Down to Earth Blog

An Expo for Green Products, Services and Ideas: From Nov. 10-12, the Green Festival will take place in San Francisco at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center.

I attended my first Green Festival in Washington, DC in October. It was an interesting and educational event, with workshops and speakers on different environmental topics, as well as dozens of vendors selling organic clothing, fair-trade goods, eco-beds, crafts made from recycled chopsticks and more.

I heard an official from my county's public school system discuss the first public "green" school in Maryland, Great Seneca Elementary School in Germantown. Buidling the school in an environmentally-friendly way required a $3.8 million investment, but that could lead to savings of $5.8 million in conservation in one year. The school uses 30 percent less energy than a non-green school building and 43 percent less fresh water. The school is L.E.E.D. certified -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design -- by the U.S. Green Building Council. Check it out.

The Green Festival comes to Chicago, April 21-22, 2007. The Green Festival is a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America.

Technorati Tags: Green Festival, Environment, Fair Trade , LEED

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