Green Fest Is The Best!

Ok, so back before getting sick I told you that Todd and I where going to go to the spring Green Festival in San Francisco. I had of course planned on telling you all about it last week but that was apparently not meant to be.

I’m feeling much better now (thanks for the get well wishes btw) and I’m sure you’re just dying to know how it went. Ok, maybe you’re not but humor, I’ve been ill. ;)

The Green Festival in San Francisco was put on by Green America. Green America is an organization that tries to highlight businesses and people who are truly trying to make a green difference.

The Green Festival was a 2-day event with TONS of different speakers and all kinds of great green products. It was surprisingly freeing to be able to shop without wondering what something was made of, what ingredients were in it or how green it really was. It was too cool.

I saw some favorite things like Klean Kanteens and PeopleTowels there. So picked up a sweet carrying cases for me and my mom for our Kanteens made from a reused fire hose by Zeeko Bag (made in Chico!) and I had to pick up some more PoepleTowels so I could share the waste-free love with my fam.

And I found some new sure to be favorites as well. One was a skin care line called Golden Path Alchemy. I have had skin trouble since I was 10 years old and am always on the look out for truly good cleansers. Well I definitely found what I was looking for with their Purify cleanser and toner. Not a funky ingredient to be found and after using them for about a week and a half now I can really see a difference in my skin. Seriously so happy.

Another newbie is a product called Vitamineral Green. Vitamineral is a powdered raw, whole foods product. The girl at the Health Force stand made a point of telling that this isn’t a supplement, it’s food, dried and powdered, but still food. It’s also, vegan, gluten and yeast free which means I can use it without any worries.



There was also an incredible amount of vegetarian, vegan, raw and gluten-free food choices. I don’t know why that surprised me; we were at a green festival after all. Todd tried a gyro, it smelled so good! I went right to the raw, vegan stand by Lydia’s Organics and got myself a nori roll; it was huge and very tasty.



And I loved that they had 3 different garbage cans everywhere; recycle, compost & trash. That was so awesome!



We also listened to a couple of talks. One was about hemp by John Roulac from Nutiva and Sue Kastensen from Dr. Bronner’s, it was very interesting. Hemp is not the same as cannabis and has so many uses from, clothing, to oil to food. The talk was mainly about how it should be legal to grow here in the US because it would then bring down the prices of the hemp products we’re already buying because it would be grown locally. I signed the card that they passed out asking California law makers to see the difference between hemp, helpful crop, and cannabis, a drug. I personally love hemp milk, my purse is made out of hemp and I think people need to re-examine their thoughts about hemp.



We also listened to a talk by Andy Keller the founder of Chicobags. His was about the disposable society that we seem to live in now and what we can do to change that. A lot of what he said is the same kinds of things I write about on here: think before you buy something. Ask questions like, do you need it, is it something that will last or is it just a novelty. And I loved that he pointed out that even though something’s cheap doesn’t make it a good deal. That cheap item will most likely have to be replaced over and over again where as the more expensive one won’t or may only need a part replaced, not the whole thing. I think that this is one green thing that everyone can do, just shop smarter. We all need to buy things sometimes, but just take a moment before you do and answer the questions above.

I also learned that mushrooms will save the planet thanks to Paul Stamets. It turns out that mushrooms can absorb toxins in the ground and actually return the soil to a “clean” state. One example he gave was of oyster mushrooms cleaning an oil spill on a test dirt mound and then once the oil was gone vegetation actually started to grow! That was definitely a great lecture to listen to because, for me, it reminded me that nothing is too small and inconsequential to make a difference. It was awesome.

Todd and I only went on Saturday instead of staying down there and going both days, but we may have to stay overnight and go for both days next year. I had a great time and the best part was that Todd did too. It was really awesome being able to do this with him. If you have a Green Festival near you I highly recommend going, you never know what you may find and learn.