EP!C Conference 2010
(Written May 18. Posted with minor adjustments June 17.)
The EPIC conference is coming up again — the consumer-oriented kin to the industry-oriented GLOBE conference, it tends to draw a more idealistic crowd. (And not necessarily as knowledgeable one…) None the less, when it comes to freebies, it’s a more interesting and rewarding than its businesslike cousin — I use a “shoofoo” bamboo hand towel freebie from Epic 2009, to wipe off my desk at work.
The hand towel is probably a representative microcosm of the stuff flogged at this show: bamboo grows with a virulent quickness, so is assumed to be a “green” material. But most bamboo products come from China… which doesn’t tend to follow environmentally sound practises. Analogously, a lot of IKEA wood comes from Russia — which is in the same boat. (As a side-note, this doesn’t reflect on our formerly-Communist friends — every developed country went through a growth-at-all-cost phase; environmental regulation tends to appear once enough enough people achieve a certain level of material comfort, and presumably political influence. And admittedly, by this standard Alberta isn’t a developed country yet. 
)
Fortunately, Shoo-Foo has respectable third-party certification to ensure its bamboo is grown in an environmentally conscious manner. 
Tickets are $10. Exhibitors of interest (to me at least) include:
- Metro Vancouver, who would’ve been the hosts of my now-abandoned team-building trip to the local landfill. Funny how there was a lot more enthusiasm for visiting the local wind turbine.
- Salt Spring Island Coffee, who reduced their carbon footprint substantially by shipping their beans on the California-to-Vancouver leg of their supply chain, instead of trucking them over, as they used to.*
- EasyPark Vancouver, who — as a parking lot operator — would be an ideal candidate for implementing horizontal geothermal heating-and-cooling for nearby buildings (which is what Wal-Mart is doing in one of their new stores, in Alberta no less, wouldntcha know)
- BCAA, who recently introduced bike-assistance services
- BC Sustainable Energy Association, whose founder’s recent book “101 Solutions to Global Warming” was, uh, “somewhat populated” with errors. Still trying to figure out how to broach that subject politely…
- Clif Bar, whose booth is always crowded with freebie-seekers
…and many, many, many others from the “D-Z” portion of the alphabet.
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* emissions (and costs) associated with overseas shipping are usually dwarfed by emissions (and costs) from local transport. This makes sense, since a truck might hold 10 tonnes of goods, but a boat might hold 100,000 tonnes. Even though the boats emit a lot more than the trucks (they use much dirtier fuels, for one) on a per-tonne basis, they cost and emit much less. As such, arguments that high fuel prices will reduce globalized trade are likely to be incorrect. (I’m looking at you, Jeff Rubin! )
High fuel prices causing recessions and decreased demand for goods in general — *that* will more likely hit trade (and thus globalized trade) a lot more.