by kevin, on September 7th, 2009
Aleida and I spent a big chunk of yesterday in what is quickly becoming our favorite community: Mar Vista, California. We previously posted about other events in this community where we participated – GoSolar Mar Vista and Wise Water Use Expo. Every week the Mar Vista Green Committee sets up a booth at the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market located on Grand View at Venice. They invite a different guest each week to engage the community on a specific sustainable issue – our favorite sustainable materials was this weeks issue.
I have to admit that when invited to participate, I wasn’t sure how well construction materials would be received at a farmers’ market. My original plan was to figure out some conceptual link between food and materials. That’s an easier connection to make when working with clients like Whole Foods Market, but more difficult in the abstract with individual local home owners. I could easily talk about the vast amounts of water and energy consumed in large scale industrialized agriculture and food manufacturing, which would probably reinforce the value of locally sourced food and support the rapidly growing farmers market movement. The farmers’ market is currently the fastest growing urban food venue in the nation. According to the USDA, there are more than 4,800 markets operating throughout the country, with forty-four in New York City alone. However, that topic seemed like it would be difficult to maintain for more than four hours without citing the same statistics over and over.
In the end, I decided the booth should just be an information resource. Mar Vista has an incredibly active green community. Our research has discovered that some of the best sustainable materials require a great deal of digging to find. Showcasing some of our favorite finds might be enough to spark interesting conversations about the kinds of materials available to anyone seeking more environmentally friendly options for home building or renovation projects. I had no idea how the community would react. Lucky for Aleida and me, they were wonderfully receptive. I hope to return again to show another batch of interesting finds.
Thanks to Sherri Akres and Jeanne Kuntz of the Mar Vista Green Committee for the invitation and help with the booth. Sherri was a great circus barker and really did a great job getting people interested in what we were showing. I look forward to more events in Mar Vista. Each time I visit I’m more impressed by this amazing community. Go to Open Mar Vista for a sampling of what they are up to.
The Mar Vista Green Committee also posted a blog about the event at their site – here.