Plastic Sea Monster crashes Marin’s Green County Fair
I’ve bragged about how green we are here in the Bay Area before, right? Well, leave it to Marin County to host what it called “The Greenest County Fair On Earth” this past weekend. Powered by solar and biodiesel, providing compostable containers and flatware as well as recycling and compost stations to collect them, offering many opportunities for environmental education throughout the fair, and actually becoming a Bay Area Certified Green Business last year, the Marin County Fair is the last place you’d expect to see a lot of plastic, right?
Well, as great as it was, nothing is perfect, and there’s always room for improvement. Plenty of fairgoers were drinking from disposable plastic bottles which had been provided by a few of the vendors. Enter the Plastic Sea Monster! I was actually invited to come and hang out with fairgoers, educate them about plastic, hand out some small flyers, play with the kids and accost the adults. And that’s what I did. For two days. In baking heat. Inside slowly photodegrading plastic. Man, was I happy to get that costume off of me on Saturday night and enjoy the fair like a real person.
Here are a few photos of the event. I was sorry to miss Deborah Hladecek from the Puremothers blog who showed up Saturday evening. We should have exchanged cell phone numbers since we were both there at the same time. She has more photos of the Marin County Fair on her blog. Don’t miss the cutest little piglets you’ve ever seen.
Eco stations:
Solar-powered carousel:
Solar-powered stage:
Corie from Clean Conscience Goods, a company that offers tote bags and other products made in the United States from recycled water bottles. These are not the cheap recycled bags you find in the grocery store but are actual sturdy cloth that looks and feels like canvas.
Alan Godley from Blue Dolphin Alliance who is trying to help people see the connection between about how our actions here on land affect the health of our oceans.
Richard Renner and his Recycle Cycle.
Also in attendance, Betty Biodiesel, riding around on her little biodiesel-powered scooter and doing interviews with other eco folks, like me! Stay tuned for the web interview to be posted soon.
All in all, two productive, fun, and exhausting days. And as Stuart from Green Sangha advised, I probably need to detox after sweating in all that plastic. It’s all for the cause.
Oops, Corie. Sorry for misspelling your name. I've corrected the post now! It was great to meet you.
Cara, believe it or not that bag came from Target. One of my friends saw it and bought it for me. It's actually made from organic cotton, and it has zero plastic on it. There is an organic cotton tag that is attached with twine. But this was over a year ago, so I doubt Target still carries the same bags.
I didn't have time to get into the carnival section where all the rides and games were, so I missed the plastic toys. Thanks for pointing them out! I'll mention it to fair organizers, for sure, at the same time that I mention the bottled water.
Michael pointed out how ironic it was to be smelling the wafting smoke of barbecue while petting cows. That made me sad. The piglets sure were cute, though.
Did you guys who went get to see all the beautiful art projects? One that left me ambivalent was the decorated reusable water bottle competition — because the bottles were plastic Aladdin bottles, presumably donated by that company. Better because they are reusable. But I don't want to drink out of any plastic.
Lara — actually Betty Biodiesel was interviewing me, so the interview is just the same old stuff about plastic that I always spout. 🙂