Green Festivals - CHICAGO GOES GREEN IN RECORD NUMBERS!

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CHICAGO GOES GREEN IN RECORD NUMBERS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Becky Wisdom/Cheryl Roth
OrganicWorks Marketing
212.253.0474
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CHICAGO GOES GREEN IN RECORD NUMBERS!
City’s First Green Festival 2007 Draws More Than 31,000

Chicago, IL (May 03, 2007) – The Chicago Green Festival, a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America, drew a record event attendance of 31,133 people. The world’s largest green living consumer show took place from April 21 – 22 (Earth Day) at McCormick Place – Lakeside in Chicago.

The event showcased more than 350 diverse local and national green businesses displaying and selling eco-friendly, fair trade and sustainable products. More than 150 environmental, socially conscious and visionary speakers appeared for standing-room-only panel discussions, presentations and main stage speaking events.

Green Festivals are an important part of a powerful environmental and social justice movement that is generating economic stability and vitality across the country. With its record attendance, Chicago Green Festival was a landmark event for Green Festivals, the city of Chicago and the Midwestern United States. “Once again, we’ve had record-breaking attendance at Green Festival, which certainly demonstrates that green is now mainstream,” explains Co-op America Executive Director Alisa Gravitz. “It is so inspiring to see such an enthusiastic response and desire for information and inspiration about green living. People are telling us that ‘the green life is the good life’ – and embracing it in great numbers.”

Consumers, in all shades of green, were given an unlimited opportunity to shop with their conscience and “vote with their dollars” as they either introduced or further embraced a change to healthier, greener ways of living and a thriving green economy. This year’s Chicago Green Festival also demonstrated another record-breaking achievement with only 8% of show waste going to area landfills. Of the show’s 20,680 lbs. of waste, 92% was diverted to area composting, recycling and recovery facilities, with a total of only 1,760 lbs. sent to landfills.

Chicago Green Festival 2007 Highlights:

Kick-off with Mayor Richard M. Daley
First-ever City of Chicago Pavilion with green art installations and eco-boutique
2008 U.S. Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich’s “Earth Day” address
Green Collar Jobs presentation by outspoken African American activist Van Jones
Fighting Global Warming talk by Bill McKibben
David Wolfe’s Naked Chocolate presentation
Chris O’Brien’s advice on how to Drink Beer and Save The World
Amy Goodman’s lively discussion on Independent Media in a Time of War
Chicago Magazine's First Annual Green Awards
Hybrid Car Giveaway
Community Action tents and Green Living Workshops

”The credit for such a successful turnout at Chicago’s first Green Festival really belongs to the residents of the City and surrounding areas,” said Chicago Environment Commissioner Sadhu Johnston. “The City of Chicago will continue to do its part, but the residents showed that they are more than willing to step up to the plate to help us protect and preserve our environment.”

The next scheduled Green Festivals will be October 6-7, 2007 at the Washington DC Convention Center and November 9 – 11, 2007 at San Francisco’s Concourse Exhibition Center.

Chicago Green Festival 2007 Partners
American Apparel, Annie’s Homegrown, Annie’s Naturals, CDM (Camp Dresser McKee), Chicago Magazine, City of Chicago, Chicago Sun Times, Cisco Brothers, Conscious Choice, Energy Star, Fantastic World Foods, Goodness Greenness, Green Exchange, Interface Flor, Kimpton Hotels, NBC 5, NOLS, Organic Valley, Planktos, Sundance Channel/Comcast, Seventh Generation, Shore Bank, Simple Shoes, SustainLane, TS Designs, WCPT, WLIT, WNUA, Whole Foods, Yoga Now

About Co-op America
Co-op America is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1982 with the mission to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—and to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
www.coopamerica.org

About Global Exchange
Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Since its founding in 1988, Global Exchange has successfully increased public awareness of root causes of injustice while building international partnerships and mobilizing for change. www.globalexchange.org

For more information about Green Festivals, or Global Exchange and Co-op America, please visit www.greenfestivals.org, www.globalexchange.org and www.coopamerica.org .

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