On Sat. April 9, 2016 at Mark Twain Middle School, The Venice Green Expo 2.0 gathered businesses and organizations concerned with sustainable living solutions, environmental issues and our green future. The event  featured speakers, exhibitors and workshops on topics of concern to our community. Many experts, organizations and companies were on hand to share information and services. There were lots of free giveaways and samples. It was great to gather with like minded people in the community around this vital topic.  Some of the participating organizations were:  Surfrider, Heal the Bay, Kiss the Ground, Venice Community Gardens, Whole Foods, Venice Oceanarium, and Planet Experts.  A big thank you to The Venice Neighborhood Council for hosting this important event!  Everyday is Earth Day!

Also Featured:

Electric Vehicles on display
Green Truck on site
Kids Zone for your kids
Over 30 Exhibitors
Elected officials available for questions
Giveaways and free samples
Workshops on Bio Char, Permaculture, Composting and Vegan eating
.

View event photo highlights by Venice Paparazzi’s Edizen

.

Green Venice Expo kids

The future of building with MNM Mod Building Solutions.  MNMOD.com

Dylan Newhouse learns about Kiss the Ground

Kiss The Ground’s mission is to inspire and advocate for the restoration of soil worldwide.
Our work is helping farmers and communities build back healthy soil through policy and consumer awareness.www.KissTheGround.com.  What you can do:  Compost, host a screening, help a farmer, vote with your wallet, and help your community.  Click here for full details!

Paul Scott talks about Autonomous Cars.  Paul is a founding member of Plug In America and a long-time EV driver and advocate for renewable energy.

Community Healing Gardens’ goal is to create organic gardens in every school throughout the L.A. Unified School District, to educate and introduce the importance of nutrition, health, food safety and environmental sustainability. They hope this will lead to healthier food options in the lunch and nutrition programs.  Join them at their Coffee + Dirt event on April 16th, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.  www.CommunityHealingGardens.org

Wow! This is a frightening fact, presented by speaker Joel Cesare of Surfrider Foundation!

–

Surfrider Foundation is a volunteer based, environmental non-profit group dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. surfrider.org.

Hama Sushi is the first restaurant to sign up for Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Restaurant program!  Way to go Esther Chaing!  About Ocean Friendly Restaurants:   Their main goal is eliminating EPS foam foodware (aka Styrofoam) because it is a top item found at their beach cleanups.  Click here to be an Ocean Friendly Restaurant!

Surfrider also tells us about their “Hold On To Your Butt” program!  Over 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year. Our goal is to cut down on cigarette butt pollution in our community so that dirty butts don’t wind up on the beaches we all love. In the coming months, cigarette disposal ashcans will be installed along the coast from Marina del Rey to Malibu. Butts will be collected and recycled through TerraCycle!  To all local businesses, please participate in this program!   Click here for more info!

Green Truck’s Mission: Healing our planet one meal at a time.  Here are just a few ways Green Truck is helping make our planet a happier and healthier place.  greentruckonthego.com

• The vegetable oil we use in cooking our foods is used to power our food trucks the next day.Our commissary kitchen is solar-powered.
• Saying NO to plastic and styrofoam. All of our packaging and utensils are either recyclable or compostable. Our utensils in fact, are made out of potato starch. (But no, they’re not edible.)
• Serious composting! The packaging and utensils we compost are delivered back to the farms from which we source our ingredients. In turn, the compost is used to grow more food. It’s a circle of life sort of thing.

Heal the Bay is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to making the coastal waters and watersheds of Greater Los Angeles safe, healthy and clean.  Everyone let us do our part!   Here are 5 Ways to Heal the Bay.  1.  Keep Litter out of the gutter. 2.  Use Water wisely.  3.  Hold Onto Balloons.  4.  Go Non-Toxic  5.  Sack the Plastic Bags.

• Become a beach scientist every Wednesday!  Get your feet wet and join Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium  in collecting scientific data.  www.Healthebay.org/smpa.
• Heal the Bay Beach Clean up is on April 16th at Santa Monica Beach Pier 10 a.m.-12 noon.  www.HealtheBay.org

Venice Neighborhood Council President Mike Newhouse and family

Thanks for the fruit WholeFoods!

Check out Venice’s David Hertz’ book The Restorative Home: Ecological Houses!   About The Works of David Hertz FAIA and the Studio of Environmental Architecture:   S.E.A is based in Venice Beach, Ca. Their practice primarily focuses on sustainably built, environmentally sensitive, contemporary green buildings. We handle residential and commercial designs in Los Angeles and worldwide.  http://davidhertzfaia.com

Save the date for April 23rd for the The Grunion Run!  Marvel as the seashore is covered by hundreds of sex-crazed fish. Event hosted by Venice Oceanarium

Farm Food Friends by ThomasBangert.  Farm Food Friends ABC-123 Picture Book features 26 beautifully illustrated watercolor far scenes that help everyone learn the alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, writing, and where food comes from on a farm.  www.FarmFoodFriends.com

DJ Petey Pete

Thanks to Rob Dew (right) and the Venice Neighborhood Council for hosting this wonderful and educational event!   FYI.  Miguel Bravo (right) is the artist that created the Venice flyer below!  Love your work Miguel! 

For more VNC events or to volunteer with the Venice Neighborhood Council, visit www.VeniceNC.org

__

View all 150+ Green Venice Expo event photos

.

All photos by Venice Paparazzi’s Edizen.  Need photographers or a photo booth for your upcoming event?  Hire Venice Paparazzi!  View list of photography services here on HireVP.com

.

.

Let us make every day…Earth day!   Surfrider gives us simple daily lifestyle changes that we can do to help protect our ocean, waves and beaches!