Vancouver residents are already well aware that their city is source of pride. After all, Vancouver has been voted one of the top places to live numerous times, including a world wide survey taken in 2007 which ranked Vancouver 3rd out of 215 cities. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of visiting this verdant metropolitan capital, do yourself a favor and put in on your to-do list, if only for a weekend. While our neighbors to the south may suffer from delusions that all Canadians live in igloos or commute to work by dog sled, those who are in the know relish in the exquisite natural surroundings, rich cultural heritage, and delicious international cuisine.

Many of those who have gotten to know Vancouver have done so through conventions held at our beautiful Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre (VCEC). Located right on the water with a beautiful view of the harbor and conveniently situated in the heart of downtown, the VCEC offers visitors more than just a typical convention experience. In fact, about one-third of convention delegates enjoy themselves so much that they end up traveling to other parts of the province as part of their stay.

Opened on July 4, 1987, the existing Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre got its start as the Canada Pavilion during Expo 86. According to the VCEC website, “Within 10 years, the convention centre was at capacity with an obvious need for additional space, particularly as Vancouver became known as one of North America ’s leading meeting and convention destinations.” That’s why the PavCo. partnership has decided to build a new convention centre as an extension of the existing waterfront location. The 1.1 million sq. ft. project will triple the convention centre’s existing capacity and help generate an additional $107 million annually in delegate spending. On average, a delegate will spend about $350 per day during their visit to Vancouver, injecting national and international capital into our local economy. In 2010, the VCEC will also be home of the 2010 Olympic Games media and broadcast centres.

One of the most exciting and unique features of the convention centre aside from the spectacular floor-to-ceiling glass, is a six-acre living roof, one of the largest of its kind in the world. “The convention centre expansion not only breaks new ground in terms of design, it will also be a showcase for sustainability with such things as the living roof,” said Olga Ilich, Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts and minister responsible for the expansion of the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre. “It is all the more gratifying when a BC firm demonstrates the ability to provide the expertise and creativity required for leading edge projects like this.” The sustainable design of the living roof includes drainage and water recovery systems that will collect rainwater to irrigate the nearly 400,000 native plants and wild grasses that will create a downtown “urban oasis.” With sustainability making the transformation from noble ideal to marketable reality, it is no wonder that businesses, governments and individual citizens are demanding more environmentally-geared projects- especially those financed with public funding.

The new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco opened in late September 2008 with a similarly green aspirations- a living roof covering almost 2 acres. It is precisely the addition of such a unique environmental feature that has begun to draw a different kind of crowd. The wait to get into the museum on their monthly “free day” in late December was over 2 hours long.

The Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre will be adding 335,000 square feet of function space to the existing 133,000 square feet, for a combined total of 468,000 square feet of meeting, exhibition, ballroom and theatre space. In addition to the employment opportunities created during construction, the project will generate more than 7,500 direct and indirect full-time jobs once it is opened in 2009. With additional public amenities including more accessible outdoor and plaza space, retail space and restaurants one can only assume that this long-awaited expansion will be a source of pride for Vancouverites as well as a source of joy and inspiration for those who have the privilege to visit.

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Printers like ColourTime, who offer a wide range of services and fast turn-around, are always concerned about the quality of their products and offering a high level of customer service. According to Toni McQuilken in the February issue of Printing News, this is part of a growing trend, “The industry as a whole is trying hard to move away from a strictly manufacturer role to more of a service provider and partner to the clients and end users.”

Part of the way printers look to improve relationships with their clients is by suggesting new products or services that they might enjoy. Because the process of traditional offset printing hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years, this leaves the innovation to other areas such as digital imaging and poster printing, as well as new technologies in either paper or ink. As we take at look at advancements in ink production, it is easy to see how the catalysts of such progress are primarily economic in nature.

In the aforementioned issue of Printing News, McQuilken interviews several representatives from ink manufacturers. Steve Simpson, senior vice president and chief technical officer for Superior Ink states, “In 2007, we saw the continuation of significant price increases in raw material costs, much of which was driven by skyrocketing crude oil costs. Additionally, the cost and availability of seed-derived oils such as linseed was dramatically impacted by the biodiesel movement, where farmers are shifting their crop selection toward corn, soybean, and other more profitable bioethanol feedstocks.”

As with many industries, the most important issue printers and print suppliers see going into 2008 is the subject of sustainability. Sustainability is one of those terms that is difficult to define, possibly bringing to mind images of quaint farmers’ markets or fields full of windmills. Sustainability, however, is just as much an economic term as it is an environmental one. As Wikipedia sees it, those in favor of a “sustainable approach” strive to make “human economic systems last longer and have less impact on ecological systems.”

While we often associate sustainability (or lack thereof) with major global problems such as climate change and oil depletion, it is important to remember that any economic unit- a business, a household- will naturally benefit from resources that last indefinitely. Many businesses are realizing that this “green” trend is moving from merely a buzzword to a profitable business strategy.

Though most printers already offer at least a few options of post consumer recycled paper it appears that we will be seeing even more “green options” in the years to come, including:

***Inks made with vegetable derived oils such as linseed and soybean, as well as resins derived from renewable resources like tall oil and gum rosin.

***100% UV-curable offset inks, which are not only free from volatile organic compounds, but they offer other benefits such as reduced makeready, which leads to less printed waste.

It seems that ensuring both sustainable profits for printers and sustainable resources to protect our environment don’t necessarily represent opposing viewpoints. As for any printers who want to move towards a more sustainable business strategy there are several organizations who offer just that sort of advice such as the Printers’ National Environmental Assistance Center and the new start up website SGP Partnership. For consumers in the U.S. looking for businesses and services in their area with a sustainable approach try pluggreen.com. Canada has its government run site with info about developing sustainable business strategies.

As the SGP site claims, and we have to agree: Print plays a vital role in communication, education, and daily existence. The printing industry has historically understood its effect on the natural world and accepts responsibility to continue efforts to reduce its overall environmental impact.

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In the print industry, you have to know about paper- it’s weight and dimensions, of course, but also it’s ability to hold ink through multiple runs in the same machine, streak potential, matte, glossy or super glossy. It is also generally believed that the more intimate knowledge a person has of an object, the more respect that object garners. That said, we have a healthy respect for paper, but we as printers are forced to watch thousands of sheets of paper flutter into our recycling bins each week- potential pieces of advertising, business cards, wedding invitations and financial reports that didn’t make the cut.

Along with those are the pieces of paper with bent corners which could jam the machine, and my personal favorite- when a solid color is streaking we flood an entire 11 x 17 page with each component color: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. These vibrant rectangles of color, sometimes printed over a dozen times to ensure correct saturation, float down into our recycling bins with the same indifference as any other sheet that has already served its purpose.

The bins are then emptied, the recycling collected, and we begin again. But if we have learned anything about the basics of environmentalism, recycle is only the third step in that simplified mantra from grade school- Reduce, Reuse, Recyle. What other uses might this excess of paper have? What could be rescued and utilized a second or third time before a trip to the recycling plant?

Here are a few fun ideas for reusing paper:

- Collect blank sheets and cut into smaller sizes to use as scrap paper or staple into a small notebook. This site has some simple instructions.

- Anyone who knows how to do screen printing or lithography could easily use the colored sheets for posters, flyers, artwork or wallpaper.

- Origami! The stiffer, high quality paper is great for folding. Cranes, paper cups, frogs- you name it. This origami site shows how to make everything from a ballerina to a badger all with printable PDF instructions.

- Apparently many dog shelters use shredded paper as bedding, so call a few in your area to see if they’d like your paper to help keep their dogs comfy and warm.

- Paper planes. Everyone knows how to make one, but there are tons of sites imparting their wisdom as well. This site even includes a paper helicopter, paper blimp, and paper Frisbee, along with the fiercely named Lightning Plane, Sabertooth Plane and the author’s original- Dragon Plane.

- Lastly, if you are an extremely talented and detail-oriented artist, like Danish artist Peter Callesen*, you can take a simple sheet of A4 paper and a pair of scissors and turn it into a master work of art that brings you fame and fortune. Click here to see more examples of Peter’s stunning and original work.

* Note- I first saw photos of Peter’s work in a chain email, though the information was incorrect. The email claimed that they were works of art from many different artists in a contest run by Hirshhorn Modern Art Gallery in Washington D.C. to see what could be done with a single sheet of paper. There never was such a contest, all works were done by Peter Callesen.

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