Earth Day 2011: Powered by the People
Earth Day is the most important event of the year for any company or organization to showcase green programs and products and connect with the community. With more than 31,000 people attending the 2010 event, the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival is the signature, annual event for Southern California environmental organizations and businesses to profile their work.
Santa Barbara, CA- The Community Environmental Council (CEC) will host the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival at Alameda Park Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17, 2011. The 2011 theme, “Powered by the People,” is in line with the CEC’s Fossil Free by ’33 campaign and emphasizes the power of daily choices in making Santa Barbara one of the first fossil-free communities in the nation.
The festival will feature approximately 250 exhibitors, a free valet bike parking section that is expected to hold over 1,000 bikes, and the third annual Green Shorts Film Festival. It will also include the festival’s 11th Green Car Show – featuring the largest collection of efficient and alternative fueled vehicles between Los Angeles and San Francisco and the longest-running show of its kind in the country.
The festival will feature approximately 250 exhibitors, a free valet bike parking section that is expected to hold over 1,000 bikes, and the third annual Green Shorts Film Festival. It will also include the festival’s 11th Green Car Show – featuring the largest collection of efficient and alternative fueled vehicles between Los Angeles and San Francisco and the longest-running show of its kind in the country.
The 2010 Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival attracted over 31,000 visitors. Widely acknowledged as the birthplace of Earth Day, Santa Barbara’s longstanding environmental reputation attracts national media and celebrity attention. Recent festivals have included stage appearances by Director James Cameron and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.
CEC is once again teaming up with LoaTree (LoaTree.com), an eco-lifestyle company, and New Noise Media Group (NewNoiseSB.com), an entertainment production company, to co-produce the festival. Exhibitor registration will open in mid January at www.SBEarthDay.org. Keep current by following Santa Barbara Earth Day on Facebook & Twitter.
Begun in 1970, the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival has become the premier opportunity to showcase the latest in green technology and products to the environmentally savvy and affluent residents of California’s Central Coast. For example, the Santa Barbara region boasts one of the top five per capita markets of hybrid sales in the U.S., and is projected by Southern California Edison to be one of the top four markets for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in Edison’s territory.
“This festival is a reminder of our collective accomplishments and the local roots of what is now an international celebration,” said Sigrid Wright, Associate Director of CEC. “Earth Day brings us together to celebrate, recharge and prepare for one of the most important decades in history.”
Wright said that in the wake of the devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara’s shores, a group of local concerned citizens began talking about a different way of looking at environmental systems. Over the next few years, around the country the environmental movement was born – including the Community Environmental Council, which was incorporated in the spring of 1970. During that time, Senator Gaylord Nelson visited Santa Barbara to view the damage from the oil spill. When he returned to Washington, D.C., he introduced a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth. In CEC’s first act as new non-profit, it hosted one of the first Earth Day celebrations in the country.
For more information on Earth Day, go to www.SBEarthDay.org, email info@cecmail.org or call 963-0583 ext. 100.
