The Go Green Expo

[Going green has it's perks, now ANYONE can feel like a stylish socialite]

Go HERE for more photos from this event by Alex Iravani and Queen Samantha.

It’s getting easier to be green…

This past weekend the Hilton New York hosted the Go Green Expo, three floors of ballroom upon ballroom of environmental awareness. The head-spinning milieu featured everything from governmental and non-governmental organizations, to the usual environmentally friendly candle, cosmetic, and clothing lines, to hybrid vehicles, windows and flooring, event planning, eco-tourism agencies, book publishers, food and drinks, household items and elephant dung stationary. In short, it modeled a soup-to-nuts, environmentally sound existence. If you didn’t get a chance to stop by, I’m happy to share some highlights of the exhibits (sadly, I didn’t make any of the seminars):

1. 360 Vodka. As in, “Celebrate Earth Day 360 days a year.” Brought to us by McCormick Distilling Company, 360 Vodka is made from locally grown grain and energy efficient distilling equipment. The packaging, transport, and cleanup are also thoroughly eco friendly. One question: what do we do for the other five days of the year? Maybe nurse our hangovers? Not sure.
2. GG2G. The brand name means, “Green Goods 2 Give and 2 Get.” Well, after seeing far too many sad yet environmentally friendly design concepts, we were down right giddy when we stumbled upon GG2G. GG2G makes their funky bags and accessories from brightly-colored, recycled billboards. Sure, the markup is ridiculous, but the bags are great, so we’ll allow it. Our favorite design is the wristlet clutch. Find them for 5% off at Best American Arts when you enter in coupon code GG2G15 (the discount applies to all brands on the site).
3. AdRide. So there’s a bike armored in white plastic toting an extremely large ad, also armored in white plastic. Worst. Temp job. Ever. But it looks fresh, clean, and European. We likey.
4. An environmentally friendly Hummer. What?
5. Greenopia. Social networking meets news and reviews, all in an eco-friendly context. Check out the New York City page for information on local, environmentally-aware businesses, products, and resources (complete with maps, reviews, and ratings). Then create a profile, share environmental news and events, and even blog.
6. The Hot 97 table. If I were to call it a “show stopper,” I would mean that the show stopped just before the table and then started again on the other side. Secluded in a far corner of the ballroom without any real displays and manned by two guys – one playing handball to the right of the table and the other sitting in a window box to the left, texting furiously – I just had to ask, “So how did you guys go green?” The texter looked up, said something about a fashion show, and then showed me his shirt, which read, “Got trees?” Not sure what that means, since the last time I heard someone say “Got trees?” it had absolutely nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with Saturday night recreation. Regardless, Hot 97 may or may not have gone green, but they certainly provided the most entertaining table at the Go Green Expo, hands down.
7. “No Eat Not Food,” written by Rick Sanger and illustrated by Carol Russell. If you didn’t have enough time to read Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” or “In Defense of Food,” this children’s book pretty much sums it up.
8. Cardboard Design. They seem to make everything out of cardboard, including playhouses. If you’ve ever searched for an Elmo TMX to give to your favorite 3-year-old – who upon receiving it makes it abundantly clear that the Elmo freaks her out and that she strongly prefers the box – I’m happy to report that now you can feel better about just giving her a box. What with a teepee that she can sit in, complete with a punched out yin-yang at the top, surely this is the box of all boxes. Try the house or the spaceship if your 3-year-old is a little more right-wing.
9. dvGreen. Sustainable event design has come. The food and drinks are organic and/or locally grown. So are the linens and the flowers. The garbage from the event will be recycled and composted. The leftover food will be donated. They even “purchase carbon offsets to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the event” (not sure what that means, but it sounds very nice).
10. Driven Eco. The green luxury car service.