Go Green Expo this weekend!

Go Green Expo is this weekend at the LA Convention Center.   Sponsored by CBS Television, the event will showcase the latest and greatest in all things green & eco-friendly.  There will be300+ eco-exhibits of green home & building, eco-fashion, health & beauty, and so much more...

Speakers include:  Ed Begley Jr., Mariel Hemingway, John Picard, Jen Boulden, Eric Corey Freed, Janyi Chase, Bryan Welch & others.

If you're interested in learning about creating an eco-friendly and healthier home for you and your family, come to the panel event, "Creating an Eco-logical Home" on Saturday, January 23 at 2pm.   This panel discussion will cover many important aspects of a green home with a focus on addressing the contaminants and toxins found in our living environments.  I'll be on the panel alongside the following incredible eco experts:

- Moderator:  Nancy Astrid Lindo of Astrid Design Studio
- Eric Corey Freed:  Organic Architect - Green Architect, Author
- L. Axil Comras:  Green Home -  Product and Eco living specialist
- Shawn Berry:  Woodshanti -  Furniture and finish expert
- Stacey Champion:  Champion Indoors - Indoor Environmentalist Specialist
- Jennifer Schwab:  Sierra Club Green Home - Director of Sustainability
-Davida Heller:  Ecospire - Green Building Consultant

Other features are: an Eco-Food & Spirits Tasting pavilion, Green Job Expo with a dozen top companies, Eco-Film Festival with over a dozen captivating films, Eco-Pet Expo with speakers, organic & natural pet products, Kids interactive pavilion with free yoga, rock climbing wall, eco-artwork & more.

There will aslo be a display of the latest hybrid & electric cars and panel discussion of the future of transportation.

Friday Jan 22nd is the Business to Business & Press / VIP day for business executives & procurement professionals who buy for their companies.

Sat. & Sun. Jan. 23rd - 24th is for all consumers, families & business professionals.

For details & tickets go to the Go Green Expo website - for 50% off (only $5) use promo code gge50

Hope to see you all there!

Start the holidays early this Wednesday with "Celebration of Living Foods"

Kick off the holidays early this year with a night of "Celebration of Living Foods"! 

Whether you're curious about Raw Foods or you're a seasoned connoisseur, Chef Rod Rotondi of Leaf Organics will sharing his knowledge and passion for raw foods as well as provide tasty raw food appetizers from Leaf.  He'll also be debuting his DVD  "Raw Food for Real People".

Organized by Kris Willey, creator of Women of The Green Generation, guests will induldge in delicious vegetarian cuisine, decadent guilt free desserts, super food snacks and tonics, soothing herbal teas, and more!

The event will be hosted at Dan Vandenbark's Vernare Living Showroom with an amazing art exhibition of new works by Anita Rosenberg and Dragan Mrdja

Special Charity Raffle with incredible prizes - All proceeds of raffle to benefit Yoga Gives Back.

Here are the details:  
Date: Wednesday November 18, 2009   

Time: 7:00 - 11:00 PM

Where: Vernare's Living Showroom

607 N. Huntley Drive

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Cost: $10 suggested donation helps keep this event sustainable

All are welcome to attend!

Event accepts cash and checks only or you can use a credit card for advance purchase via pay pal at The Women of The Green Generation website.   Please RSVP: Kris 310.310.5692 - bhaktiyogagirl@msn.com

Parking:  Please note street parking is limited.  You can park at a meter, which are free after 6 pm, but read all signs as some areas are by permit only.

Best option is to park at the Pacific Design Center on Melrose, which is apx. one block from Vernare.  Lot is located at 8687 Melrose Ave.  West Hollywood, CA 90069.

Confirmed Sponsors:

Chef Rod Rotondi of Leaf Organics, Large Marge Sustainables, Truly Raw Gourmet, Tia's Bakery, Amazon Herb Co.Dynamics of Nature, EcoUsable, LA Yoga, Afford Eco, Yoga Gives Back and more!

Recycled Jose Cuervo Bottles = Art?

The curtain of hanging clear glass circles and squares twinkled as you walked by them at the entrance of Environment Furniture on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles on Monday night.   "These glass squares are made from Jose Cuervo bottles," a woman standing nearby explained to a crowd of admirers.   Are we talking about the same glass squares?

Indeed we were.  The woman was jewelry designer Kathleen Plate and this was the launch party for her new recycled glass home collection.   The collection includes recycled glass pillows, chandeliers, lamps, wall art, glass curtains and dresses all made from recycled beer, wine, soda and yes...tequila bottles.

Chandelier

Kathleen's been designing art pieces from recycled materials for fifteen years.  Growing up in Atlanta, she was an environmentalist, before she knew "that that was a thing.  I thought everyone's mom made them compost and reuse their plastic baggies."

Kathleen with Pillow Design

Her work with recycled bottles started when she received a phone call from the Director of New Product Development at Coca-Cola.  Coke wanted her to get creative using their bottles. At that time she was working with the front of bottles, pieces of glass with the logos intact that she would melt and flatten out.  One day, she sliced a bottle horizontally to cut a circle and her new design style was born.  She slices the bottles and tempers them, working with about nine different colors.

Although she has no formal design training, her dress designs walked the catwalk at LA Fashion Week two years ago.  When asked if she saw her dresses as art or fashion, Kathleen replied, "the highest form of fashion is art...they are conceptual fashion."

Top of Dress

As far as Kathleen's carbon footprint, she uses only recycled bottles for her designs, never wasting any part of the bottle, whether for use in a current project or she saves them for future ones.  All the frames are made from iron scraps.  She's very proud that her studio's utility bill is just $35 a month, considering she uses a kiln for her designs.  "There's very little impact," Kathleen says.  They also recycle the water used in the machinery for landscaping at the studio.  

When asked what inspires her, Kathleen's response was, "I love people to know they can do something they love...its the ultimate alchemy."

Wall Pieces

Her handmade dress designs go for between $3,000 - 5,000 and the home decor hanging pieces sell for approximately $250 per square foot.   Prices for other items vary.  Kathleen's home decor line can be seen on display at Environment Furniture at 8126 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90048.

350.org Event - Blogger Beach Clean Up 10/24/09

Yesterday afternoon a large group of concerned citizens set out to clean the Santa Monica beach between lifeguard station 26 and 27.  We collected 38 pounds of trash in just 20 minutes at the beach clean up event organized by Siel (Green La Girl) and Sara Bayes (The Daily Ocean) for 350.org as part of Day for International Climate Action.  We heard valuable talks from Heal The Bay, Cicle, Sustainable Works and NRDC.

350.org is Bill McKibbins website that states "350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that science and justice demand." 350 refers to 350 parts per million, the highest level of CO2 in our atmosphere that is safe for humans.  We're currently at 387 ppm.  So we have some work to do

What I took away from the event is reaffirmation in what I truly believe in.  It really doesn't take much to make a positive impact.  In just 20 minutes we removed 38 pounds of waste that otherwise would be sitting there polluting our beaches and harming our wildlife.  As was said at the event, if we all just pick one thing to take on this year to battle climate change, it will make a difference.  Among other things, I've taken on riding my bike to the gym instead of driving which gives me an extra 3 miles of a work out.

Any thoughts on what you want to take on?