Group items tagged

MGM Resorts has saved 2 billion gallons of water since embarking on current conservation efforts in 2008, sustainability chief Chris Brophy told the Nevada Drought Forum last week. Among the company's projects: water recycling technology to reduce waste at the Bellagio fountain show and at Cirque du Soleil's indoor water show. 

MGM Resorts is making water conservation a top priority in developing its Park promenade in Las Vegas -- even though there's a relative paucity of water-conservation technologies compared with the number of energy-efficiency technologies now available, says Chief Sustainability Officer Cindy Ortega. MGM also launched a social app to raise employee awareness about water conservation.

Vegas still prides itself on selling unfettered indulgence. Round-the-clock gambling, high-end nightclubs and decadent restaurants are not going away. Yet the opening of the Strip's first green space last month is further evidence that, regarding its relationship to the environment, Sin City is turning a new leaf. Featuring native Southwestern plants, recycled metal furniture and fountains built with locally sourced quartz, The Park, as it's called, is designed to create a sustainable microcosm of the surrounding desert landscape and provide a leafy path away from the Strip's tourist-choked sidewalks. It's a bold move away from fabulist themes that ignore the local ecosystem.