Green Options

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No, Al Gore is not running for president this year, but the Nobel Laureate, Oscar winner and former Vice President still keeps popping up during this campaign season. Late last week, the folks at West Coast Green announced that Gore will give a keynote address at their 2008 event, joining other eco-celebs such as Sarah Susanka, David Suzuki and Hunter Lovins.

So what’s West Coast Green?  Well, when we covered it last year, the event was billed as a “residential building conference and expo.” This year, however, the program will expand to cover the wide range of issues and ideas surrounding green building and development, and the event’s being described as “…a feast of innovations and ideas — an educational smorgasbord designed to widen your vision and stimulate your mind with the latest best practices in green building.” Homebuilders, homeowners, policy wonks and ecopreneurs will all find plenty to keep them engaged.

Editor’s note: You might expect a post about an event called NEOCON to appear on Red, Green & Blue, but, as our friends at GreenBuildingTalk point out, NEOCON is a trade show for interior furnishings (with no particular ideological leanings, we’re guessing). The show took place in GBT’s hometown of Chicago, so they got a first-hand look at NEOCON’s green offerings. This post was originally published on Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

The National Exposition of Contract Interior Furnishings (NEOCON) was held this past week in Chicago, and GreenBuildingTalk was there to check out the unique combination of over 1,200 residential and commercial showrooms and exhibits. With our goal of discovering new green products, Josh and I made our way through the maze of office furniture, flooring, wallcoverings, and hundreds of chairs.

Amidst the legions of chairs, our first discovery was RealForm Technology’s plant-based polyurethane foams, products used for seating applications. The polyurethane foams contain 20% bio-based content, and the company’s laboratory trials have achieved even higher Bio-Polyol substitution, foams capable of being molded for any type of furniture, including sofas. RealForm’s Realbio foam product is leading the way in eco-friendly furniture foam, and is one to keep an eye on.

As I mentioned last week, I headed over to Kansas City last Thursday to attend the fundraiser for Greensburg GreenTown, a non-profit supporting Greensburg, Kansas’ efforts to rebuild green after a tornado leveled the town last May. Despite ugly weather, the ballroom at the Scarritt Building was packed for both the world premiere of the Sundance Channel’s web series The Good Fight, and a panel discussion with Greentown director Daniel Wallach, and BNIM Architects‘ urban planner Stephen Hardy. Among the crowd were a number of Greensburg residents, and the event, while informative and eye-opening, served largely as a celebration of these people’s tenacity and foresight in choosing to rebuild their community with an eye towards a future of economic, cultural and environmental sustainability.

First up was Simran Sethi of Sundance’s The Green, who’s become a passionate advocate for Greensburg’s resurgence. In introducing the first five episodes of The Good Fight (which all focus on Greensburg), she not only lauded the people who she’s come to know in making the “webisodes,” but also noted that the town is hardly a hotbed of radical environmentalism: Greensburg was a town of 1400 people when the tornado struck, and, like many mid-American small communities, had been in decline for several decades. The population had shrunk, the per capita income was below the Kansas average, and young Greensburgians were generally looking for a way out. She heard plenty of disdainful comments about “treehuggers,” and several people had told her that they just didn’t believe global warming is a reality.

To follow up on Shirley’s post about The Good Fight… next week, the Kansas City chapter of AIGA will hold a fundraiser for Greensburg, Kansas’ efforts to rebuild (and rebuild green at that). According to the organization’s web site:

Simran Sethi, host of the Sundance Channel’s The Green will moderate a panel on the green redesign of tornado devastated Greensburg, KS. The green salon will feature BNIM Architects’ urban planner, Stephen Hardy and Greentown director, Daniel Wallach. The Sundance Channel will screen segments from The Good Fight Series.

Did you celebrate earth hour by turning off the lights?  This event lasted from 8-9 pm tonight, with the purpose of raising awareness about climate change.  Sydney, Australia was the pioneer of this day, starting the annual tradition in 2007 and creating a 10% drop in electricity use.   24 cities around the globe participated, with many [...]

The Writer’s Guild of America’s strike is coming to an end. That’s good news for the writers and others who work in entertainment, of course, but it’s also good news for the planet. Why? Because Hollywood biggest night - and thus its biggest opportunity to use its influence for good - is just around the corner. The Academy Awards® are to be held on Sunday, February 24th.

To capitalize on the event, Global Green is hosting a pre-Oscar party. To be held on Wednesday, February 20th at super-club Avalon in Hollywood, the event just might provide celebrity gawkers with their fill of ogling…the Los Angeles committee includes such A-listers as Orlando Bloom, Penelope Cruz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Charlize Theron.

Welcome to the first official entry of a multi-part series documenting the green business, building, marketing, branding, and festival-izing conferences that are ramping up as the summer comes to a close (including Opportrunity Green). I’ve previously provided a first-hand account from WINDPOWER 2007 and Green Festival Chicago, and missed countless others.

I recognize all the benefits of green building, but, as I’ve never owned any kind of

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While this is a little different from our normal fare, when the Craigslist Foundation asked us if we’d help get the word out on its Nonprofit Boot Camp event, we were happy to oblige. Sponsored by eBay, the event will take place on August 18 at the University of California, Berkeley, campus. If you’re a nonprofit leader or a social entrepreneur, it looks like this will be a day full

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Image source: AWEA

Editor's note: Since David was only able to spend one day at WINDPOWER 2007, we asked Jessica Jensen, co-founder of Low Impact Living, to offer her take on the rest of the conference. Here are her impressions of Day 2.

Day 2 at WINDPOWER 2007, the national wind energy expo hosted by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) continued to be exciting. With over 400 companies exhibiting and

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From 11:11am to 5:55pm on May 6th, San Francisco’s 8th Annual How Weird Street Faire will shut down 5 city blocks in a celebration of all things community, music, art, and GREEN.

Featuring 7 biodiesel-powered dance stages and a sound system run entirely by people on bikes, the theme of this year’s How Weird turns green as it aims to incorporate sustainable technology and solutions into all aspects of the Faire.

Along [...]