Green Festival: Good for mind, body and planet
story and photos by Robin Tierney
What new superfoods will boost our vitality and immunity?
How can you heat your home fossil-fuel-free? Will mushrooms save the world?
And for those who need one, what’s the best new science-based reason to surrender to that chocolate addiction?
Such questions about earth- and health-friendly practices were answered at the Green Festival sponsored by Co-op America and Global Exchange. Drawing 25,000 to the DC Convention Center October 13 to 15, this “party for a purpose” showcased sustainable solutions for consumers, businesses. communities and, while we’re at it, the world.
Green home supplies? Check.
Socially responsible investing? Check.
Organic foods? Eco-friendly clothes, cleaners, cosmetics? Including compostible cornstarch-based sampling cups and utensils? Check. Humane, mindful stewardship of the planet? Check.
The scores of exhibitors included innovators in the new green economy committed to sustainability, fair trade and health. Consumerism, but with a conscience. Here are a few of the highlights:
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| Photos: Robin Tierney |
Mr. Ellie Pooh founder Karl Wald holding a scrapbook made from paper pulped from elephant dung.
• Elephant-astic paper. After going to Sri Lanka to teach language and help elephants soon after the tsunami, biochemist Karl Wald started Mr. Ellie Pooh, an eco-friendly, fair trade company whose 100 employees produce decorative papers from sanitized elephant dung. Unlike captive-elephant counterparts in Thailand, Dr. Wald’s elephant partners remain in the wild; core values include eliminating man-vs.-elephant attitudes and the slaughter and orphaning of elephants. www.mrelliepooh.com
• Eat more grass. A year ago, Brandon Bert’s family-owned company, Amazing Grass, received a letter from a parent claiming that “GreenSuperFood changed our lives” because his young son’s asthma symptoms abated. But the dad took the child to a fast food outlet each day to mix the supplement in a chocolate shake, reducing the health benefits and wasting gas. So the San Francisco company developed Kidz SuperFood, a new all-in-one chocolate-flavored product with decaffeinated cocoa and nutrients from 33 fruits and vegetables. The rainbow colors aren’t just for for show; each represents a distinct group of phytochemicals. One glass delivers three servings of fruits and vegetables. Half the customers are adults, Bert surmises. www.AmazingGrass.com
• Next-generation pellet stove. The MaxFire™ is a hefty modern appliance that heats a 1,500-square-foot home using renewable materials from corn pellets to wood chips to cherry pits, says Bixby Energy Systems rep Alex Boylan. Burning biomass instead of fossil fuels increases personal energy independence, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supports pellet-producing farmers and saves money. Says Boylan, who heats his Minneapolis abode with the self-cleaning stove: “It’s ten times cheaper than oil!” MaxFire’s name reflects its 99.7% combustion efficiency. Available locally from www.urbansolarsolutions.com
Sambazon health foods cofounder Ed Nichols discusses the high concentration of pesticides in nonorganic grape juice with Andrea Wilson, who has just opened the east coast branch of Green Earth Office Supply in Lewisburg, WV. www.greenearthofficesupply.com
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• Ahhh – açaí. Tufts University research indicates that eating fruits and veggies with high antioxidant levels may slow aging of body and brain. Sambazon’s newest berry-chocolatey Organic Açaí (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) has twice the antioxidants of blueberries and contains healthy omega fats, protein, fiber, phytosterols and “a nearly perfect amino acid complex.” Sambazon established the first fair trade/certified organic supply chain for açaí, sustaining thousands of Amazon rainforest farmers and biodiversity. www.sambazon.com
• Cashmere? No, bamboo. Designer Bonnie Siefers modeled an organic ecoKashmere™ bamboo-blend hooded sweatshirt from Jonäno, an “eco-boutique” whose name translates to “everybody healthy” in the Sami language. This silky garment can be machine-washed and tumble- or line-dried. Made from enviro-friendly cultivated bamboo, it even has antibacterial properties. Conventional cotton is cultivated in a toxic process that can contaminate groundwater and the food chain. In contrast, organic cotton and bamboo is grown chemical-free. The Pennsylvania independent also makes organic, hypoallergenic baby clothes. www.jonano.com
Research, including an American Heart Association study, shows that flavonoids in chocolate, especially dark chocolate, can help blood vessels work better, inhibit blood clot formation, improve the body’s use of insulin and reduce LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. As for that fat, one-third of chocolate’s fat calories are comprised of heart-healthy oleic acid.
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• Chocolate saves the forest. Guided by young eco-pioneer Judy Logback, the grassroots Kallari Association of Amazon artists and organic cocoa producers has grown since 1997 to 660 families. Kallari issustainability in action: by making chocolate, a finished product, the Kichwa people of Equador earn three times what they would if only farming the beans. No need to log their rainforests or sell land to farming, mining, or petroleum interests. What Logback calls “uber fair trade” vegan chocolate won a Presidium award in 2004 from the Slow Food Organization for Biodiversity. Booth visitors deemed even the cacao bean samples excellent. www.Kallari.com
• Rainforest energy. matey! Guayaki Yerba Mate introduced Empower Mint and two other invigorating alternatives to iced tea, coffee and sweet energy drinks. Developed with the help of native South American herbalists, its flavor comes from rainforest mate tree leaves, which contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, antioxidants, and a “balanced” caffeine. Quaffers gave a thumbs-up to the drinks, which are organic, fairly traded, and sustainably harvested. www.guayaki.com
• Eggs and animal welfare. Videos from the Humane Society of the United States, literature from Compassion Over Killing and other nonprofits exposed inhumane battery cages that give factory-farmed chicken the space of a sheet of notebook paper to live in. Attendees learned reasons shared for choosing only humane-raised products. www.hsus.org/farm
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Nutiva rep Matthew Chemij serves an easy treat made in seconds by topping hemp bread with healthy coconut oil and hemp seeds. www.nutiva.com
• New sensations. Nutiva HempShakes taste great and do good. Packed with natural nutrients and flavor, they earn income for people of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, promote environmental stewardship, new varieties include Organic Amazon Açaí, Pomegranate H, and Chocolate. Only 80 to 100 calories.
• Drink your hemp. Manitoba Harvest debuted Chocolate Hemp Bliss, the first certified organic nondairy hemp beverage. Free of dairy, lactose, soy, nuts, gluten; full of nutrients and nutty flavor. “This is better than chocolate milk,” proclaimed a young taster new to plant-based foods. www.manitobaharvest.com
• Indulge Locally. Also at discovered at the show: Mount Airy-based Natural Zing, an online store for vegan foods such as goji berries, raw chocolate, dried berries, nut butters, hemp foods and nutritional supplements. www.NaturalZing.com. Falls Church-based Perfect Organics, luxurious vegan body care for everyone in the family. www.perfectorganics.com. Northern Virginia-based Amazon Rainforest drew a crowd with its Rainforest Treasure Tea and Matte Tea, which is said to restore balance to the body. Good for pets too. http://kathyshuey.amazonherb.net. As you enjoy the chole masala and Indian-accented delectables at Nirvana, a vegetarian DC restaurant, feel good knowing that vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, various cancers and osteoporosis. Nirvana is located at 1810 K St. NW, DC, 202-223-5043.
• Question authority. Environmental Working Group’s DC-based team of scientists and other experts have conducted environmental investigations of agricultural practices, toxins, transportation, since 1993, exposing threats to health and the environment. www.ewg.org
• Go solar. Considering PV – photovoltaic – but don’t know where to start? Here’s a new local consultant based in Beallsville, Md., who can help you with solar home systems, from selection to installation to tax benefits to net metering, which lets you sell your excess power back to the utility company. www.standardsolar.com
• Can mushrooms help save the world? Thousands of years ago, resourceful people used mushrooms for nearly everything from carrying fire to making fabrics. During his “Mycelium Running” presentation, mushroom expert, entrepreneur and “bioneer” Paul Stamets, enthralled a pack house with true tales of “nature’s grand dissemblers” used for not only sustenance and medicine, but to decompose organisms for use as fuel, halting erosion, decontaminate fuel spills and toxic sites, produce a powerful new antiviral, neutralize E. coli, restore depleted and decimated soil so that other life forms can repopulate, combat chemical weapons, provide environmentally benign insect control (well, some insects won’t consider it benign), and be the key component visionary reforestation project that would involve climate zone-tailored packaging materials. Attendees left the session with a newfound respect for the intelligence of mycelium, which despite having only one cell wall protecting it from environmental risks, flourish in the dark, adapt to some of the most challenging conditions and even grow into some of the largest organisms on the plant. In fact, there’s a 2,400-acre honey mushroom mat in Oregon. Details on Stamets’s company, Fungi Perfecti, at www.fungi.com
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Charles Thomas of Pennsylvania meets Mr. Hoots. After getting injured when with a Seaworld gig, the gentle 11-year-old owl was taken in by Earth Conservation Corps in DC. www.ecc1.org
• Alternative energy update. DC-based Co-op America’s Alisa Gravitz lectured on “Meeting the Challenges of Global Warming with Solar and Wind.” After making a case about the dangers of nuclear power and drawbacks of hydrogen,she discussed a 12-step plan for reducing emissions and energy dependence, including, building more wind turbines and using ever-renewable wind-generated energy for hybrid cars. Also, each family should calculate their carbon footprint, reduce personal energy use (such as halving personal auto mileage) and buying carbon offsets (see next item). www.coopamerica.org
• Intro to carbon offsets. Climate change, AKA global warming, results from carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuel powers our homes, cars, planes and the production of most of what Americans consume. Carbon offsets, also called renewable energy certificates and green tags, give consumers a way to take responsibility. These credits represent the reduction of CO2 in one location to offset the CO2 produced in another, like your home and office. For instance, a clean, zero-CO2 wind farm in Kansas can offset the carbon dioxide produced by a local power plant. Carbon offsets help support the development of new technology. Silver Spring-based Carbonfund.org offers the ZeroCarbon program for individuals and Carbonfree program for businesses. For just $4.58 to $8.25 per month the average American can offset his or her climate footprint by supporting wind, efficiency and other climate-friendly projects. See the website for an easy way to calculate your carbon footprint www.Carbonfund.org
Elsewhere at the expo, Clif Bar, makers of deliciously sustainable 100% organic healthy snack bars (their new Banana Nut will turn into one), debuted Cool Tags, renewable wind energy credits consumers can purchase to keep an estimated 300 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air. That’s equivalent to the global warming emissions generated from traveling 300 miles in an average car. www.clifbar.com
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