Finding out what green means at Green Festival in Seattle

Nearly 38 years after the first Earth Day, what does it mean to be green?

Maybe green means furiously pedalling a stationary bike to power a laptop or a video monitor, like the guys from Planet Green (a new cable channel launching this summer) at Saturday's Green Festival.

Or perhaps it means nibbling on organic chocolate, or buying your cat the right variety of grain-based kitty litter (both corn and wheat were on display). Or subscribing to the appropriate magazine — nearly a dozen had booths at the show, from stalwarts like Mother Jones and The Nation to newer publications such as Yes! and Plenty.

The Green Festival, which continues today at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, offered hundreds, if not thousands, of possible answers to what green means. Which, organizer Alisa Gravitz said, was pretty much the point.

"Our intention is that every person come up with one more idea about something they can do in their own lives, and then share that with others," Gravitz said.

The event, co-sponsored by Gravitz's group, Co-op America, and Global Exchange, combined the consumer side of the green movement with the activist wing. Speakers included political commentator and author Jim Hightower and John ("Confessions of an Economic Hit Man") Perkins; the advocacy group Oceana asked attendees to petition Costco to post warning signs about mercury in fish.

The idea, Gravitz said, is for people to make connections between their individual choices and larger issues.

"When you make a commitment to recycle, you're reducing waste, but you're also taking a stand that everyone should be able to live in a safe, healthy community, and to stop putting dumps in low-income communities."

But perhaps the clearest illustration of being green occurred not at any of the booths and displays on the convention floor, but out on the convention center's loading dock. That's where Shawn Postma and several other volunteers on the "greening team" were diligently sorting through bags and bags and bags of what most folks would dismiss as rubbish — refuse from the festival.

"I wanted to do something really directly involved with recycling," said Postma, who was helping fill one bag (made of biodegradable plastic, of course) with plastic wrapping, another with hard plastic packing straps, and a third with empty shelf-stable beverage boxes. "The most important jobs are the dirtiest, I guess."

Nearby, another volunteer used a utility knife to methodically disassemble used food tubs. The metal rims were set aside to be recycled; the food-stained cardboard, unsuitable for recycling, will be sent to an industrial composter.

"In there they talk about being sustainable — back here we are sustainable," said Kristen Kennedy, who oversaw the operation. "Here is where the rubber meets the road."

But the rubber also could meet the roof: Back inside the show, State Roofing of Monroe displayed Euroshake roofing tiles made from old auto tires. Other vendors offered messenger bags made from recycled rubber and salvaged seat belts.

While studying in China five years ago, Bryan Parks, of Eugene, Ore., began wondering how many trees were cut down to make the billions of chopsticks that restaurants routinely tossed into the street. About 25 million a year, he learned.

So Parks started fiddling with chopsticks to find another use for them. Now his company, Kwytza Chopstick Art, makes folding baskets, magazine holders, place mats and other items out of used chopsticks (scrubbed and boiled, of course).

So what does green mean to Parks?

"Working toward doing something positive for the planet," he said. "Our products are made from something that would otherwise go into the trash, so that's one thing, but they also get people thinking about recycling."

Drew DeSilver: 206-464-3145 or ddesilver@seattletimes.com