2015 Green Festival (Oregon) Review
- Ariana Marshall
- Jan 3, 2016
- 5 min read
Sometimes we need to use global perspective to motivate local initiatives. Simply said “Think Global, Act Local”. What we saw at the Green Festival has definitely influenced how we make this mantra work.
Our Expectations
Free + clean food everywhere, sustainable packaging on everything, plenty give aways, recycling bins from the future, electric vehicle test drives, other eco-eager beavers and a breath-taking sustainably designed host building.
Experience
Eco-Eager Beavers – Check
Each exhibitor welcomed any questions I had. I had some really long and interesting conversations with at least 10 people. Everyone wants to come to the Caribbean of course! I pitched the idea of forming stronger relationships between more responsible green businesses in the U.S. and the region. Everyone was down for the cause, even some of the more far off possibilities such as a shared car company.
Free +Clean Food everywhere + Sustainable Packing – Ehhh somewhat
There were some yummy samples from Beansfield and VeganSmart but other than that, my biggest haul - packages of agave and “organic pancake syrup”. I still have some if you want to try. We didn’t get as much free food and stuff as I thought we would but hey that is good. This temporary disappointment should break me out of my more wasteful consumer habits though.
On the topic of wasteful habits - we listened to a presentation from The Packageless Girl (H&M Sustainable Packaging Challenge Fellow) and she made the case for how easy/important it was to deal with the excessive packaging in the world. Check out her blog here.
We did make plenty business “links” and learned quite a bit. Some exhibitors shared their entire business story from start up to the changes that they would be making in few months.
Highs
Yes, the building (Oregon Convention Centre) was super-sustainable – there were huge glass walls, LED lighting everywhere, well-labelled recycling bins and a rain garden which was definitely working overtime in that Oregon rain. It was inspiring being in such an intentionally designed sustainable space. Our expectations were exceeded.
This event is more about the people you may meet than the free stuff.
The volunteers were super-friendly and helpful. They held all 4 of our coats at their booth, you know Caribbean people – we stepped out well layered up with no consideration of what we would do when the heat inside the building kicked in.
Before handing over our 4 coats. Granny can pull off the layered look however,
I was feeling a bit buffalo-ish.
The highest high was interacting with the speakers in the Lifestyle Pavilion. I wasn’t sure how stuffy or stuck up speakers would be at such a large event. They were all very approachable and engaging. Most presenters/speakers were just having a conversation with the audience and that was very cool. It’s all about making this whole sustainability thing personal and easy to relate to.
We heard talks from:
Milan Ross – His journey from being morbidly obese to a healthier lifestyle, writing a book and launching his Full-Flavour Vegan products.
Jeff Garner/ Prophetik – The huge environmental impact of the fashion industry, his hemp designs and sustainable couture.
The Beauty Counter – How hazardous beauty products could be and how they are rated.
John Lewis aka Badass Vegan – His journey of living his life to the fullest regardless of the vegan sterotypes. Product and brand development, entrepreneurship and social media engagement of the "vegan curious" audience.
John Lewis @Badassvegan + Vegan Smart Brand Manager
Tara Mackey - How she was "Cured By Nature". Check out her blog The Organic Life.
Christine Liu Packageless Blog - How she challenged herself to live packageless. Here's her review - A packageless take on the Green Festival.
Leslie Durso – Among other ventures, she is the resident chef on the show "The Doctors", so she gave a quick cooking demo on "The Ultimate Wellness Kitchen".
They were all great speakers, engaging and full of useful information. Leslie’s Melissa heels were on fleek – sustainably speaking. She told me the shoes were recyclable, durable, comfortable and in my opinion they looked good! She did her vegan cooking demo of coconut bacon, Caesar salad and artichoke dip, quite comfortably in her heels. Yass! I’ve been searching for a pair online ever since!
Lows
So it rains a lot in Portland and we expected it, it was still a bit of a damper on the vibes. Although you can see that the city’s design has considered flooding and they’ve got a light rail from the future, the rain still caused issues. We actually heard that there were serious mud slides in Oregon (not Portland) while we were there. Climate change is for real.
A positive spin on the rainfall was that the Green Festival entry fee was waived to encourage more people to trod through the rain. Lemonade from Lemons – Sweet.
Overall Yaaas Vibe? Definitely. We want to go back and we feel quite welcomed to do that.
Side note - We met a lady who was a regular visitor to Barbados willing to pay us $100 US for some hot sauce because she missed it so much!
Granny: Nah, nah we can't take $100
Ariana - Talk 'bout value added product lol!
We gave her our personal bottle of SheMar's Hot Sauce
(Made by Sheila of the Barbados OGCA). No we don't always walk around just so with hot sauce, but maybe we should.
Ideas and Inspiration
Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) relationship development is the central goal of these Green festivals. In-person interactions make the difference in developing trust, this is especially important with products/technology which may be breaking the typical product mold – sustainable, green and healthy.
We came up with the idea to give a presentation at one of the upcoming Green Festivals for 2016 either in NYC or DC - Global Sustainability = Local Resiliency – The Value of Caribbean Partnerships (Beyond enjoying the beach :)).
What do you think, do you want to contribute to this presentation, add your business as an example of a business open to partnerships with other sustainable businesses? Would you be interested in actually sharing a booth under the Better Caribbean Program?
Remember we’ve got a thick presence of the Caribbean diaspora in these two cities. This is not only an opportunity to make connections with new sustainable companies but also to have in-person interactions with potential clients who are familiar and receptive to Caribbean culture.
UPDATE : In a previously mentioned version of this article we refuted the possibility of the author walking around with hot sauce. Now walking around with hot sauce is cool....or hot? Swag even, thanks to #formation.
So we admit. YES we walk around with hot sauce. Everything will be ok.
Have no clue what we mean? - that's ok too :D.
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Why I am writing this? I am an environmental scientist by training and a solution artist in practice. By trade, my currency is facilitating active learning in anyway possible.....
Better Caribbean Program Director
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