Green Saturday - Earth Day edition!!

Earth Fair San Diego was today. I love Earth Fair, a packed event that usually brings up to 70,000 people, with lots of food, drinks, music, not-for-profit organizations and just plain cool stuff. We had a blast, and it was a great way to introduce the kiddos to some concepts that they may not quite understand. It all started with the bus.



It was parked right outside the park (well, one of the 14 entrances anyway. The fair takes up the WHOLE park.) and it belongs to one of the many religious organizations that have booths. (The Twelve Tribes.) That's one of the great (and not-so-wonderful) things about the fair. Not only are there plenty of options to clean your home, clean our air and our water, but there are lots of ways to cleanse your soul, too, should you desire a new enlightenment. I like these booths, as religion seems to breed deep thinkers. And so does non-religion, it seems. The ladies and gentlemen at the Atheist Coalition booth are always very friendly and willing to chat if they're not swamped. The thing that I find upsetting is that there are anti-abortion protestors there every year. Children holding huge posters and wearing awful tee shirts. Children, 7, 8, 10 year olds who can't possibly grasp the concept of what they're protesting against. Sigh. Okay, back to the fun!




The kiddos had fun. At every exhibit that had the possibility of being cool, Thing one asked if he could bring his little sister. So they checked out Brittle Stars with the lovely ladies from USD...




And saw an American Alligator with the folks from Sea World and Conservation International . . .




And Sam got to make his very own paper. It's actually a pledge to keep every day Earth Day, and he did a very good job. So good that the local news station filmed and interviewed him! Let's hope one of our friends has a working cable box as ours won't record programming right now.








A few of the other great companies there were Simple. shoes, made of sustainable products. They even make DIY shoes and a DIY Bag (it's cool, too!) And they have the cutest infant shoes ever, with little felt piggies on them. Seriously, if you haven't seen thses and you have a little one, check 'em out!


I was also introduced to Veterans For Peace. They are a national organization founded in 1985. It is structured around a national office in Saint Louis, MO and comprised of members across the country organized in chapters or as at-large members. There is an annual convention each year attended by our members, families and supporters from across the nation. Members receive periodic VFP publications.
The organization includes men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations including from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), World War II, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf and current Iraq wars as well as other conflicts. Our collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary.

If you are a non-veteran, you MAY become a member, and support this cause for the many men and women who cannot. Especially for the women. There are not enough organizations (in my opinion) that recognize women veterans. There are many more now, and quite a few from the war in Iraq. VFP provides a wonderful community for those women.

There was also lots of yummy food (many samples!) We liked the Clif bars. They taste good and are great for little ones because they are like a Granola Bar but less crunchy and with more energy. They were giving out Banana Bread and Cool Mint Chocolate bars. Yum.

All in all it was a lot of fun. The kids (well, Thing One, anyway. . .) learned a few things and we had a good time. Just check this out! (Okay, maybe the little one wasn't diggin' THAT so much . . .)