Friday, November 21, 2014

Green Holiday Shopping: A trip to the Green Festival in San Francisco

Fort Mason Center, San Francisco


This past weekend I attended the Green Festival that was held in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center. According to their website the Green Festival is:


"a vibrant, dynamic marketplace where companies and organizations come to showcase their green products and services, and where people go to learn how to live healthier, more sustainable lives. [The] Green Festival is America’s largest and longest-running sustainability and green living event. We bring together the world’s most trusted companies, innovative brands, national and local businesses, pioneering thinkers, and conscious consumers in one place to promote the best in sustainability and green living."


I love finding new and innovative companies that are doing their best to be good stewards of our environment. I think this is an especially good time to find new products since we are fast approaching the holiday season. Overall I was very impressed with the amount of vendors and products that were being showcased at this festival. It had a little bit of everything, food, cleaning products, toys, clothing, cosmetics etc. I was also very happy to see a large conscious effort to make sure that all the recycling, compost and landfill items were properly disposed of during the event. (There were a ton of sample cups and products that were being used) There were many wonderful vendors to choose from but I think my favorite new and innovative, environmentally-friendly products were the following:


1. Chicza (www.chiczaUSA.com)

I tried the cinnamon flavor
This cool gum is stated as being "the only 100% certified organic, biodegradable, and sustainable chewing gum." I have heard of a lot of different products turning what they offer into more sustainable and organic etc. but I have never thought about chewing gum. The gum tasted good and lasted a good length of time while I chewed a sample around the festival. I think a biodegradable gum is such a good idea, it means seeing less gum permanently caked to the sidewalks. According to their product info, "once disposed of, its all-natural components will become dust within weeks." I think this would make a great stocking stuffer for the gum lover in your family. It retails for about $1.50 per pack via their online store. Check Chicza out and what they are doing to make your favorite chewing pastime more friendly to Mother Earth.



2. Khordz (www.Khordz.com)
Nothing went to waste, their business card
had extra paracord on it from their mugs

We love reusable coffee mugs in both our On the Leesh offices (In SF & NYC) and we are always looking for cool new mugs to use for our morning coffee.  Dan and Krista, the makers of Khordz, want to help eliminate plastics from the oceans (something we are also passionate about) and so together they created these awesome reusable coffee mugs out of glass, mason like, jars and 25ft of paracord. These adorable mugs would make a great holiday beverage holder. I am thinking your next mug of holiday eggnog would look pretty good in one of these adorable and sustainable mugs. Check them out on their website here: Khordz


Great looking mugs




3. EZ WYP (http://www.ezwyp.com/about.html)


These are cool biodegradable, chemical and alcohol-free wet wipes that come in a super small container that goes anywhere. The little wipe comes in tiny tablet form and you just add water when you need one. They have a nifty carrying dispenser that easily allows you to add water to them on the go. It is amazingly small and portable, and the wipes I tried were great for cleaning up my hands after snacking on food samples at the festival. This would make an excellent addition to any purse or diaper bag. You can learn more at: Ez WYP

Ez-wyp booth



4. Green Creativity Kits for Kids.

Our friends from the Monterey Bay Aquarium had a booth at the festival this year. They were doing fun photo booths, taking the time to educate people about getting plastics out of our oceans and about their Seafood Watch program (you can check out the video we did together here to learn more). At their booth they were also selling items featured in their gift shop at the Aquarium. One of these items was the Green Creativity Kits that allow your kid to make all kinds of cool toys, jewelry etc. by recycling discarded products such as plastic bags, newspapers and plastic bottles. The best one I saw was the plastic monster made out of discarded plastic bags. You can buy these kits at the Aquarium's gift shop or you can also find the kits online at places like Amazon. I have two little nieces that will soon be old enough for creative and fun projects kits like these.

Create your own trash monster 



Dr. Bronners Magical All-One soaps
There were of course many other great companies and products at the festival like the good people at Dr. Bronners Magic all-one soaps and a gal from the Holistic Mom's Network (they had a nursing station that I used while I was walking around - much appreciated). I also stopped by the Wholesome Sweeteners booth that carries a line of fair-trade, organic natural sugars. We use their Organic Blue Agave in our office. Here at On the Leesh/What You Can Do, we encourage you to think about your holiday shopping as a way to not only tell your loved ones how much you care them but to use your dollar to help our earth last a little longer.



  
Happy to see all the recycling going on for sample cups etc.


If you have green/sustainable products that you love and want to share with us - please comment below. We would love to hear from you.

Missy




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