City of Fort Lauderdale Mayor, Jim Naugle, pushed “it” by displaying his wife’s neighborhood electric vehicle. City Departments showed that they know about “it” and how they are doing “it” daily. A majority of the people who attended knew that “it” was more than just recycling your cans and bottles. “It”, of course, is living, conserving, and putting into daily practice Going Green.

When Bunney Brenneman, Chair of the Utility Advisory Committee, contacted the Community Greenhouse Foundation some four weeks ago, asking if we would like to help to put together the first “GREEN Living Expo” in Fort Lauderdale, our answer was a resounding: “Yes.”

We knew that the time was short and that we would be underwriting a majority of the cost to put it together, but we welcomed the opportunity. Our mission is “facilitating Green America, one community at time”, and with our roots in South Florida, the timing was perfect to launch our “Green Communities” program with www.greenftlauderdale.com.

The event and results went as we expected and accomplished the goal which we were seeking; planting the seeds for the Fort Lauderdale community to start “Going Green”. The first Fort Lauderdale “GREEN Living Expo” was full of enthusiasm. Forty-four (44) different exhibitors and a crystal clear day met attendees. Kids, families, tree lovers, gardeners, and others walked around beautiful Stranahan Park which took on a festival feeling and seemed not too sure about the other Green Stuff. At least a quarter of the exhibitors were there due to the combination of Arbor Day, Earth Day, Water Conservation Month and “Going Green” which also included the tree-give-away and the annual Arbor Day ceremonies.

“Going Green” is a very broad concept stretching from organic toys to Solar Power, both of which were represented at the event. The company who is refurbishing homes to Energy Star Standards and providing special discount programs for City and County Employees or “Load my Groceries” who specializes in recyclable shopping bags. They all can fall under the “Green” concept.

The City planted the “seeds” for the community to “go green”, but residents, businesses and local organizations will now need to take up the initiative and help further it along by taking advantage of potential resources and each other to sustain the effort over the long term.

Going green is more than what is being marketed to you under that title; it is making the effort in the simple things in our own community, home and life. It’s about me, it’s about you. Little changes we make today can dramatically change our futures.

The first City of Fort Lauderdale GREEN Living Expo showed conclusively that the Community wants to move in the green direction according to the count of approximately 1,500 visitors by the members of the Fort Lauderdale Garden Club. Those visitors demonstrated – not only by their attendance but by their actual interest – a thirst for local Good Green news and education. This thirst is further evident in the number of visitors to this web site and the articles starting to come in on all the different “Green” topics.

So share your Good Green news with your community and help the “seeds” turn into strong roots to sustain this fledgling effort over a lifetime. To submit articles click here for guidelines, and then email editor@greenftlauderdale.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 8:27 am and is filed under Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.