By Rana DiOrio, Founder, Little Pickle Press
Our Director, Art & Marketing, Leslie Iorillo, and I attended the LA gogreenexpo for the first time on Friday. We met many interesting and passionate people, and I wanted to share with you some of the knowledge we garnered.
It’s all about the lid. We met Kristy Nardini, Founder and CEO of Tazzini who has developed a stainless steel bottle with a unique, patent-pending lid and a contoured design for ease of handling. She developed the product out of necessity. She has 9-year old twins, one who is immuno-compromised and the other who periodically demonstrates the signs. So she wanted them to drink their water from non-leaching, non-toxic, BPA-free vessels.
The best food containers ever. Then we met with Lillian Zhang of ecopro, purveyor of premium bamboo fiber, biodegradable tableware. Their slogan is, “We love the Earth. And we work hard for it.” Their containers are simple, elegant, and eco-friendly. It stuns me that restaurants still pack their carry-home food in Styrofoam and that we let them! In case you were not aware, Styrofoam you put in a landfill today will still be there 500 years from now. So, ecopro has an all-natural solution that is made from only bamboo with no other resins or chemicals. They are amazing products.
Gift wrap that grows. Next we met Jim Johansen, Founder of Triumph Plant Co. and CEO of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Little Kay Gardens. Little Kay Gardens produces 100% recycled paper that contains wild flower garden seeds that grow within days of being planted. The kits come with raffia and gift tags with instructions. As their marketing collateral suggests, “They’ll love the gift wrap as much as the gift!”
The best part for us. The best part of gogreenexpo for us was listening to and then meeting Eric Corey Freed, Founder of Organic Architect. We attended his keynote address on Friday afternoon and have been thinking about it ever since. Rather than summarize his talk, which would take pages, I thought I would list several of the most important messages, which I sent as tweets on Twitter:
"Our job is to make every building a #green building." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"We (BP) destroyed the entire Gulf habitat for 6 hours worth of US oil consumption." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"Maybe we need to reevaluate our priorities." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo #beinggreen
Perspective: You can purchase >100 homes in Detroit for the price of 1 home in LA. @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo #wow
"On Detroit: "The Motor City is becoming The Urban Farm City." "We can reinvent the modern city." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"The average Californian spends 84 hours/year stuck in traffic." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo #publictransit
"The car destroys community." The heavier the traffic, the less people interact. @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"If you build human scale elements (instead of car scale ones), the humans will return." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"We need a new design brief where people come first, not cars." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo #greenbuilding
"Why nothing has changed: There are 4 climate lobbyists for every member of Congress." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Edmund Burke via @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo
"How can you help? Just pick a problem and run at it." @ericcoreyfreed #gogreenexpo #getinvolved #beinggreen
If you feel as though I haven’t given you enough to sink your teeth into, that was my intent. I wanted to pique your interest so you would follow @ericcoreyfreed on Twitter and learn more about his passionate and impactful activism. As always, we welcome your comments and feedback.
6 comments:
Wow! Those are definitely some stats to think about!
I was pondering the other day how cheap oil is exemplified in every parking lot in America. Think about it - cars are probably the second highest expense for most of us, and we leave them sitting around in strange places, at the mercy of the elements, without much concern for damage or loss. Why? Cheap oil that supplies the goods, and insurance that provides a hedge against loss. Both industries are unsustainable. Mr. Freed has me thinking about these things.
Eric Corey Freed has me wanting to buy real estate in Detroit! Not only has it become beyond affordable, but it appears to be a city that has many possibilities, especially if they continue to follow the urban farming trend that seems to be taking hold there. ECF's talk was truly worth the trip!
We are grateful for the opportunity to have immersed ourselves in a community of like-minded people for the weekend. Eric Corey Freed was especially inspirational and pointed out that it is not only our right but also our obligation to act now to protect our planet and to keep it safe for the generations to come.
Very interesting blog, LOTS of information....watching the video from Little Kay Garden's, I remember doing the same thing with my kids for a school project years ago...GREAT idea for a business and so much fun. The motor city...Leslie (for real) I can hook you up!!!
I just looked at the website for the Gift Wrap
I love the idea for my kids!
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