When my girlfriend called to bribe me to join her at some trade show and subsequent mixer, I figured it was the least a champagne whore, like myself, could do for a friend. Then she told me it was for the North State Building Industry Association Green Home Expo. I thought, “Wow, what a great opportunity for me to learn about innovative products for the home that are, hopefully, soft on both the planet and our wallets.” As we entered the room I was sorely disappointed.

I feel I should preface my comments by saying I was with a woman who owns a trade show display company and was there for sales purposes, so my hypercritical nature was amped up a bit. However, this was one of the sparsest events I have ever attended in regards to vendors and attendees—not even three full rows of salespeople, and if it weren’t for my friend and I coming to this event I think they would have only had each other to patronize. For the most part it was the same old crap that’s being pushed from every information source these days: solar panels, water filtration, free trees (at least they were water friendly oaks for our parched Sacramento), and some home evaluations to help economize existing HVAC units. I thought going green was the new thing? Where were the alternative alternative building and energy sources?

Then I found them; three beacons of light in this hollow and musty cave. The first of these illuminating sources was-surprisingly-British Petroleum—BP. I’ve known for a while that BP is one of the globe’s top investors in alternative energies and research, so I guess it makes sense they would be one of the few exhibiting, and informing on, more unique alternatives, such as wind turbines and hydrogen. Plus, their marketing strategy stood out amongst the crowd; instead of trees which have a hard time finding homes in this urban jungle of ours, they were distributing packets of flower seeds (zinnias, which will look great dangling from my second-story window) to offset our carbon footprint. On top of that, knowledgeable staff who can play to my childhood sentiments of the Altamont in the East Bay are always a boon for business—especially the wind business. Next was the California Straw Building Association--CASABA, like the melon. (We all know how I like The Food!) These people are a non-profit organization comprised of engineers, architects, builders, and others interested in buildings of straw. The concept seems a bit prehistoric at first-and indeed, it is-however, when you absorb in unison the fact that your house can be a comfortable 69 degrees almost year round without the use of heating or cooling agents, and the graceful building designs—it’s not much of a hard sell. It’s an interesting note that all of these “innovative new ideas” for the Green Market are, in fact, ancient techniques used in building for centuries, if not millennia. Last came a woman displaying her gutter system for your house that recycles rainwater for non-potable use-I’m pretty sure. It was hard to tell as I was being dragged out of the building for a bubbly uplifter. In our scurry, however, one more thing caught our attention—lotion. At a green home expo, you ask? Yes—I don’t care why, all I know is—it’s good. The product is Hawaiian Moon Aloe, and it’s the perfect lotion: no color, no perfume, no parabens or petrols, no alcohol, and it’s completely healing and delicious-feeling; no greasiness, just silk. What I have, as yet, failed to mention is that the factory has a contract with United Way and employs developmentally disabled adults to fill and package the jars along with being powered 100% by renewable wind energy. The mundane is transformed as the event comes full circle. Now for Champagne!