On St. Patrick's Day this year while the leprecons were out and about, local thought leaders celebrated all things green at the Opportunity Knocks party thrown by ecofabulous, Opportunity Green and Heart of Green.
Hosted by Zem Joaquin, Nadine
Weil, Karen Solomon and Mike Flynn at a private penthouse in the SOMA, the party brought
together over 150 innovators in the sustainable
industry, including San Francisco Supervisor Ross
Mirkarimi, Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity, architect Michelle Kaufmann, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster, Mark
Dwight of Rickshaw Bagworks, Josiah Raison
Cain of Design Ecology, and leaders from Eco Citizen, Sungevity, Organic
Bouquet, SunPower, Current TV Green, Inhabitat, O Organics, X PRIZE,
and Google Green.
The crowd nibbled on organic foods from Mixt Greens and Le Colonial, enjoyed clover cupcakes from the new Peace Love & Cupcakes, and got special tastings from 479 Popcorn, TCHO chocolate, and popchips. The very popular VeeV acai spirit cocktails were in the house, and guests were treated to Casa Barranca organic wine, Bionade, and LIVE Energy Drinks. The new company from Lauren Gropper - Repurpose Now - launched their hip compostable cups for parties. The requested attire was "green dress to impress" and the crowd did not disappoint with many vintage outfits, green bow ties, and eco-fashion ensembles on display.
One of the highlights of the evening was the Green Wish Board on which guests wrote their personal wishes for the planet. The wish voted most inspiring was that of Katy Saeger of Neighbor Agency who said, “I wish that green becomes the rule, not the luxury.” The first runner up was submitted by Joann Lee at Esurance who wrote, “I hope that that the economy, instead of hindering green advances, makes each of us more creative and efficient in the approaches taken to create a sustainable world.”
At the party, I learned that EcoTimber has been rocking good wood for over 15 years. Led by Lewis Buchner, EcoTimber has enabled forest conservation by
selling sustainably-harvested wood flooring since 1992. EcoTimber works closely with the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) and produces products free of toxins for healthy
indoor air quality. Thanks to their FSC-certified factory, 172,000 acres of
forest were just saved in
Opportunity Green is a must-attend conference, and the only conference I missed last year. I won't make that mistake again. Opportunity Green is not only a convergence of innovators driving today's green economy, it is also hip and fun. The summit aims to inspire a collaborative culture of new and unconventional thinking that pushes change in unexpected ways. It will take place this November 7-8, 2009 at UCLA and will again be a 2-day chance to immerse oneself in the thought-leadership of sustainability. www.opportunitygreen.com
See all of the festive party photos by Drew Altizer, and let's hear it for the Irish who have been celebrating green since before the 17th century!
I've heard of opportunity green. I'd imagine a lot of out of the box thinking occurs. I'm sure there's a lot of great ideas that stem from the conference.
I'd like to find out if anything similar occurs here in Australia.
Posted by: fairy parties | August 17, 2009 at 09:47 PM