An Eco Time Was Had By All

On Saturday we attended the Eo Gift festival in Santa Monica, and it was truly a great day, with 150 fantastic exhibitors, folk music, organic munchies, and more. It was good to see so many eco startups, as well as companies that have been around for over ten years, selling everything from hemp clothing, to soy candles, elephant "dung" stationary, bamboo yoga clothes, jewelry made from materials in the Amazon, organic soaps and lotions, and t-shirts galore. It was truly "eco" heaven. The event, the first large scale holiday gift show for the eco-conscious, was founded by Tommy Rosen, a marketing and strategic partnership expert with extensive experience as a film and live event producer. Tommy launched Eco Gift Expo to address the "inconveniences, difficult emotions and incredible waste" associated with the holidays and holiday shopping. In 2005, Tommy co-produced the California Tomorrow Festival as part of The United Nations’ World Environment Day in San Francisco. The festival featured 50 renewable energy companies on display in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza and was attended by tens of thousands of people. This experience was pivotal in Tommy’s decision to commit to helping people make positive, healthful and sustainable lifestyle decisions. Tommy will continue to grow Eco Gift Expo and EcoGift.com to create new avenues for eco-conscious businesses to succeed.

Key Sponsors: Whole Foods, Los Angeles Times

Watch future blog entries for some of our favorite discoveries from the show!

Green, but "Not So Innocent?"

Feature articles in today's issues of both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times highlight a disturbing current trend in the new greening of America. What is it? That green, apparently in many cases, is not what it appears to be. In "Green Projects Generate Splits in Activist Groups," by GREG HITT, the writer points out that some new sustainable projects relying on wind and solar power are being met with opposition by groups such as the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club because of potential damage they can do the environment. "In Southern California," he writes, "a project to expand solar-power is imperiled because activists don't trust San Diego Gas and Electric Co., the local utility, which has proposed building a 150-mile transmission line...Micah Mitrosky, a Sierra Club community organizer, complains the line would run through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. She also isn't comfortable with the idea that it would be used to transmit power generated by fossil fuels, and questions whether the line will ever be used to carry alternative energy. Local Sierra Club officials enlisted opponents at concerts, farmer's markets and street fairs and in late October escorted a delegation of community leaders to Sacramento." Other wind powered projects, such as those planned in Maine and elsewhere, can potentially pose a threat to birds and other wildlife.

In "A World Consumed by Guilt," NT Times writer Paula Schwartz, points out that many consumer goods such as clothing and jewelry that are touted as being sustainable, may not be upon closer review. “Most brands endeavor to tell an honest story,” said Savania Davies-Keiller, a designer for the fashion label DDCLAB, which sells clothes made from corn fiber. “But the brand is reliant on the mill and on the manufacturer of the raw goods. You, as the end consumer, are reliant on the honesty of your brand.” The best way to be green with regard to clothing, the writer states, is to reuse what you currently have. "Perfect doesn’t exist and we’re probably never going to get there,” said Leslie Hoffman, the executive director of Earth Pledge, a nonprofit group that promotes sustainable development and technologies. “We all make compromises every day. Making them with your eyes open instead of arbitrarily is the best piece of advice I could give.”