by Dot Cannon

Nobody said being sustainable couldn’t be fun.

The fifth Los Angeles Green Festival Expo is currently demonstrating that statement.  (Today, Sunday. September 27th, is your last chance to explore it, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  Green Festivals have been around for fourteen years; they’ll be hosting events in San Francisco and Portland next.)

In effect, the Green Festival creates a “world community”, with speakers, entertainment and vendors.

On Saturday, strains of “Blowing in the Wind” floated through the food court, courtesy of musical peace troupe Spirit Soul and Friends.

Meanwhile, the event’s two stages offered a variety of topics on living in harmony with the earth.

Filmmaker Antonio Saillant started off Saturday’s program with his talk on “Sustainability Within the Entertainment Business”.  He explained that he’d started, professionally, as an engineer with New York’s Con Edison.

“(Our) priority was not sustainability, it was saving energy,” he said.  But a director friend invited him to watch a rehearsal of a Broadway show, and he was captivated.   For him, that introduction led to his life’s work as a sustainable entertainment-industry professional.

Saillant, now CEO of “green” production company Angel Light Pictures Entertainment Group, drew on his engineering background as he discussed ways the filmmaking process could become more sustainable.  As he walked on sets, he said, he saw considerable waste.  “Lots of plastic bottles, the lighting was extremely high, (and) not efficient…Studios, if they really wanted to, could run on solar (energy) today.”

A walk around the convention floor resulted in a chance to meet some eclectic  exhibitors.

Grounds & Hounds is a fair-trade coffee company, now about eighteen months old.  They donate twenty percent of their proceeds to support local no-kill rescue organizations.  They’re also having fun naming their products.  (This reporter enjoyed an offered free sample of their “Paper & Slippers” blend, but if you prefer, they also have “Alpha” and “Morning Walk Breakfast Blend”!)

Lois Arkin founded sustainable community Los Angeles Eco-Village in 1993.  They’re located about four miles south of the Hollywood sign, in Los Angeles.

“We’re a sustainable community in process, where people have moved, about 40 of us now, to live,” she explained.  “We are committed to wanting to live…in a way that raises the quality of community life, while at the same time lowering our environmental impact.”

Lois said the community includes small green businesses, owns about fifty units of housing, grows a lot of its own food and even has its own “currency”: time-bank hours.

“Our vision is to continue to develop the Los Angeles Eco-Village in our two-block neighborhood,” she said.  Towards that goal, Los Angeles Eco-Village gives public tours of their community, and offers a publication on starting an eco-village community.

Now, if you visit Los Angeles Green Festival Expo today, be warned.  You will be asked to make a not-so-easy choice.

Five excellent finalists are competing for the Green Festival Community Award.  This is a $5,000 grant, and the winner will be announced later this afternoon.

You get to vote by dropping a token into their box (you’ll find them on the far wall near the Green Festival Stage).

On Saturday, we weren’t absolutely sure vegan celebrity chef Leslie Durso and modern feng shui master Dana Claudat weren’t going to get mobbed!

As part of their afternoon presentation on “Creating the Ultimate Wellness Kitchen”…

…they prepared a salad dish and a tropical mint smoothie, which they distributed to audience members.

“This is really good!” one woman commented.

The kids found plenty to keep them interested on Saturday, and we trust that’ll happen again today.

At one point, the “Inspired Parenting” area filled with color and motion–as kids and “big kids” alike demonstrated their hula-hoop skills!

Today’s programs for Los Angeles Green Festival Expo include an 11:30 panel on “Collaborative Leaders for a Greener Tomorrow”, on the Green Festival Stage, and a discussion of ethical fashion by Magnifeco founder Kate Black at the Lifestyle Pavilion at 3:00 this afternoon.

You’re sustainably invited to come see what this is about–or add to your knowledge, as you celebrate our communities!

 

The third and final day of Los Angeles Green Festival Expo starts with B2B power sessions at 8:30 this morning in Meeting Room 308a of the Los Angeles Convention Center.  Expo doors open at 10:00.  Here’s the link for more information.

Can’t make L.A. Green Festival today?  Here are their upcoming dates for events in Portland and San Francisco!