Consumer consumption is bad guy at Green Frontier Fest

By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Listen to activists at Sunday's Green Frontier Fest and the theme is clear: The creed of American consumers - that we need more of everything all the time - needs to end if we are to stop global warming.

"We can remake the dream that bigger is better," said actress Daryl Hannah. "The 'bling thing' is literally killing us and everything we touch."

Thousands of convention-goers filled the sculpture park at the Denver Performing Arts Complex for the festival, eyeing new green technologies, such as giant wind turbine blades and solar-powered home packs.

Mayor John Hickenlooper led a parade of 100 bikes from LoDo to the festival to highlight the giant bike share that will operate throughout the week, an effort to minimize driving and CO2 emissions as 50,000 politicos, journalists and visitors descend on the Mile High City for the Democratic National Convention.

One woman floated through the crowd in a ball gown made of plastic grocery and newspaper bags. Her ruffled parasol matched.

A steady line of hot, thirsty people formed at a Denver Water truck as they waited to refill their water bottles, a free service designed to reduce the plastic containers that were already quickly filling blue recycling bins on the grounds.

"It's been great," said Teri Chavez, a Denver Water staffer keeping an eye on the taps. The utility, one of several helping the city with its greening work, will have trucks stationed around town all week to help people refill their bottles.

Dozens of vendors, many of them young and hungry for new green commerce, set up shop at the fair.

Carline Jorgensen was staffing the eco hatchery booth. The California start-up is offering home kits, for $97.50, that her company claims will help homeowners shrink their CO2 emissions by 2.4 metric tons annually.

Surrounded by lines of people waiting for her explanation of how the kits worked, she said she was thrilled to be at the Green Frontier Fest.

"It's the first one we've been too. I think we'll going to a lot more."

smithj@RockyMountainNews. com or 303-954-5474

Top eco-hip items from Green Frontier Fest

1 Things to shrink Fido's carbon footprint: biodegradable poop bags and kitty litter made from plants, such as wheat or corn. Why: Plastic grocery bags used to pick up after pets last decades in landfills and traditional kitty litter relies on clay that is strip-mined. For more: petsgonegreen.com

2 Mythic Paint, nontoxic, fumeless. Developed using a special resin patented by the University of Southern Mississippi. The paint is water-based and tougher than some nontoxic paints because it was built to be nontoxic - it wasn't altered from old, petroleum-based formulas, according to its makers. Comes in 1,200 socially responsible colors: mythicpaint.com

3 To-go sandwich containers made from sugar cane. Unlike the traditional container your fast-food cheeseburger comes in, these biodegrade, according to their manufacturer, Eco-Products, of Boulder: ecoproducts.com.

4 Eco-hatchery home starter kits. If you can't afford a Prius this year, promoters say this home kit, which includes a reusable water bottle with its own carbon filter, a thermostat for your freezer, an electricity meter for your appliances, and water-saving faucet attachments, will shrink your home's carbon footprint by 2.4 metric tons: ecohatchery.com.

5 Cooler-than-cool home "ice" conditioners. Made in Windsor, they make ice at night, when peak electricity loads are low, and then use the ice to help cool homes and offices during the day: www.ice-energy.com.

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