Something that you should know about Jubbling is that we try to avoid events with “green” in the name. Unlike Jubbling, green is such an overused term and often repels as many people as it attracts. But we’re always in need of new ideas so we headed over to Seattle to see what was going on. Thankfully, Green Festival Seattle was not an overly hyped marketing event and instead focused on local vendors and offered solutions in a more Jubbling vein. You still had companies like Nature’s Path, Tesla, and Verizon but they were easily outnumbered by small local companies like ecohaus, SolTerra and ReUsie.

For my trip to Green Fest, I brought with me a couple of experts in the area of Jubbling – my daughter Amanda and her friend Maggie. The main reason they came along is that they’re pretty savvy kids who are not afraid to ask the tough questions. The other reason was that I knew they would willingly snoop around the PETA booth and see if the woman in the “One pound of meat equals six months of showers” display was naked. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t get positive confirmation.)

Interesting Products
ecohaus’s Gray-Water Toilet – An older idea but still awesome. A sink mounted in the lid over the tank lets the water that normally goes down the drain fill the tank for the next flush. ecohaus is a reseller of innovative building products that are sustainably produced, designed to reduce and built to last. The gray-water toilet is one of many thoughtful products you can purchase from ecohaus. And yes, you can brush your teeth in the built-in sink while you’re taking care of business in the morning. True multitasking!

SolTerra Systems EcoRoofs – SolTerra is a local company retrofitting and/or building new living roofs onto homes and businesses. SolTerra’s “EcoRoofs” can support a garden, will insulate your home from extreme hot and cold weather and are expected to last up to 50+ years. They also mitigate the effects of runoff by filtering and retaining up to 69% of the rainfall.

SodaStream – A showstopper for the kids. SodaStream is a simple product that uses a compressed CO2 canister to carbonate normal tap water into sparkling water. Add a small shot of flavor and you’ve got your favorite soda. Flavors are all natural and include root beer, cola, diet cola and every other color of soda you can think of. SodaStream’s goal is to move the anti-bottled water debate to the possibly-recycled containers delivering soda that is loaded with preservatives. And the CO2 canisters can be exchanged and recharged and will supply enough carbonation to produce from 60 – 110 liters of flavored or straight soda water.

Green Fest was loaded with other great booths but I’ve got to reach out to the Vegans – pitching your cause and ideals is great but staring down the attendees is probably not the best way to attract a following. I guess the saying “Love animals. Hate humans” applies here because there was a lot of carnivore-profiling going on at that booth. Fortunately for them, they’re booth ended up being the most memorable for the kids. I’m not sure why but I think it had to do with one of their t-shirts.

Anyways, if a Green Fest comes to your town I would recommend attending. You’ll find a lot of good people and discover Jubbling ideas that are not all extreme and are usually local. Definitely bring your kids too. They’ll ask questions that you wouldn’t think of and in a pinch, they’ll nose around the PETA booth and let you know if the shower-taker is naked or not.