Earth Works Expo, UPDATED
James Kellerman
UPDATE: The organiser of the Expo has posted a long response to this post in the comments, and is worth a read. I stand by my comments which were my personal experience of the show and reflect my disappointment. They do not represent the opinion of GreenPrint in general. The GreenPrint team are at the Earth Works Expo in Denver Colorado, and we are bored silly. I could hardly imagine a worse organised expo I have been to. The horror starts with the building that the whole thing is housed in. The Denver Merchandise Mart is a vast 1960's block with no windows, dreadful grey suspended ceilings and the sort of carpet that if you looked at it long enough would start to cause hallucinations. Its located in the middle of the sort of urban wasteland that America is so well known for. A three lane road on each side separates the building from such exciting retail opportunities as a drive through McDonalds and True Treadmills. Unfortunately for the exhibitors this is the least of the problems, the admission fee for a day at this expo is $19. That combined with the dreadful location has all but insured that no one actually comes. I would be surprised if there have been more than five hundred paying attendees. Most of the people walking around are fellow exhibitors similarly bored desperately looking for something interesting or some sign of hope. We were of course told in advance by the organisers that they were expecting 10,000 people, a number so fanciful that could not be reached without significant chemical stimulation. I have so far managed not to argue with the people selling electro-smog prevention products that are "proven" to work. Proven to work against what, I would like to ask? I haven't been particularly tempted to join up with the interfaith group against global warming. This despite the use of acoustic guitar and singing in their seminar on belief and climate change. I know I am a cold hearted atheist. On the plus side the disaster has given us the opportunity to get out of here early and head up through Montana to Yellowstone national park and back to Portland by a slightly longer but far more beautiful route.