What I learned from #BlogHer09

Despite the impression I might have given in my previous post, “Blogher ’09 and The Story of Stuff,” the BlogHer conference was not only about swag and vendors and overconsumption. The experience had a huge impact on me, bigger than I can properly articulate at this point. But for right now, here are my photos and a few thoughts, in chronological order, beginning with Thursday night.

1) It doesn’t really matter if I order my martini with “no plastic spear” for the olives…

if I drink so much that I end up sick and needing a plastic bottle of this…

2) When we ask for “greener” sponsors, “organic” is not enough.

How organic is a product that is more plastic than food? And that is promoted with a ton of paper waste?

3) Green moms party by hanging out at cocktail parties testing their purses for lead. Thankfully, Jennifer’s XRF Analyzer did not find any lead in my organic hemp purse. Did we really expect it to?

Photo by Lisa Nelson-Woods4) Is a zero waste lunch (durable plates, napkins, utensils, glasses, etc.) negated by the processed Ragu food on the plate?

Photo by not_losing_yet on Flickr
Not when shared with good friends! (Pictured: Lynn from Organicmania.)

5) Singing can pretty much make up for any perceived injustice.

Even if I am not the singer I hope to be some day. :-) (Watch this video at your own risk.)

6) And perhaps convincing Pepsi not to bring Aquafina bottled water to the event was not the coup we thought it was, since plastic cups were provided for flavored Sobe water instead.

I ended up with one plastic cup for my tally, having not thought to bring my travel mug to a cocktail party and being reluctant to run up and get it for fear of missing my turn to sing. :-)

7) But dancing, like singing, can make up for even more perceived injustices! (Diane MacEachern and MC Milker give us something to talk about. Video here.)

8) Meeting the women of the Green Moms Carnival in person, sharing opinions, advice, laughter, T-shirts and plotting our next moves… priceless.

(Lynn Miller from OrganicMania, Micaela Preston from mindful Momma, MC Milker from Not Quite Crunchy Parent, Lisa Nelson-Woods from Condo Blues, Me, and Diane MacEachern from Big Green Purse)

9) I wish I had a travel mug without a plastic top. Working on that. For now, just glad I remembered to bring it in the first place!

Photo by Diane MacEachern10) The women on the Green/Eco Blogging panel discussed leadership and how we decide what products to review and whether they are as safe as the manufacturers tell us they are.

And then we met with one of those manufacturers… a PR rep from Procter & Gamble. Engaged in discussion about phthalates in fragrances and whether big stinky lumps of Bounce fabric softener were appropriate to have left in our hotel rooms.

Photo by Diane MacEachern11) Siel Ju (Green LA Girl) and I discussed how the conference could have been greener. And now she wants your feedback. (Were you there?)

12) Sometimes we have to make choices. I’m glad I chose to have dinner Saturday night with the Green Moms and Karen Hanrahan of Best of Mother Earth who came down to meet us.

Also, really glad to have met Linda Anderson from Citizen Green and Amy Gates from Crunchy Domestic Goddess. Still, I wish I had known this woman was going to be performing at BowlHer that night:

Photo by not_losing_yet on Flickr
It’s Brooke White from American Idol. But since I got to have lunch with this guy…

How can I really complain about anything?

So this was fun… posting my BlogHer photos with little quips, even though several of said quips are kind of… um… negative. But it’s how I’m feeling right now. Actually pretty down in the dumps.

My friend Axelle says I should blog about how depressed I am. Let it out. Be honest. I dunno. Does anyone really want to hear me whine?