To start my wrap-up of the Seattle Green Festival, check out my video introduction to the Green Festival as my first-ever foray into the world of an on-camera "Media Volunteer Host":
I attended both days of the Green Festival and just had a complete blast, and learned a lot too. Read all about my experience (and my personal product picks here):
Renewed Blogging After Twitter Inspiration: Earth Hour 2009
So, I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus for a while as my admittedly ADD-driven attention span was captured by the much more immediate and iPhone-friendly micro-blogging of Twitter. In the past month, I’ve accumulated almost 500 “followers“ on Twitter as I’ve found myself in a rapid-fire posting and ”re-tweeting“ frenzy of interesting articles, posts, thoughts, inspirational quotes and the like, all in a bite-sized 140 characters or less. Just perfect for those of us with short attention spans and propensities for skimming. In turn, I’ve found an amazing group of Twitterers to follow, who have greatly enhanced the breadth and depth of my knowledge on all things green, eco-friendly, tech-oriented, as well as the exploding and ever-changing phenomenon of virtual social networking. I have a new heightened awareness of news, hot topics, and important issues, specifically about the topics that interest me most. I realize I learn about news faster via my TwitterDeck feed than monitoring CNN, NYTimes, (both of which I do follow on Twitter) or even my Bloglines RSS feeds. But I digress: my fascination with the dual-sided nature (i.e., useful connectivity tool/useless distracting time-waster) of technology-driven social networking, must be tabled for a separate blog entry. The point with which I start this post is simply that I have been overwhelmed with ideas to share and discuss, so it’s with this renewed inspiration that I relaunch my blog about making the easy choices to affect individual and global wellness.
As a reminder, there are two big Earth-friendly events I’m excited about this weekend: I’m prepping for the Seattle Green Festival this weekend, which I intend to live-microblog from on Twitter (follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/amyhale Twitter username: @AmyHale), photograph, and volunteer for, as well as ”Earth Hour“ this Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 pm ”local time, wherever you live on planet earth.“ In case you haven’t heard, Earth Hour is a global unification effort to raise awareness of global warming and climate change through the small yet hugely symbolic act of switching off your lights for one hour. Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the lights of Times Square in NYC all stood in darkness. In 2009, Earth Hour has a goal of achieving 1 billion supporters to switch off their lights as part of a global ”vote“ against global warming. The results of Earth Hour will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009 which will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. See http://www.earthhour.org/home/ for more information and some cool photos from past Earth Hour years. I, for one, am excited to see the lights on the Space Needle go off, and I intend on capturing it from the roof deck (or my totally dark living room, if the ridiculously cold weather in Seattle persists).
I’m very excited about the Seattle Green Festival, held this weekend, March 28-29 at the Washington Convention Center, where I’ll be volunteering both days at the Booth (Sunday afternoon) and also the store (Saturday evening). This year, the focus will be on the current state of the transitioning economy with information on the growing sector of green jobs, sustainable (easy) options for daily living, growing consumer consciousness around green products and choices, as well as evolving environmental policy. The following talks look cool to me, I’ll try to get to as many as I can to write about them:
Green Fixes for the Economic Mess
Seven Rules of Shopping for A Better World
Making Things Happen
The Consumption Conundrum: Buy Green Wtihout Buying Too Much
Tourist vs. Traveler vs. Vountourist
Sustainable Integration: Social Media, Networks, and Communities
The Slow Life Movement: Living Happier with a Lighter Footprint
Plus, the creme de la creme of simple, healthful and delicious culinary artistry will be here - Alice Waters, she of Chez Panisse fame and the mother of ”California Cuisine“ - maybe I’ll actually be inspired to cook for once!
Today’s Environmental Easy Choice:
I encourage you to turn off your lights this weekend for Earth Hour, check out the Earth Hour website, as well as the Green Festivals website: http://www.greenfestivals.org and continue in a daily practice of energy conservation in turning off unnecessary lights, turning down your heat, and unplugging or turning off the power strip your appliances are plugged into.
As a reminder, there are two big Earth-friendly events I’m excited about this weekend: I’m prepping for the Seattle Green Festival this weekend, which I intend to live-microblog from on Twitter (follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/amyhale Twitter username: @AmyHale), photograph, and volunteer for, as well as ”Earth Hour“ this Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 pm ”local time, wherever you live on planet earth.“ In case you haven’t heard, Earth Hour is a global unification effort to raise awareness of global warming and climate change through the small yet hugely symbolic act of switching off your lights for one hour. Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the lights of Times Square in NYC all stood in darkness. In 2009, Earth Hour has a goal of achieving 1 billion supporters to switch off their lights as part of a global ”vote“ against global warming. The results of Earth Hour will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009 which will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. See http://www.earthhour.org/home/ for more information and some cool photos from past Earth Hour years. I, for one, am excited to see the lights on the Space Needle go off, and I intend on capturing it from the roof deck (or my totally dark living room, if the ridiculously cold weather in Seattle persists).
I’m very excited about the Seattle Green Festival, held this weekend, March 28-29 at the Washington Convention Center, where I’ll be volunteering both days at the Booth (Sunday afternoon) and also the store (Saturday evening). This year, the focus will be on the current state of the transitioning economy with information on the growing sector of green jobs, sustainable (easy) options for daily living, growing consumer consciousness around green products and choices, as well as evolving environmental policy. The following talks look cool to me, I’ll try to get to as many as I can to write about them:
Green Fixes for the Economic Mess
Seven Rules of Shopping for A Better World
Making Things Happen
The Consumption Conundrum: Buy Green Wtihout Buying Too Much
Tourist vs. Traveler vs. Vountourist
Sustainable Integration: Social Media, Networks, and Communities
The Slow Life Movement: Living Happier with a Lighter Footprint
Plus, the creme de la creme of simple, healthful and delicious culinary artistry will be here - Alice Waters, she of Chez Panisse fame and the mother of ”California Cuisine“ - maybe I’ll actually be inspired to cook for once!
Today’s Environmental Easy Choice:
I encourage you to turn off your lights this weekend for Earth Hour, check out the Earth Hour website, as well as the Green Festivals website: http://www.greenfestivals.org and continue in a daily practice of energy conservation in turning off unnecessary lights, turning down your heat, and unplugging or turning off the power strip your appliances are plugged into.
Did you know about the Green Festival?
I recently learned of the upcoming Green Festival to be held in Seattle March 28-29, and immediately signed up to volunteer! I'm completely excited, and not just because of the free organic cotton t-shirt I'll apparently get. What a fantastic opportunity to contribute to a great cause, meet a ton of people passionate about sustainability and green solutions, and absorb a lot of great information. The Green Festival will also be held in Denver (May 2-3), Chicago (May 16-17), Washington DC (Oct 10-11), and San Francisco (Nov 13-15) - check it out if you're in or near these cities!
Green Festivals are a joint venture between Green America, a leading national green economy organization, and Global Exchange, a leading international human rights organization. They are “parties with a purpose” – weekend long events that showcase the green economy, celebrate what’s working in communities, and help and motivate people, businesses and government to take the next steps towards creating more sustainable communities.
Green Festivals are a joint venture between Green America, a leading national green economy organization, and Global Exchange, a leading international human rights organization. They are “parties with a purpose” – weekend long events that showcase the green economy, celebrate what’s working in communities, and help and motivate people, businesses and government to take the next steps towards creating more sustainable communities.
Each Green Festival is an amazing two day event centered around educating and celebrating sustainable economy, ecological balance, and social justice. There will apparently be over 150 speakers, how-to-workshops, green films, interactive activities, locally harvested vegetarian food, an organic beer and wine garden (you know where to find me...), and over 350 green business exhibitors at each festival. According to greenfestivals.org, Green Festival "is the largest sustainability event in the world and continues to grow year after year" with 30,000-40,000 people in attendance at each Festival!
At the first Green Festival in Seattle last year, 97% of all event refuse was diverted from the landfill, making the event a "practice what we preach" enterprise... but how much refuse was collected and subsequently diverted?
At the first Green Festival in Seattle last year, 97% of all event refuse was diverted from the landfill, making the event a "practice what we preach" enterprise... but how much refuse was collected and subsequently diverted?
* Total waste collected: 16, 369 lbs
* Reusable content: 15, 839 lbs
* Total waste to landfill (3%): 530 lbs
Imagine that the next time you're about to toss that bottle, can, or newspaper... toss it right into the recycling bin instead - it's just as easy!
The Leap From Intention to Action
From a thought-provoking discussion I just had last week, I’ve been pondering the following for days: “Taking the step from intention to action involves crossing a very large chasm.” Often, people want to make the “right” choice in a given situation, but suffer from analysis paralysis in trying to determine exactly what the right choice is. In most situations we all know what the right choice is but, often, we eschew the “right” choice for taking the path of least resistance because it is easiest. However, what if the ”right“ choice becomes simply, the easy choice? I am passionate about many things, but at the top of my list reside two things that are intrinsically connected: the environment (our global health) and wellness (our personal health). It’s now time to take the easy choices in both.
After reading the following recent article: Climate change could be even worse than feared, it became a no-brainer for me to take action in the form of starting this blog as a way to discuss, learn, and educate myself and others about issues that are important on both a personal and global level. The article reminds us that it has been just over a year since the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its landmark report warning of rising sea levels, expanding deserts, more intense storms and the extinction of up to 30 percent of plant and animal species by 2050 if average global temperatures continue to rise. However, while this prediction was alarming enough, “recent climate studies suggest that report significantly underestimates the potential severity of global warming over the next 100 years. Greenhouse gas emissions have grown by an average of 3.5 percent a year from 2000 to 2007, more than three times the 0.9 percent growth rate in the 1990s.”
This is a dramatic call to action for all of us. Choosing to act at a personal, familial, and local level to protect the well-being of ourselves and that of those around us, extending outwards to the rest of the world, is an easy choice to make. We all have a voice; it’s an easy choice to use them, in whatever way we can. In the words of William James, “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” Rather than bury our heads in the sand at this dire forecast, we must acknowledge that each one of us can do something, each day, to alter the current trajectory of events.
I look forward to embarking on this exciting journey to discovery and action and I invite you to join me... I welcome your comments, thoughts, and inspirations.
Amy
After reading the following recent article: Climate change could be even worse than feared, it became a no-brainer for me to take action in the form of starting this blog as a way to discuss, learn, and educate myself and others about issues that are important on both a personal and global level. The article reminds us that it has been just over a year since the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its landmark report warning of rising sea levels, expanding deserts, more intense storms and the extinction of up to 30 percent of plant and animal species by 2050 if average global temperatures continue to rise. However, while this prediction was alarming enough, “recent climate studies suggest that report significantly underestimates the potential severity of global warming over the next 100 years. Greenhouse gas emissions have grown by an average of 3.5 percent a year from 2000 to 2007, more than three times the 0.9 percent growth rate in the 1990s.”
This is a dramatic call to action for all of us. Choosing to act at a personal, familial, and local level to protect the well-being of ourselves and that of those around us, extending outwards to the rest of the world, is an easy choice to make. We all have a voice; it’s an easy choice to use them, in whatever way we can. In the words of William James, “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” Rather than bury our heads in the sand at this dire forecast, we must acknowledge that each one of us can do something, each day, to alter the current trajectory of events.
I look forward to embarking on this exciting journey to discovery and action and I invite you to join me... I welcome your comments, thoughts, and inspirations.
Amy
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