by kevin, on October 13th, 2009
Four weeks from today, I’ll be heading to Phoenix AZ for the 2009 Greenbuild Expo. For anyone unfamiliar with the annual event, it’s the world’s largest green building conference and expo hosted by the US Green Building Council. Both Aleida and I have attended in the past, but never together. We’re excited that this year we’re increasing our attendance agenda. Here’s some of what we’re looking to accomplish:
Interviews & Conversations. In the past, attending individually, neither Aleida nor I have been able to spend significant time on the expo floor. It was common to have just enough time to breeze through and catch sight of a few new products. Since we’ve been pretty aggressive about our building material research, finding new products on the floor has been like finding a needle in a haystack. But this year, we’ve already started a list of manufacturers that we’ll be interviewing and blogging about. I’ll post a list of confirmed exhibitors later.
Conference Sessions. Last year’s list of master speakers was pretty impressive – Van Jones and Bill McKibben to name just two. This year the list is equally impressive. I’m excited to see Peter Gleick – I’ve been reading his blog about water issues for a while. Other great speakers are scheduled and we’ll blog about them as we attend their sessions.
Book Preview. Al Gore is due to release a new book called Our Choice on November 3. It’s a follow up to An Inconvenient Truth and will focus on solutions. If An Inconvenient Truth was a wake up call, or a call to action, Our Choice will attempt to chart a course toward a sustainable future. I’m working to get an advance copy, hope to post a review here at the time of release, and potentially set up an interview with Mr. Gore during the expo. But I’m being very optimistic. I’ll let you know if any of those move toward fruition.
LA to Phoenix. I’m hoping to use the route to and from Phoenix from Los Angeles to visit some sites that are of interest. One is the Salton Sea and the California Imperial Valley. I’ve recently been reading about remediation efforts at the Sea and farming in the Valley. I’m anxious to see both for myself and will post a blog about that visit.
As the event gets closer I’m certain Aleida and I will be setting up other activities and I’ll do a weekly post to update our progress and schedule. Let us know if you’ll be there, we would love to meet anyone interested in getting together. And tell us any exhibitors or speakers you think we should check out.
I really liked your blog!