First off a quick, Green Gurus team update on current events…
Last week while Shena was prepping for her time at the South By Southwest festival, Ryan continued working on one of his new solar flower designs, Elizabeth continued pouring over the latest Plan Check plans for one of our clients, Doug continued work on his thesis draft, Brent worked on the latest fabrication plans, Evonne carried on in Second Life, and I hit up Greg Wendt, Jeff Hayes, Sarah Shewey, Kipp Stroden, and Ferris Kawar’s Green Business Networking monthly night.
This was the first night that I had been able to make it out since hearing about it several months back. I ran into several great people I’ve been talking with recently and many more great faces, all from around the LA startup and sustainable business circles.
Several previous contacts included Michael Moss / Founder Green Nectarine, Jenn “1luv” Breckenridge, and Ben Clayton / Gliving, Watts Up America, etc. I also got to put some names to faces we’ve been hearing more about recently, like Scott Badenoch / Founder Creative Citizen and Melanie StJames / Executive Director of Empowerment Works. Other new faces included Olivia Kuhn-Lloyd / Cause + Capitalism Blog Author, Laura Beatty, Kacy Palmieri / Earth Day LA, Kristofer Youngstrom / Engineer at Digital Housing & Administration, and the Heart Beet Gardening gaia’s.
A few people were asking after more networking nights at this event and the LA Green Drinks was mentioned more than once, which we posted about last year here. Others range from Lunch 2.0 to Dealmaker, to LA’s Largest Mixer to Mashable’s return with “MashMeet LA 2.0“, and many, many others.
Some handy online resources include LA Times “Emerald City” blog, Siel’s “green LA girl“, the Green Group, etc….you just have to keep at it, digging around online, joining various social networking groups, meeting up at the local business mixers in person, and all the rest. Whatever the case may be, we’d love to meet up with you in person at the next LA Green Drinks or other event of your choosing…
Feel free to contact us here if you need help figuring out what to hit up next, carpooling arrangements or any other details.
We look forward to meeting up with you sometime soon!
I stopped by yesterday for a few hours at the now annual Eco Gift Expo in Santa Monica, CA.
And to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it: the intimacy that such a small venue lends itself to, the easy and local commute (carpooled with my significant other), the laid-back atmosophere and other factors contributed to an enjoyable afternoon. I felt the Eco Gift Expo was more in line with its advertised values too, whereas the Green Festival seems to have become or simply is, trying to sell itself as something more than it really is, in my opinion (see my previous mention about this regarding the SF Green Fest).
I think the future of sustainable products is better suited for this more modest-sized event for both the consumers benefit and the environments, since smaller venues means fewer people and cars, less emissions, etc.
If local grown foods and locally made products are some of the key components in changing our current energy habits and subsequent emissions, then shouldn’t events not adopt a similar principle too? I think so and can envision a time of interconnected, regional events throughout the country (if not world).
Anyway, to sum up my thoughts on this particular event…there was a modest but busy and interested crowd both shopping (it was afterall a gift-themed event 
) and researching green tips, trends and such. There was a fairly decent mix of interests represented including books, music, photography, lots of clothing, fabric (including some really nice bamboo towels), jewelry, food, tea’s and other drinks, some great innovative ideas making use of recycled bike and tire tubes (as well as billboard materials) by Green Guru Gear, and much more; trash, recycling and compostable items all appeared to be well managed.
I’m sure this event will continue to grow in size but I hope for the sake of my argument above, that they find some way to moderate their growth. Perhaps a spin-off from this event focusing on another aspect of the green wave or maybe even repeating this one several more times a year?
Why is it that so many people can just thoughtlessly discard their trash into the public: street, parking log, whatever, or in nature for that matter?
On my way across town this morning in Los Angeles, CA, the driver ahead of me tossed a crumpled up paper or napkin over his hood and out into the street, right in front of the cop; no one gave it a second thought. What’s the matter with these people? Seriously.
We need an Eco-Cop force to police this kind of blatant disregard for others and their, our environment.
