Seattle's Green Festival, April 12-13 '08

As a precursor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geoff and I went to Seattle for their first annual Green Festival. They key draw for us was Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, who was speaking on Sunday afternoon. She has a new book, Standing up to the Madness: Ordinary People doing Extraordinary Things. She talked about the heroes of her book, librarians standing up to Homeland Security and Lt. Ehren Watada. I highly encourage you to buy it!

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, was also inspirational. She talked about the need to bring the anti-war movement and the environmental movement to fight for their common good. The anti-war movment, she said, was tired after 5 years of hardly anybody paying attention to them. But the environmental movement is full of life and enthusiasm. Less than ten years ago the existence of global warming was being debated while today Al Gore has won a Nobel Peace Prize. It was fascinating to hear her talk about her work in D.C. and around the country; go to the CODEPINK website for more information on what they do.

Stacy Malkan, in her talk "The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry" talked about the lack of regulation in what created beauty products. Studies have been done on people who are filled with pesticides, lead, etc. simply from their environment. She also talked about studies on umbilical cords, when babies are just born, and how they found toxins in there as well. Lead in breast milk from lipstick was another thing she mentioned. I left that talk a little more than freaked out, but she gave us some hope in that legislation is going through to try to regulate what we are putting on (or in) our bodies. Go to Skin Deep to check out your products and see how they rate.

Overall, the Green Festival was a success. They had a huge turnout, it was a zero-waste event, and the purpose of the festival was met. Amy Goodman talked about the irony of the festival being held in the Washington State Convention center, the place of the failed WTO talks in 1999. We were reclaiming the convention center, and we were proud!

There was a problem, however, with the conference. In my own humble opinion. Talking about a movement and changing the world is all well and good, unless you're preaching to the choir of the elites of the liberal world. Let's look at the facts: the conference cost $10 for students, $15 for general admission. Food was minimally $8, though we were in downtown Seattle so going down to Pike place market was entirely possible. Organic pants were being sold for $80 in booths, organic dog food was available and toilet paper that did not harm the environment was being marketed.

But creating a social movement means more than catering to the needs of the few who can afford those luxuries. Talking about the the most toxic, harmful chemicals that were in hair straightener is very important, but so is the fact that those products are used by African-American women. The very group of people, in fact, who were most underrepresented at the conference. Instead of talking to us, Stacy Malkan should have been talking to the predominantly African-American neighborhoods in Seattle to warn people of the danger. Chemicals in baby bubble bath, make-up... that is not information that should be kept to the ones who could afford to spend two days and $15 at a conference, or endlessly more on specialty products that are chemical-free. Creating a movement means going from the bottom up: increasing demand for poison-free children toys and toxin-free hair product means the green economy would grow and the movement would truly begin. It is necessary to be a grass-roots movement in order to be successful.

My suggestions? Instead of holding the conference in downtown Seattle (where parking was $10 for a single day in addition to everything else) bring the conference to the people in places like Rainier Valley White Center to spread the word and gain momentum. Everybody cares for their children and want the best future for them. That means not leaving people out of the conversation so the privileged can have a fun weekend in the nice area of Seattle. Organic soy milk is well and good, but it won't build a movement when the majority of Americans can barely afford to buy their milk from Winco and the world is starving.