Chicago Green Festival -- a great success!
Yes!
May 03, 2007
YES! publisher Fran Korten, YES! co-chair David Korten, Neva Welton (David's book tour producer) and I just recently returned from the Chicago Green Festival, held April 21-22 at McCormick Place. YES! has been to just about every Green Festival, and this was surely one of the best so far in terms of sheer vibrancy and local interest. With its focus on just and sustainable solutions, the Chicago Green Festival was truly a celebration of the work being done to create "Earth Community."
Highlights included meeting enthusiastic readers of both YES! Magazine and The Great Turning (especially following David's talk on the mainstage); seeing YES! contributing writers Medea Benjamin, Van Jones, Riane Eisler, Frances Moore Lappe, and Greg Palast; catching up with YES! boardmember Alisa Gravitz (Executive Director of Coop America—festival co-sponsor, along with Global Exchange), and running into other independent media friends at Democracy Now!, Mother Jones, and What is Enlightenment?.
Best of all, was deepening connections with several Chicago-based friends from the Omidyar Network, Emerging Futures Network, and Chicago Conservations Corps; likewise with Your Environmental Road Trip host and producer Mark Dixon, Conscious Choice editor Charles Shaw, and In These Times publisher Tracy van Slyke.
What did I love about Chicago? The public art, the dramatic architecture, the wind, and most of all, the down-to-earth people. I met some of the inspiring folks behind Beyond Today, a neighborhood group working for peace, sustainability, and social justice, others working on permaculture solutions in Illinois, others rehabilitating bicycles and sending them wherever they're most needed, and still others working at great independent bookstores like Transitions Bookplace.
It was fun making use of I-GO car-sharing (via my Flexcar membership) and the local bus system, CTA—and even more fun, dancing at the Conscious Choice sponsored, and YES! cosponsored party the Funky Buddha. Can't wait to visit again.
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