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From Whole Foods To Yoga, Tampa Celebrates Earth Day
Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH
“Ines” Danna Wilson dances to the strains of Kevin Strayer’s flute and Safira Tribal Fusion at Earth Day on Sunday. Several folksy musical acts also performed at Lowry Park’s outdoor amphitheater.
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Published: April 21, 2008
Updated:
TAMPA - Gia Jacobson learned about conservation growing up on a rocky, 4-mile-long island off the coast of Maine.
"You never littered. Everybody knew everybody else's business. ... Your mother would hear about it," Jacobson said. "And you didn't waste anything."
The 67-year-old Tampa resident still follows those life lessons, and her commitment to the environment is reflected in her work today: colorful ornamental bowls she's been making from recycled paper for the past 10 years.
Sunday, Jacobson was offering the bowls for a $5 donation to the Sierra Club's Tampa Bay chapter at an Earth Day celebration at Lowry Park, outside the zoo.
Jacobson, a member of the environmental group, said the gesture was the least she could do to support the club and promote Earth Day.
"I've been a conservationist since I was a child," she said.
Although Earth Day, which has been held since 1970, officially will be celebrated Tuesday, 500 to 1,000 people and dozens of eco-friendly vendors gathered Sunday at Lowry Park to mark the occasion.
The Tampa Bay Sierra Club organized the event to promote eco-friendly values and products, such as water purifiers, solar-powered attic fans, organic soap and snacks, hemp clothing, healthy dog treats, electric cars and Jacobson's bowls.
In part, the event seemed reflective of the 1960s. Plenty of organic and tie-dyed products were on hand - soap, coffee and clothing, to name a few - plus several folksy musical acts that performed at the park's outdoor amphitheater.
The Lotus Room yoga studio welcomed people to stretch out on mats splayed across the grass; elsewhere, parents and their children twirled Hula-Hoops.
"We want people to learn that we aren't just local citizens but citizens of the planet, and that everything is connected," said Rheda Weeks, the Sierra Club events coordinator who organized the gathering.
But there was no escaping the modern marketing techniques.
The canvas grocery bags came with "Whole Foods" stamped on the side. There were lots of Earth Day T-shirts with retro logos for sale. And the packaging on the hemp-infused coffee and the hemp protein supplement, for use in smoothies, looked like products you'd see in any grocery store in the United States.
Yvonne Guibert, owner of Groovy Cats and Dogs, which advertises "a holistic approach to loving your pet," said she attends such events because they help bring attention to her business, which sells healthy pet food.
"Everything we have is all natural," she said. "The kind of people who come here are kind of people who would come to my store."
The American Civil Liberties Union and local Democratic club basically said the same: This was their crowd.
There were plenty of hands-on activities to teach people about the environment, too.
Children got to transplant marigolds donated by Home Depot from small pots to bigger ones. Others made collages using glue, rocks, shells and photographs of animals.
There were plenty of exhibits that promoted ways to lower energy use and water consumption, and two energy-efficient home builders were on hand.
Representatives from the city's solid waste department, the county's Environmental Land Acquisition and Protection Program, and Bay Area Commuter Services passed out information, and Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena read an Earth Day proclamation.
Tampa Bay Sierra Club Chairwoman Beverly Griffiths said the club's aim was to impart a few conservation tips the average person could embrace, such as using recycled paper, eating organic produce, turning off lights that are not in use and conserving water.
Rose Hayes of North Tampa came to the event with her two children, Kelly, 10, and Brian, 7. She said she wants her children to appreciate the environment.
About an hour into the event, the results seemed mixed. Brian said he liked seeing the dogs at the greyhound rescue booth but wanted to go to the zoo. "I already know about recycling," he said.
His sister, meanwhile, said she was having fun but gave the organic snack bars a thumbs down: "It tasted like I ate them, threw them up and ate them again."
Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( boilercolts ) on April 21, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I was planning to celebrate Earth Day by lighting up a cigar and driving my Chevrolet Silverado Duramax Diesel 6.6L V8 to HomeDepot to get some industrial waste and toxic chemicals to destroy those pesky weeds in the back yard. Once this was done, I will hop in my trendy subcompact Toyota Hybrid and drop the recycling off at the trash can on my way to Lowry Park.
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Posted by ( gtampa ) on April 21, 2008 at 10:27 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Seriously folks, I attended the event. Valuble information was available to help us reduce our impact on our fragile environment. I'm disappointed that the event was characterized as just another bunch of dismissable people with dismissable ideas. I find the slight mention of two home builders is interesting, since our homes contribute more pollution & cause more environmental destruction than cars which seem to get so much attention these days. One of the two builders mentioned was not a builder at all but an organizer holding the first College Green Camp in Florida that will construct a home made entirely of waste materials like tires, bottles and cans (a/k/a an earthship) the other is building energy-star, Florida Green Building Coalition certified homes that comply with the City's affordable housing guidelines proving that owning a green home is not only for the wealthy as has been widly thought, addressing two of Tampa's problems at the same time. Both College Green Camp and Rising Force Construction should be commended, for being innovative and for enlightening those who care to live and learn.
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