The Evolution of the Chicago Green Festival

Last weekend, the Green Festival made its way into Chicago for yet another year of fabulous green fun, food, festivities, films, vendors, speakers and shopping. This year marked their 10 year anniversary – although not for Chicago. The concept of the Green Festival started back in 2001 in San Francisco, a big to-do with eco-friendly vendors and businesses, green energy displays and notable speakers in the green field such as Amy Goodman and Jim Hightower all in one place - it is a greenie’s dream come true!

In 2007, the Green Festival was having such success and popularity in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., it decided to send its green awesomeness to the Windy City. Many Chicagoans were delighted that the Green Festival was finally coming to our town! This year has marked the 5th year of the Chicago Green Festival. It has now also expanded its yearly Green Festivals to Denver and Seattle and this year will be festival firsts for New York City and Los Angeles.

The Chicago Green Festival has certainly grown and evolved since it started back in 2007. Although some earlier concepts have stayed, a few new ones have also been added. It is not only just a Green Festival – it is a festival about fair trade, community action, youth action, environmental documentaries, green business, green lifestyle and fashion and food. It is a continuous evolution of new ideas because of the concept of “green” is all encompassing in our world. There are not too many things on this planet that it doesn’t touch. As our environment further degrades and times change, the Green Festival folks see the need to expand the green concept out to include whatever it might turning more “green.” It is the Green Revolution in action!



"Mr. Green Cloud" is an original creation by KimKat - please do not copy without permission





THE WINDY CITY TURNS "GREEN"

All this wind gets tiring after awhile so how about a little “Green” instead? The first Chicago Green Festival blew into town and settled itself at McCormick Place Lakeside on April 21st and 22nd, 2007. Following the basic outline of the Green Festivals of San Francisco and Washington, D.C., the different areas were set up into what the GF (Green Festival) folks call “Pavilions”. There was the Green Building, Renewable Energy and Technology, Fair Trade, Green Home and Power Foods Pavilions just to name a few.

Workshops and special areas of interest were Family Farmed Farmers Market, Organic Valley Kids' Zone, Yoga and Movement Classes, Community Action Area, GF Bookstore, Green Fashions, Careers, Investing, School, Home Improvement, Home Brewing, Eco-Travel and Live Local Music Stage right next to the Organic Food, Wine and Beer Garden. Not to mention the Green Awards, lectures, speakers, films and even an after party – whew! That is a lot of green to fit in to two days!

Throughout the following years, even though the location was changed from McCormick Place to Navy Pier, the Green Festival followed through each year with similarly fabulous green agenda. In 2009, they added a Youth Unity Pavilion, specially focused on environmentally minded youngsters. Since, as they say, “children are our future” – a kid and teen focused pavilion was a definite must.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

For 2011, the Green Festival returned to McCormick Place giving us a few new Pavilions to enjoy. Although the Green Festival has always paid much attend to Green Careers and the marketplace is full of eco-friendly businesses, The Green Business Pavilion takes a step up with special speakers to share their stories of their green business journeys and some insider tips for other green business owners and entrepreneur. A revamped Green Kids Zone is the place where kids can learn how to green their schools, turn their craft projects green and do yoga. Ford also got in on the green action this year as a main sponsor with the Ford Pavilion, its own section to display their new hybrid and electric vehicles. The Sierra Club Green Cinema was also new this year. Sponsored by the Sierra Club, it had its own “theatre” where eco-documentaries such as Gasland and Coal Country were shown all weekend. Considering the increased interest in green documentary film making over the past years, a special cinema section is a good move for the Green Festival. A wonderful, entertaining way to educate and empassion people on the latest green issues!

The Green Living Stage and Organic Cooking Stage were newly organized versions of some of the common workshops, speaker areas and the Cooking Demos previously showcased by Green Festival. While the Sustainable Home and Garden Pavilion focused on how to green your home and garden specifically, the Green Living Stage featured speakers covering subjects such as natural medicine, nontoxic living, spiritually, green investing and global sustainability. It is nice to see these areas all connecting but also growing each year the Green Festival comes to town.

THE SHARIN’ O’ THE GREEN

Since its inception in Chicago, the Green Festival has sparked up some local sharing of all this green energy. All around the Chicagoland area, “mini-me” versions of the Green Festival are being born - with the local flavor, of course. It seems that the Green Revolution is definitely catching on and savvy Chicagoans know what color the future is! It’s green!

Here are some of local green fests and fairs that have started since the Chicago Green Festival circa 2007:

Going Green Matters Fair in Wilmette (5th annual)

Green Music Fest (3rd annual)

Elgin Green Fest (3rd annual)

Elmhurst Green Fest (3rd annual)

Aurora Green Fest (2nd annual)

Oak Park Earth Fest (2nd annual)

Andersonville Green Week (2nd annual)

Orland Park Green Fair (2nd annual):

Believe in Green Fair in Hinsdale (2nd annual)

Green Metropolis Fair (1st annual)

Schaumburg Environmental Fair (1st annual)

"Mr. Green Cloud" is an original creation by KimKat - please do not copy without permission

**Information on the Chicago Green Festival was obtained from the author’s attendance at the Chicago Green Festival and from the links below.

Chicago Green Festival 2007:
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/cook/blogs/eb21/20070309_792.html
http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_chicago_events/Green_Festivals-Comes_to_Chicago.php

Chicago Green Festival 2008:
http://healthy-family.org/tomas/506/green-festival-returns-to-chicago

Chicago Green Festival 2009:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1659560/green_festival_at_chicago_navy_pier.html?cat=8

Green Festival Chicago Page 2010/2011:
http://www.greenfestivals.org/past-green-festivals/chicago-2010/
http://www.greenfestivals.org/chi/updates/

Photos of Chicago Green Festival 2011

"The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.." - Bob Dylan

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Colony Collapse Disorder: Why are the bees buzzing away?

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Albert Einstein

Last week, I had the opportunity to see a free screening of the documentary “The Vanishing of the Bees” at the Green Metropolis Fair on April 16, 2011 here at the Irish American Heritage Center here in Chicago.

“The Vanishing of the Bees” is one of the newer documentaries on colony collapse disorder. For people not familiar, Colony Collapse Disorder is when worker bees from a beehive abruptly disappear. Why would this be of concern to us humans? Well, we need bees. Without them working their tiny bee bodies to the bone, we would not have fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee chocolate and honey - to name a few. We would all be eating a diet mostly compromised of wheat, corn, rice and potatoes.

Cotton crops are also pollinated by bees. It would be hard for most people to imagine a world without cotton. Most of our clothes and other fabric items we purchased are made out of cotton. They also pollinate the beautiful flowers around us that make our world more beautiful. So, it is easy to see how very important bees are to our world as many things rely on a healthy bee population. When they begin disappearing from their hives, it is a sign to us that something is wrong. Bees have the potential to be considered a keystone indicator species – their disappearance is a symbol of environmental decline.

GONE BEE-BEE GONE

So, why are our bee friends leaving us? The people behind the documentary “The Vanishing of the Bees” think they have found the answer. But first it is good to look back at when this started: when did the bees first start vanishing? Back in 2006 is when beekeepers noticed a dramatic reduction in their hive numbers. Now, bee like other species can have hive die offs especially in the winter. This is not uncommon but the in 2006 the beekeepers were noticing 30 – 90% decline in their hives. This was cause for concern to research what was causing this.

There have been lots of theories since 2006: cell phones, malnutrition, beekeeping practices, lack of genetic biodiversity, parasites, pathogens, toxins, electromagnetic radiation and climate change. None of these theories are completely proven because it is such a complex issue. There was no definite answer.

Pesticides and GMOS. These are the two suspects under interrogation in the film most specifically systematic pesticides. How are systematic pesticides different from conventional pesticides? Well, according to Mother Earth News, a non-systematic pesticide will just cover the exterior of the plant and they can be washed off. A systematic pesticide is put into the seed of the plant so it is found in the entire plant as it grows. The reason why systematic pesticides cannot be washed off like conventional pesticides is because the pesticides are inside the tissues of the plant – they basically become part of the plant. Systematic pesticides began to be used on plants in 1998. And where do the GMO’s come in to play here? For those not in the know, GMO stands for “genetically modified organisms” - basically where the bees are concerned these are seeds for crops that bees pollinated that have had their genes modified in a lab. The largest crops that are currently GMO are cotton, soy, corn, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa. The decline of bees has been noticed particularly in areas where GMO crops are grown. GMO seeds grow pesticides inside the plant. GMO’s also entered our food supply sometimes in the mid to late 1990’s.

How does this affect the bees? High levels of these pesticides were found in pollen on the legs of bees. This pollen was gathered off of plants which utilized these pesticides. In turn, the toxic pollen is brought back to the hive. These pesticides are known to cause nerve damage – thus resulting in confused and disorientated bees. Could this be one of the reasons bees are buzzing away from their hives? They are dazed and confused? Certainly makes some sense – but what about the die-offs? Well, pesticides are toxic – if they are meant to kill off bugs and other agricultural pests – why would they not kill off bees? The answer seems almost too clear to ignore.

“Yummy, Yummy, organic plants feel good in my bee tummy!”
Photo above by KimKat

BEES CAUSE A NEW BUZZ

Imagining a world without bees is horrible indeed. But out of this crisis as sparked a new interest in an old movement as illustrated by the film: local organic beekeeping. Not that this practice is entirely new, as we know farmers kept their own bees for centuries probably back to the 5th century in China before we had pesticides. But the recent scare of bee population decline and the possible link to pesticides and GMOs has sparked a new interest in this sort of beekeeping, even amongst urban dwellers which is new because normally we think of beehives out in the country on a farm. Organic beekeeping (or natural beekeeping) by small groups or individuals will maintain a small colony either for use in producing their own local honey or to have their own local bees to pollinate their own organic gardens.

This can be seen in Chicago today. It is now not a completely unusual site to see a beehive on rooftop with a rooftop garden. Beekeeping classes can be found at the Garfield Park Conservatory, The Chicago Honey Co-op and various other places in the Chicagoland area. There even are beehives on the roof of City Hall. Local area restaurants are also getting in on the movement by using only local honey in their dishes.

If you wanted to start your own hive but don’t have a place to put it (or your neighbors would look badly on you for it!), than The Chicago Honey Co-op, a 60-hive apiary in the North Lawndale neighborhood, is the answer. Beekeepers can buy a hive, learn beekeeping and keep in there and tend it themselves or the co-op can take care of it for you. The only rule is that you can’t use any chemicals in your hives. They also have a community farm next store where anyone can plant as long as, again, no chemicals are used.

So it isn’t just about honey and making money off your honey but the health of the bees. Healthy bees pollinating a chemical free garden equals healthy produce for people to eat. It also means a healthier planet. Who wants to eat all those chemicals anyway, raise your hands? Hmm…the air looks empty? Except for all the bees buzzing around...

So next time a bee comes buzzing near you, don’t run away screaming – thank him for all the work he does for you and promise him you will buy organic.

The Vanishing of the Bees Film:
http://www.vanishingbees.com/

Garfield Park Conservatory:
http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/

The Chicago Honey Co-op
http://www.chicagohoneycoop.com/

List of crop pollinated by bees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees

Information on Systemic Pesticides:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/systemic-pesticides-zm0z10zrog.aspx

"Buzzy" the Protesting Bee illustrations are original designs by KimKat - please do not copy without permission

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