A Report Straight From the Floor of Green Festival, Washington D.C.

  October 7, 2007 - If you weren't at Green Festival Washington D.C., you missed out on lots of free organic chocolate, munchies, coupons and free seminars. No worries though, because the Green Festival will be in San Francisco in November, and will certainly come back around next year to more U.S. cities. Ryan, from SaveWithGreen, flew over to our beloved capital from New York to participate in the festivities and report back on his experience. Here's what he had to say:

Some people say that being green is not easy. Well, I beg to differ. If you were at the Washington D.C. Green Festival, you could not help but to go green. With over 400 exhibitors (most of which were giving out free samples of some tasty health food, including my most favorite treat of all - organic chocolate), 125 guest speakers (including Ralph Nader) and a round-robin schedule of yoga classes and informational seminars (like "How to Compost"), going green could not have been easier for the 24,000+ people in attendance.

With so much to do and see, this Green Festival should really be a three-day event if you ask me. But hey, I'm not complaining - with a two-day entrance fee of only $15, you can't go wrong (although I would definitely be willing to pay $25 for a three-day pass). My purpose was to go and meet as much people as possible, which essentially amounted to navigating up and the down the people-packed, long aisles of exhibitors, stopping at booths to chat with vendors and non-profit organizations. Being from New York, for a second I thought I was walking through Time Square!

If I had been there for more recreation than business, you can bet I would have been in on all the yoga and how-to classes and taking notes on the fascinating lectures scheduled by the hour. I did drop in on a few speakers though, and got a chance to listen to Ralph Nader talk about the corruption in U.S. corporations and politics, which is a good point to bring up, because I definitely felt an energy of "change" in the air.

Although I can't speak for everybody in attendance (especially the guy that was going from booth to booth with the sole pursuit of getting as much free stuff as he could), I definitely felt that between the numbers of non-profit activist groups exhibiting and the large crowds sitting in on the speeches and lectures (applauding every time the phrase "Fair Trade" was spoken or George Bush was criticized), this Green Festival was not just about global warming and eating healthy foods.

It was definitely exciting to see the green movement is still holding dear to the ideals that have helped sustain it all along. While saving the environment is certainly a huge part of going green, it is evident that it all comes down to humankind's connection with Nature and one another. The pursuit of worldwide economic and social justice are and will continue to be driving forces behind the green movement. Oh, and so will organic chocolate. That's very important as well.

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