Thor Holm, General manager

At Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in California, Earth Day was the start of a new effort to re-plant a redwood forest on its land. "We’ve realised that sustainability is no longer enough," says Thor Holm, general manager. "We need to actively contribute to the regenerative cycle of nature.”

Sandie Johannessen, Senior spa director

Four Seasons Resorts Seychelles and Four Seasons Resort Seychelles Desroches Island took part in Earth Hour on 30 March, replacing electric lighting with candle lights from sunset onwards. The two spas also held meditation sessions under the stars, inviting guests to join in for a moment of reflection. “We had the highest participation of any event hosted in our resort since we opened Four Seasons Desroches Island a year ago,” says Sandie Johannessen, senior spa director, Four Seasons Middle East & Africa.

After kicking off with a beach clean up the Saturday prior, Earth Day was converted into Earth/Sustainability Week, with sustainable lunches, herb planting classes and clothes and shoes recycling.

For Earth Hour, Six Senses Con Dao in Vietnam held a candlelight meditation at the spa, guided by spa manager Jitendra Bhatt, whose goal was to introduce a simple way to practice meditation using candles in combination with singing bowl therapy.

At Escenza Wellness, Earth Day was a chance to help fight plastic pollution in India. For every treatment booked, the spa gifted 100 paper bags to small-scale vendors and shops in more than 15 cities in India. "We got the paper bag bundles personally signed from our guests (who were happy to do it) and then our spa managers went to these small-scale vendors to educate them regarding plastic pollution and give them these bundles of paper bags so that they could be encouraged to stop using plastic," says Aditee Gokhale, head of marketing for Escenza Wellness. "The results of this activity were fabulous. What started as a simple Earth Day activity turned into a collaborative team effort that has brought our employees together in spite of working in locations far away from each other."

On Earth Day, 20 trees were planted in the organic garden and 10 more in a green patch, with guests pitching in to help.

In celebration of Earth Day, 20 per cent of the cost of the spa’s Tropical Rainforest treatment was donated to the Malaysian Nature Society.