Foundation Exhibits at the First Annual Green Festival, and Opening of Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian
The Forest Foundation (TFF) exhibited at this year’s first, annual Green Festival in Washington, DC. on September 18th and 19th at the Washington Convention Center! The Festival is coordinated by Global Exchange and Co-op America, two progressive non-profits who started the highly successful Green Festival project in 2002 in San Francisco.
This is the first year it has been brought to the east coast and is a great opportunity to influence a center of American leadership at a crucial time in our history. Leading edge organizations represented included: renewable energy companies, in wind, hydroelectric and fuel cell; sustainable builders; fair trade importers of crafts and commodities, like coffee and chocolate; natural body care and no sweetshop apparel producers.
Though the percent of the US economy represented by these businesses is currently small, these progressive models for socio-economic and environmental interactions are vital and growing rapidly. The Festival will also have prominent speakers and community leaders, like the populist, Jim Hightower, and the founder and activist Medea Bejamin from Code Pink and Global Exchange.
According to organizers, “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. The most important outcome of these events is to get more people involved in the green economy movement.” Their goal is to help “…facilitate opportunities, networks and connections that strengthen organizations, new businesses or inspire individuals to find more ways to make a difference. This is an amazing time of transformation….” as we move towards a systems approach to the world. “We hope that 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.”
The Forest Foundation sold some of its world-class crafts from biologically diverse countries, which support an array of conservation and sustainable development projects. It was also successful in networking network with other organizations to build new models of green businesses, which can service the communities and entrepreneurs living in and around the last great places of biodiversity.
Foundation President, Marc Dreyfors says, “We came away from this with not only some funding, but a stack of business cards that may help further some of projects, like our efforts to service the United Nations Development Program’s Global Environmental Facility field projects with market access and product development.
While in DC, Foundation representatives participated in the ceremonial opening of Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian, for which one of the Foundation’s artisan groups had been invited (See TFF Press Release: “Balata Artisans plan visit to US a part of Foundations’ Artisans on Tour Program”). The Foundation offered its green business development services to some of the indigenous communities who exhibited at the Indian Market, including Fundacion Chol-Chol and Amazon Alliance; and provided the new Museum’s buyers with product information from some of the Foundation’s indigenous artisans from the Americas, like the Maya Highland Womens’ Group, who produce natural colored cotton textiles; and The Caribe Indians on the isle of Dominica, who produce beautiful basketry.
For more information contact the Foundation or go to: http://www.greenfestivals.com, or http://www.si.edu/nmai.