Ever since I'd experienced how far ahead of us Europe is in things like sustainable energy, I've been curious about things like solar energy. I also want to put in an organic garden and need to learn about composting and rain barrels. Today I got distracted.
I went to a couple of lectures and a pottery demonstration. I bought some stuff and got some samples. Lastly, I ate vegan fried "chicken" and mac and cheese.
I got there a bit after the festival started, but the only thing I really missed were the opening ceremonies. I got a free banana and a shopping bag right inside the door from Mom's Organic Market. Very nice people, but I had the unfortunate luck to stand next to a man who was mocking the group for wanting free stuff. I played stupid and offered him my free banana. Happily, he was the only negative person I met all day long. Maybe he needed his coffee.
I don't remember all of the vendors I visited, but one of the first was Book Publishing Company where I got some good sale books including a stevia cookbook. I'm pretty excited about that and can hardly wait to try out some of the recipes.
My feet are not really killing me all that much tonight, despite walking around on a concrete floor for most of the day, and I think it's because I bought a pair of Massaging Insoles. I kind of got sucked into it, and they weren't cheap...but once they were in my shoes, I didn't want to give them back. They literally massage the soles of your feet with squishiness as you walk. Happy with that purchase.
Not so happy with the purchase of the Hydros Bottle. One of my plans for today was to go out and get a jug of bottled water for the apartment. I drink a lot of water, plus I needed it to make tea. When I saw this bottle, I thought it would be a good substitute for going out and lugging a jug of water around. Also, I could use it when I travel, and bring it to work. I got it back to the apartment tonight, washed it out and prepared the filter per the instructions...and was distressed to find that the filtered water still smelled strongly of chlorine. Not happy with that purchase.
Another purchase was a 225 mls bottle of laundry detergent which should take care of 80 loads of laundry. Berryplus laundry detergent is made from soapberries from the sapindus mukorossi tree and is 100% plant based, natural, and renewable. Can't wait to try it out.
I got a clearance t-shirt from Green Label...which is actually in Floyd, VA. My shirt is close to this one, but is a t-shirt rather than a tank (same color and design though). They are super nice people and I signed up for their mailing list so that I'll know when they have clearance deals in their store in Floyd.
Memorable exhibitors were Dr. Bronner's (ubiquitous purveyors of castile soap) who gave me an orange ginger lip balm when I told them it is my favorite lip balm EVER and that they're hard to find. YAY! Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils had some good samples and coupons. So did my friends at Earth Balance although the coupons were all gone by the time I found them. They assured me that I'd love the coconut butter I just bought last week at my local coop.
One of my biggest surprises was the time I spent at the booth of the US Postal Service. Apparently, the USPS is turning to other ways of making money now that revenue is down from 1st class mail. Many of those new forms of revenue have to do with recycling. Things like ink cartridges, pharmaceutical drugs, medical waste (sharps)...all kinds of interesting things. Very fascinating.
The pottery demonstration by Savitri Khalsa of 3 Green Pears was very cool. I stayed after and had a nice discussion with her about my concerns about the toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the glazes used. While quite safe after they are fired, there is a concern about exposure to the potter and releasing these chemicals in to the water supply when doing cleanup. Like I thought, no alternative to the chemicals in glazes...urgh.
I also attended a good lecture about locally sourced food. While I knew that only a small percentage of foods purchased by consumers in the US is locally sourced, I was quite shocked to find that it is only about 1%. The speakers were the director of a large local urban farm group, a local produce distributor, and the owner of a local restaurant that focuses on locally grown and sourced foods. It made me happy that I do visit my local farmer's market and made me more mindful of trying to eat seasonally. Fascinating stuff.
The *most* fascinating and upsetting lecture I attended was called "Fair Trade Your Halloween" which ended up being an eye opening account of the horrible abuses going on in the cocoa industry. Who knew that when I dug into the chocolate bowl at work I was feasting on the end result of child slave labor? Though sparsely attended, I found this to be the most eye-opening hour of my day. Corey Hill (of Global Exchange) was an engaging and passionate speaker. Later, I went to check out the Global Exchange booth (and not just because Mr. Hill promised me a sample of free trade chocolate!) where I signed up for their mailing list. I also ended up watching the documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate and I signed a petition asking Hershey's to stop buying cacao harvested with child slave labor. While not the only company guilty of this, they are the only ones still ignoring the problem. Other large companies like Ghiradelli, Mars, Nestle, etc...also use this source of cacao. Horrible stuff. Please only buy Fair Trade Certified chocolate. Like the Theo Chocolate I bought today.
While you're at it, please try to buy your coffee, tea, bananas, etc...Fair Trade Certified. October is Fair Trade Month.
And this is what I had for dinner:
Vegan mac and cheese with vegan fried "chicken" and BBQ dipping sauce. It was actually really yummy. I was too late to try their kale, which was a bummer. Tomorrow, I may try the Indian food...but get a mango lassi in case it's too spicy for me.
Ok, I'm typed out. What I missed today, I'll tell you about tomorrow. I really need to check out some Yoga and cooking demos.
No comments:
Post a Comment