Green Fest Celebrates Earth While Striving to Save the Planet

By WILLIAM HAGLE

The Festival of Arts grounds transformed this past weekend with Endangered Planet Foundation's One Earth/One Dream festival as vendors, performers and speakers celebrated the earth and its creatures while educating people on how to best protect the planet. Jon Sherman of Dryad Flutes, manning one of about 30 vendor booths, was unfazed by skinnier than projected crowds at the first-time event. "It's an opportunity to learn what everyone else is doing about the environment." The intimacy of the overall space, the beauty of the grounds, the nearby symposium theatre, and the central location made for a perfect mix, according to Endangered Planet founder and director Charles Michael Murray. "We'd love to keep the same venue for next year and tighten up some of the configurations. This year," he said, "We had that great cross section of symposium and entertainment and next year we visualize bringing in a headliner or two for a bigger draw." Despite lighter than hoped-for crowds and

some behind the scenes disorganization, rain on Saturday did not squelch spirits. Murray compared this first event to planting seeds that were helped to grow with the rare Southern California shower. "People chipped in with umbrellas," Murray said, "and danced all night long." Neither rainfall nor sparse crowds troubled Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, under secretary general and high representative of the United Nations for the least developed countries. He participated throughout the three-day event, starting with a cocktail hour on Thursday night and chairing symposiums Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Top to bottom, left to right: An oversized monkey leads a parade of kids in a musical performance with local songstress Cheryl Procaccini and her group, known as Birdsong and the Eco-Wonders at the Autumnal Green Festival, part of the One Earth-One Dream event hosted by Endangered Planet Foundation last weekend. Keynote speaker Chris Jordan, photographer and National Geographic ecoambassador, describes his re-interpretation of Seurat's masterpiece, using mosaic imagery to represent consumer consumption of aluminum cans. Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, former United Na-tions under-secretary general and representative of Bangladesh, chaired the festival's Life on the Edge symposiums. Jon Sherman plays a double branch flute of his own making through a solar-powered sound system in his festival booth. Michael Rubin of Anaheim checks out Lance motor scooters. Green Standard workers Salvador Duran and Salvador Andrade build a "living wall" of succulents designed by local green builder Scott Hutcheon. Staff photos by Courtenay Nearburg

"The ambassador called us in to have a small gathering and a personal meeting," Murray recounted, "and said whatever he can do in the future to help us march forward, he will do. It was a special 40 minutes." National Geographic ecoambassador Chris Jordan also made a mark on the symposiums with his professional photography showing the plight of the planet. He commented on the destructiveness of eating meat because of the energy consumed processing cattle. "Every time I am offered the opportunity to eat meat and I turn it down, I get this 'yes!'" he said, pumping his fist like he'd scored a goal. Jordan is a vegetarian. Jordan talked freely of his own struggle to curb his behavior to the benefit of the environment, citing the irony of globe trotting to make his planet-saving pitch while carbon-rich jet fuel plumes trail behind. Other vendors included Julie Ring of Living Waters, a distributor of pH balanced waters, achieved with reverse osmosis. Laguna Beach resident Jeanie Meyers, director and co-founder of My Hero Project, attended. She came to show support for Endangered Planet Foundation's mission. Greg Stevens and Jim Chrisman of Vista Paint promoted ecofriendly pain which emits zero volatile organic compounds. Another local, Cheryl Procaccini, played children's music for the crowd. Her group included a dance performer dressed as a monkey that children followed throughout the grounds. Other groups played as well throughout the weekend. Toshiba, Laguna Beach Unified School District, and the Wyland Foundation were among the event sponsors along with the Festival of Arts and Laguna Beach Magazine. In a self critique, Murray said next year he intends to familiarize himself with the speakers beforehand so he could better convey to future attendees what wonders to expect.