Don Stillwaugh.

After attempting to hold Annual Meetings here in charming St. Petersburg in 2000 & 2001, we are finally going to pull it off this fall! “St. Pete” lies within Pinellas County, Florida - the “crooked thumb” of land hanging out into the Gulf of Mexico about midway down Florida’s west coast. It’s home to almost 1 million residents and accommodates some 20 million tourists each year.

That means an enormous amount of waste is produced and must be responsibly managed. Pinellas County has a state-of-the-art disposal complex where waste is managed as a resource at a Waste-to-Energy facility and the balance is landfilled. Approximately 1.2 million tons of garbage are processed each year. The County’s one and only landfill is expected to fill up in less than 80 years, so it’s important that we work to conserve its capacity for future generations. Once it fills up, waste would likely have to be shipped out of the state for disposal.

In my undergrad years (late 70s/early 80s!) I learned much about protecting and conserving our resources and the term “sustainability” likely came up now and then. Fast forward to 2024 and sustainability is the foundation of Environmental Science 101. At many colleges it’s an entire degree program and ultimately a way of life for many. 

GTC is by all measure an environmentally-oriented organization and I feel we could work toward holding more responsible meetings in regard to sustainability. I’ve attended “low waste” events and meetings in other organizations and there is some low-hanging fruit to be had by us.

• Reduce swag – most likely we all have numerous refillable water bottles, reusable tote bags & lanyards….we likely don’t need any more. 
• We can incentivize attendees bringing their own water bottles & lanyards.
• We can collect & reuse name tags at future meetings. 
• We can work with caterers to reduce waste, in particular single-use plastics. 

Who’s on board?

Members with additional thoughts and feedback on how to implement sustainability practices during our annual meeting are welcome to send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you in advance for helping to reduce the environmental impacts of our meeting.