I
thought I’d have some breathing time when I got back from Southern
California Wednesday, but Friday I checked with Washington School and I
had a kindergarten class that morning, oops! then the gig at Tumble and
Tea Saturday, and Sunday the Green Festival.
The festival was even bigger this year—they moved the largest speaker
area to another building across the street so there was room for even
more booths: solar energy companies, organic fashions, fair-trade
organic chocolate tastings, a big bookstore, onsite bodywork. I was a
guest of Reach and Teach, which carries my CD, Sun, Sun Shine,
to festivals and conferences and sells it on their website. I asked the
guys who run it if the falling economy had affected attendance. They
said fewer people came on Friday and on Saturday morning, but as soon as
the “No on 8” demonstrations were over Saturday morning, they were way
busy. They noticed more people using debit cards, and fewer credit
cards, so people are conscious of needing to live within their means,
but they are buying. I went to hear Van Jones at 1:00. His word: The
economy that’s based on consumerism, debt and using natural resources
faster than they can be replaced is indeed failing but the sustainable
economy, the one represented by the Green Festival, is growing.
Van
Jones is a great speaker—funny and inspiring, well-researched and
down-home, and handsome as all get-out. He’s a journalist turned lawyer
turned community organizer, and when Obama is termed out, I want Jones
for president! He’s locally famous, but I can see him going national. He
said the good news is that Obama won, the bad news is that now we’ve really
got to get to work. Yes, there are and will be technological solutions
to global warming, but right now Van Jones is promoting the lowest of
tech—a caulking gun—to weatherize buildings against energy loss, and we
have thousands of construction workers out of jobs right now who would
be happy to caulk and instal insulation, solar panels, and double-paned
windows. His organization is Green for All. His book is The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.
In my report on Southern California I forgot to mention Arlington West,
the display of crosses we saw from the Santa Monica Pier. We went down
and walked among them: a cross, star of David or crescent representing
members of the American military killed in Iraq, some with mementos
placed there by their families. Normally the crosses are only on the
beach on Sundays, dawn to dusk, but we saw them on Tuesday because it
was Memorial Day.
©2008 by Nancy Schimmel
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
GREEN FESTIVAL, SAN FRANCISCO 2008
