Going green and being eco-friendly have become important buzzwords in today’s marketplace, as more and more people are paying attention to the impact that their consumerism has on the environment. And that’s how I found myself at EPIC Vancouver, the Sustainable Living Expo. This small trade show highlights a number of businesses trying to give Mother Nature a helping hand.
Some of the booths were similar to the ones I saw at the Vancouver Home + Interior Design Show several months back, but the scope was broadened significantly beyond artificial turf and bamboo bedsheets. The thing with going green is that you need to look at the whole picture. This includes clothing, food, accessories, cosmetics, healthcare, transportation, and more.
I’m not sure how a didgeridoo to the head, as shown above, is supposed to be particularly sustainable or even healthful, but there you have it. Let’s go through some of the products and services that I encountered.
Saakori disposable dinnerware is quite the interesting concept. It’s meant to replace the plastic cutlery and paper plates that you’d use at something like a backyard barbecue. These sets are made from pressed palm leaves in India. They don’t cut down the leaves either; they wait for them to fall off naturally, then they use a machine to cut and press them into bowls, plates, and cutlery. As a result, your disposable dinnerware is completely biodegradable and will very happily join your compost.
Continuing with India, we have the soapnut. It’s supposed to be a natural detergent that serves as an alternative to the harsh chemicals and such that you’d find in commercial laundry detergent.
Want something a little more natural than Red Bull? This line of drinks is completely organic and comes in a range of flavors and combinations, from RelaxMax and VitalMax to EnergyMax, which happens to a proud sponsor of Whitecaps FC.
The Tesla Roadster. What hasn’t been said about this beauty of a car? It just proves that electric cars can not only look good, but they can be blazing fast too.
Steam Whistle Brewing knows that we want to have good beer, but they’re also doing what they can to help the environment too. They use all natural ingredients, power their brewery with Bull Frog, run their truck fleet on biofuel, heat their water with steam, cool their building with Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling, reduce their waste water output, and use railways for their mass shipments rather than trucks.
Your eyes are not deceiving you. The range of bags from U.S.E.D. are made from 100% recycled seatbelts retrieved from the autowreckers. In some instances, that includes the old seatbelt buckle too! They do handbags, shoulder bags, school bags, totes, and more.
And here are several more highlights from Epic. Click through on any of the thumbnails to see the larger image on Flickr. Surprisingly, I didn’t see too much to address my greatest environmental sin, but the show did address so many other areas of our everyday lives where we could do a better job at being sustainable and eco-friendly.
Great photos you took Michael! Love that first photo for some reason lol “Didgeridoo to the Head”.
-Jean