Green Festival: 22 April 2012 – New York

Guest speakers were espousing the dangers of fracking or warning about the looming threat of water shortages on many small stages inside the Javits Center North Wing over the Earth Day weekend. The reason was the first Green Festival exhibition in New York, an exhibition of sustainable and green businesses, panel discussions with social activists (including Russell Simmons), and vegan or vegetarian food options. There were some big names in attendance including Ford Motor Company, Clif Bars, Honest Tea, and Earth Balance. But for the most part, these businesses were much smaller, often niche boutique type stores or services like Veg Voyages, a vegan travel provider or fair trade clothing importers and designers (Wool & the Gang).

In a somewhat odd juxtaposition, a cosmetics and salon industry themed exposition was running concurrently in the main wing of the Javits Center. I didn’t know what the acronym stood for immediately but I noticed the IBS when I entered. I brought this up to a couple of Green Festival attendees/exhibitors and got a mixed response. At least one of the Green Festival exhibitors was not even aware of the IBS expo and, after I explained what I had seen and the acronym, she scoffed, demonstrating a bit of disdain, and called it “irritable bowel syndrome”. (I later learned it was the International Beauty Show.) When I asked if she would display her wares at the IBS, she addressed her concerns over the different views she had on beauty versus those the mainstream cosmetics industry had. She preferred the natural beauty and encouraged her family to use the products. She didn’t get to the point of my question, whether organic cosmetics should be represented at the mainstream IBS (and maybe they were – I didn’t go in) but then again, this wasn’t an official interview.

The companies I did not see present at the Green Festival were brands like Cascadian Farms, Bear Naked, Naked Juice, Burt’s Bees, Seventh Generation or Ben and Jerry’s. The first four had been bought up, so they are now small cogs in bigger conglomerates. So maybe there was some debate to exclude them in the planning stages (my hypothetical) and keep this affair low key. But the latter two are still smaller businesses that could have had some presence (read: I wanted to enjoy free toilet paper and ice cream!). I also could not find any Homeopathic practitioners or remedies when I looked around but I did see a chiropractic booth. Whether it was trial and error for a first time local event or deliberate, some of the choices were curious.

The biggest corporate presence was Ford, whose “booth” was more of an open floor space that people could wander through and learn about hybrid car technology or sustainable manufacturing methods (adding fibers into plastic for strength). It was a nice setup that didn’t make you feel like you were clogging an aisle. Plus they had a community team manning trash and recycling receptacles. Philips also had a trailer set up for walk-ins to check out the new LED lightbulbs — one of their designs is manufactured to last twenty years.

Then there were the chef demonstration booths with their own seating arrangements so people could watch live cooking as if they were on an infomercial. I overheard one of the chefs describing the color of his foods to the audience. Red, yellow and green are some of the most appealing colors of food he said. Then he asked the audience if they knew any restaurants that used some of those colors (hint: it begins with a Mc).

But there was so much more to see. Another booth had a PETA girl demonstrating minimal water usage while showering. A screen was carefully placed at the right height. Financial advisors were offering green portfolios as an investment strategy. Then there was a whole mess of food samples, including the granola, tea, chocolate, non-dairy cheeses, cookies, pretzels and more. If people weren’t grabbing those, then they were at other booths grabbing up reusable bags – one person snatched up more than a few before my eyes. What can you do with so many and when will this trend end? Companies should stop branding their own bags and just reuse ones that have been discarded. But for those reasonable people, the bags could hold their newly acquired apparel or gadgets like the filter water bottle.

The most intriguing gadget was called the Nada Chair, which, after much prodding, the booth guy strapped around my legs and back. More like a set of straps, the Nada kept ones posture upright — no more slouching when seated at your desk and no more legs falling asleep when sitting cross-legged. At least that’s what it felt like when I was properly strapped in by the expert. If I attempted to put it on myself, I’d probably end up like a duck with a six-pack ring around its neck.

While I am having some fun writing this piece (the Green Festival was deemed “the largest party with a purpose” by its director), the topics were often more serious. It is a shame that the garish IBS draws a bigger audience than the Green Festival. More so, it is a shame that renewable or green manufacturing techniques have not yet been broadly accepted (even if there is much internal debate on organic labeling and other terms).

Get your green on and participate in Green Festival Chicago at Navy Pier May 5th and 6th.

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