The annual Evanston Green Living Festival marked its fifth year Saturday with alternative energy displays and over 80 exhibitions – more than double the turnout at its 2006 debut.
“We want to expose people to a lot of products, services and ideas that will help them follow practices as far as leading a green life,” said Rick Nelson, event co-chair.
The festival, hosted by the Evanston Environmental Association and the City of Evanston, was created five years ago to encourage attendees to shrink their carbon footprint, Nelson said. At the Evanston Ecology Center, 2024 McCormick Blvd., each exhibitor showcased a product or service in line with that goal.
Compared to the approximately 30 exhibitions its inaugural year, the event has grown significantly in size, Nelson said.
One booth exhibited the latest iteration of NU’s solar car. Ignacio Estrada, head of outreach for NU Solar, said the team was invited to display the car and explain how its solar panels convert sunlight into electricity to generate power.
“We just like being involved in the community,” the McCormick sophomore said. “I hope that it makes people see that it’s actually possible to build something that works and is usable using that kind of energy instead of gas.”
Another exhibitor was Working Bikes Cooperative, a non-profit organization that repairs bicycles for sale and charity.
Its mission is to divert bicycles from the “waste stream” and enable gently used bikes to be reused, WBC volunteer Phil Kaplan said. The bikes are then donated to areas such as Ghana, Tanzania and Angola.
“What we take for granted is transportation for them,” said Kaplan, who also worked for the Environmental Protection Association for 30 years. “It can make all the difference in their worlds.”
Event co-chair Claire Alden said the festival serves as a productive way to raise support and awareness for local organizations like the WBC.
“It’s important to realize that it’s time we start to seriously take care of our earth,” Alden said.
Chicago resident Stephanie Kelsen said she brought her two children to the event to educate them on the value of recycling.
“We need to preserve what we have and hope we’ll be able to reverse the damage we’ve done,” Kelsen said.
Nelson said the event can encourage people to make adjustments to their lifestyle that are modest but meaningful.
“Hopefully, they’ll walk away with maybe one or three or five things that really left an impression on them,” Nelson said, “and those things actually fit in with their lives and will actually make them achieve that greener life they’re interested in leading.”
