Co-op America Green Business Conference Day 2

It’s day two.  I came late to the conference today because it was my son’s last day of preschool for the year.  All of the 3&4 year old preschoolers did a little singing program - it was entertaining

What that meant to me was that I missed my girlfriend - ummm  - I mean I missed Sara Snow speak.  Although, that was redeemed when I got here and she was one of the first people I saw.  Today has been a little more laid back.  I sat in on three different panels - both excellent - one from the City of Chicago, one from Chicago business folks, and one with the cofounder/CEO of gDiapers, and president of Seven-Star Events.

Carol Moseley-Brown was here talking about her organics company - yes that Carol Moseley-Brown - the one who ran for President and was a US Senator from Illinois.  She called herself a “recovering politician” and spoke about biodynamic organics.  Biodynamics are most widely associated with wine production, but her company is currently producing teas, spices and coffee in a responsible way.  She hopes to expand this to general nutrition in the near future.

Also on the panel was Erik Larson (not the guy who wrote that Devil in the City book) from Indie Energy.  They are a local geothermal company.  Damn I wish I could afford me some geothermal energy - it makes so much sense - I guess I’m stuck with natural gas and freon - f minus to me.  Their company is taking note from Europe and doing away with the traditional large well rigs - growing up in rural Western PA, I had a well on my property growing up.  I remember very well digging up my yard to get to a part of the well once.  They had to come in with a 40′ boom and drill again.  As you can imagine, in the city, that is not very feasable.  Now they have 8′ boom rigs that can get pretty much anywhere.  One day I’ll find it - the geotherm connection - for lovers and dreamers and me…all of us under it’s spell…you could probably say that it’s magic.  Something like that.  If you don’t know what geothermal heating and cooling is - you’re missing out on an amazing technology that has been around for more than 40 years - only problem is that it is very expensive.  To simplify it, a geothermal installation will heat and cool your property using the core temperature of the earth.  Too bad it’s really friggin expensive.

Last on the panel was the founder of Reusablebags.com.  I had no idea that they were a local company based here in Chicago.  I only have two stores linked off of my blog - the very first was Reusablebags.com.  They are fantastic - what a great store.  Go buy a bunch of stuff from them and get yourself an ACME bag - they rock!  I had a bunch of Chico bags, then I snagged an ACME bag for free when I bought something else from them - the thing is so nice and compact - rockstar!

This conference is very difficult to write about because I could easily write about each and every company featured in depth.  gDiapers is an amazing brand that treats their employees very well.  I’ll save them for another post.  Same with Seven-Star Events.  They are just amazing - last year the Chicago Green Festival had 35,000 people.  They were able to divert 95-98% of the waste from landfill. 

If any of you get the opportunity to attend the Green Business Conference run by Co-Op America - go.  It isn’t very expensive and what you will get out of it will be more than worth every penny you invested. 

After two days of the conference, I am back at my “regular” job - tired and catching up.  Tomorrow I’ll hit the Green Festival and feel part of a community again - not some freak who has worms in his basement or makes rain barrels for fun.  Thanks for listening.

A big thanks to Co-Op America for putting this on and to my friends at Organic Works Marketing!