Another Exhausting and Inspirational Green Festival
For the 7th year, the 3-day Green Festival caused untold numbers of blisters and sore feet as the enviro-curious trudged what seemed like hundreds of miles of aisles of green wonderment. Veterans of the Green Festival know that you should split the experience into two days. There is just too much to see in one day. Over the next few weeks we'll be featuring some of the San Francisco-based people and companies exhibiting at this year's festival.
The Green Festival has come along way in 7 years from a 1 day, 50 exhibitor oddity to a 3 day, 400 vendor extravaganza. The exhibits are getting more professional. and there is a slickness creeping in. But there is still a genuine vibe of can-do spirit and you can still get a buzz just being in the building with this many great people and ideas and products.
The Green Festival is a joint project of Co-op America and Global Exchange who do a really fine job of showing how an event should be run. The speakers are varied and interesting. The vendors are plentiful with a mix of huge corporate giants mixed in with little one-person entrepreneurs. The food rocks. (Assuming you like healthy food.) There's space set aside for nonprofits. The event itself is a model that every conference should follow. Food vendors must use compostible utensils. The organizers monitor garbage cans to help people get their trash in the right container. Outside, an army of people go through the trash to further sort out the good from the bad. Green Festival claims that 97 percent or more of event waste is reused, recycled or composted - a truly remarkable achievement.
The Festival is organized into sections:
- Better World Bookstore
- Fair Trade Pavilion
- Green Careers and Education Area
- Green Teen Center & Organic Valley Green Kids Zone
- Socially Responsible Investing
- The Fair Trade Café
- Organic Beer & Wine Garden
- Eco-tourism and Eco-fashion
- Green Film Festival
- Community Action Center
- Green Home Pavilion featuring hands-on workshops
- Bike Valet
- Live Music
- Yoga and Movement Room
If you didn't make it this year's festival, put it on the calendar for next year. If you have even a slight interest in how creative people are trying to green our lives, you'll want to be there.
Photo by Ariel Soto, see more here.
