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<back | home From the GreenFestival in SF to the GreenEarth Festival in SLO by Lucinda Nichols Last November I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the second annual Green Festival in San Francisco. I convinced my two San Fransican cousins to join me and with free tickets provided by HopeDance we headed out, not knowing what to expect. As soon as we walked into the cavernous hall of the Concourse Exhibition Center, we were astonished at the array of activities going on under one roof. There were 250 green booth exhibits, 50 speakers over a two-day period and a myriad of workshops to choose from, going on at all ends of the hall. It was truly a feast for the eyes and mind. My cousins and I realized rather quickly that we were going to have to split up and follow our own hearts in order to absorb as much as we could of what was going on around us. We hooked up throughout the day for certain speakers and for lunch at the music and organic food pavilion. The next day I decided to return for more and joined up with two friends from San Luis Obispo. Over those two days I got to treat myself to speeches by Jim Hightower, Alice Walker, Arianna Huffington, Anita Roddick, Medea Benjamin, Kevin Danaher and more. Here were the leading luminaries of what activist/author Naomi Klein has dubbed "the movement of movements," all under one roof. Their words resonated with hope and humor and washed over me like a cool waterfall on a hot day. It was just what my soul needed. The air was thick with excitement. Conversations easily happened between strangers, who quickly became allies by the commonality of our purpose and vision. Never have I been with so many like-minded people in one place. It is reported that more than 20,000 people attended over the two days. It was encouraging to see that we are not alone. There are committed life forms out there who seek to create another world. The workshops were held in an intimate salon fashion with couches and overstuffed chairs. People squeezed into the couches together to make room for everyone, while laughing and exchanging personal stories. The workshop topics included how to make your own biodiesel for your car, how to finance your cause, Becoming the Media (by our own local HopeDance Media)... I never would have known about this event if not for the ad in HopeDance (and HopeDance generously gave away 60 free tickets to the event!). The Green Festival mission is to "celebrate what is working in our world, based on a sustainable economy, ecological balance and social justice." And what a celebration it was. The words that have remained with me were those given by Alice Walker. She reminded us that it is in times of crisis that we most need to celebrate, create art, and dance. For these are the life-sustaining elements at the core of our humanity. If we give over to despair, then we have lost. As I drove back to SLO with my friends, the swirl of ideas moving into action continued. My two very knowledgeable companions decided to start up their own biodiesel system in San Luis Obispo, and I started to have some ideas of my own on how to sustain the feeling I had just experienced at the Green Festival. It occurred to me that people such as myself should now go back to our individual communities and create our own festivals. An idea that started to grow was to bring together under one roof our own local social and environmental luminaries, artists, musicians and green entrepreneurs ... and to honor the pioneers/activists of our area. For example: Mark Phillips, who is working diligently to ensure the safety and sanctity of our vote (as well as putting pressure on our NPR affiliate to have Democracy Now! on 5 days a week), Mike Zelina and Theresa Campbell, who put together the fantastic Apple Pie Resolution to rescind parts of the Patriot Act, Miranda Leonard and the EcoSlo crowd for giving us the best ever New Year’s Eve party and much more, and my friend David Weisman and the Mothers for Peace for battling our local goliath, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. This is just the beginning of a long list of people doing incredible work in our county. I think it is safe to say we have no shortage of talent and brainpower in this unique community of ours. A small group of us are organizing, meeting and planning... taking our passion and moving it to becoming a reality. Please join us June 5th for the first GreenEarth Festival at the SLO Vets Hall. We will be offering educational workshops, music, speeches by local action groups, green business booths, artisans, and delicious food at our Organic Cafe. In the evening there will be a main speaker (Kevin Danaher) and we will end the day with a Dance Party. Why? Because in the words of Emma Goldman, "If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution." Hope to see you there. More details will be in the next issue of HopeDance. Click here for an application form for booths and workshops. Lucinda Nichols is an activist living in Los Osos. She is the owner of GreenEarth Promotions. She can be reached at lunichols@earthlink.net. <back | top^ |