With the warmer weather (89 degrees for us today) comes the season of the sustainability fair.

Last Fall I went to the national Green Festival with Real Diaper Association and Mothering Magazine. While I can’t deny that it was great to see what the bigger national companies are doing to promote greener living, I find myself more excited about my local sustainability fair, Live Green in Salt Lake City, which is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Rather than a focus on the tightly LoHaS marketed national brands, I get to see and chat with the same people who cook food I like to eat, who grow the plants I put in my yard, who write articles I read, and even people with whom I sit through meetings as we plan local educational programs. These are my people, and they are all gathering together.

Do you have a local sustainability fair? Check local free weekly papers, the Buy-Local council, or farmers market if you don’t already know whether you have a local green fair.

Did you Step It Up over the weekend? Next comes Earth Day. A lot of Earth Day events are focusing on climate action. If you haven’t done so already, how about calculating your carbon footprint or your ecological footprint. I did this recently for a discussion class I took on global warming, and I was surprised what a difference it made to visit Granny and Grandpa in England. Ouch. 75% of our family’s carbon emissions for the year.

One thing I have noticed in the dozen or more calculators I’ve seen is: no diapers. You and I both know that using environmentally sound renewable resources to create reusable diapers makes a difference. Where is this choice in all of the detailed calculators? If you use a calculator and you don’t see diapering choices listed, write a note to mention it to the calculator authors. Maybe they hadn’t considered what an impact reusable diapers have, especially when compared with the massive solid waste problem of throwaway plastic diapers.

Step It Up : http://stepitup2007.org/
Earth Day Network : http://www.earthday.net/
Carbon Calculator (one of many): http://www.safeclimate.net/calculator/

Here I am, just back from a weekend in San Jose, California, at BlogHer, a conference for blogging women. My host and friend Heather of Very Commerce also spoke, and we roomed with the other third of the Very Empire, Jessica.

I volunteered to give a case study of Firefly Diapers as a business blog at a business blogging (un)panel. Moderators are compiling notes from the session to draft a business blogging best practices document.

My main contribution will be my suggestion to have a plan before starting. I spoke about the fact that, before I started the Firefly Diapers blog, I created guidelines for what should and should not be included. I told the 50-75 people present what worked and what didn’t work with my plan and with this blog.

That’s the news behind the news!

OK. Maybe not everywhere but certainly beyond northern California.

‘Tis the season of green festivals and conferences, from family educational events to serious business conferences to gatherings of thoughtful visionaries. Is there a green event close to you? Grab a neighbor and a friend of a friend to share car space, and tell them all about natural living and sustainability.

> > CURRENTLY MISSING (unless you are more fortunate than I).

16th Annual Bioneers Conference
San Rafael, CA
October 14 – 16, 2OO5
See it on DVD.

The Bioneers Conference is a hub of practical solutions for restoring the Earth – and people. It’s a thriving network of visionary innovators working with nature to heal nature. The Bioneers draw from four billion years of evolutionary intelligence and apply the knowledge in practical ways to serve human ends harmlessly.

> > UPCOMING EVENTS. Make your plans now.

3rd Annual Co-op America Green Business Conference
San Francisco, CA
November 1-4,
Prior to the Green Festival November 5-6

Starving for a green connection?

Roll up your sleeves and get ready to bite into the green business revolution at this hands-on conference. Learn from your peers in this value-packed three-day event as you discuss the many ways to build your business and a prosperous sustainable economy.

Green Festival
San Francisco, CA
November 5 & 6, 2005

Green Festivals is a movement building event. Our intent is to diffuse an economic model based on life affirming values, an economy built on human rights, equity, art and an understanding that all life is interconnected and interdependent.

This is an amazing time of transformation from a life destroying to a life affirming culture. We hope that as part of this transformation, Green Festivals is a catalyst helping to chart a course through the reorganization of our economy so that we can heal our biosphere and nurture all communities, all people, all species.

> > MISSED earlier this year.

10th Annual SolFest
Solar Living Center, Hopland, CA
August 20-21, 2005

Family event with music, speakers, and exhibits.

Green Festival
Washington, D.C.
September 24-25, 2005

Organizational Structure

We try our best to be as inclusive as possible in decision-making embracing a holonarchic organizational structure.

Fair Trade Futures Conference
Chicago, IL
September 30 – October 2, 2005

The focus of this conference is bringing together people and organizations committed to Living a Fair Trade Life and to achieving social justice and change through the market, to celebrate the best, learn from our experiences, to create strategies to work collaboratively to strengthen the Fair Trade movement in North America.

The Conference Planning Council especially welcomes companies that are just starting to engage in Fair Trade and want to bring these principles into the core of their activities. Come, listen, learn, ask your questions and get inspired to join us on the journey to living a Fair Trade Life.

If you have a green festival or conference to add to my list, let me know. If you were there, give me a report. I have not attended any of these gatherings. Maybe you can help me decide where to start.