Plain Green '10 was Kick A**

This past week, I attended the third annual Plain Green conference in Sioux Falls. Since I was out of town the first two years of the conference, this was my first one. Along with the OTA Sessions, I'm excited that Sioux Falls is getting some high quality conferences in topics that can hold my short attention span.

The day and a half was packed with good speakers. I enjoyed a presentation from the Rev. Mitch Hescox of the Evangelical Environmental Network on the impact that climate change is having on the world's poor. So much of the news coverage of climate change deals with the politics and the commitments (or lack thereof) from the developed world, and I learned a lot from Rev. Hescox about how climate change is making the poorest even poorer. His passion for the issue and compassion for those people was evident.

I also enjoyed talks from Brian Dunbar on green building and Mitchell Joachim on Carborexic Cities. They focused on society's ability to make better buildings and transportation systems so that society can be more sustainable.

The highlight of the conference for me was the presentation from Cameron Sinclair of architecture for humanity, titled "When Sustainability is a Matter of Survival." His personal story of starting an NGO that has gone on to do so much good for the world was inspiring. Architecture for Humanity goes into some of the most troubled spots in the world and uses the power of design to make them more sustainable. They are very active in Haiti right now, building schools and rebuilding lives.

They also invited me to give a presentation on Green Communications. Considering that only one person left early and no one threw anything at me, I thought it went pretty well. If you missed it, you can view and listen to the presentation here:

Communicating green

View more presentations from Nathan Schock.

The only presentation I didn't care for was from Steve Clark because it perpetuated the old stereotypes of the environmental movement. He biked from the Twin Cites to the conference and generally leads a very low-impact lifestyle which he shared in great detail. All of his person actions are commendable. However, I have the same problem with Clark's presentation that I have with No Impact Man. It leaves the impression that the only way the environment can be preserved is through MASSIVE sacrifice.

Predictably, that's what the Sioux Falls Argus Leader (an event sponsor) picked up on in their article about the conference. Who can blame them for writing about a St. Paul man who composts his own waste...yeah, that kind. The article generated 35 comments, including this representative one (typos and all):

If mister green-design ROCKSTAR and his wife want to live in there little solar powered cabin, ride there bicycles, crap in a bucket. Nobody cares if they want to roll in there own SH!T all day long. More power to them. Just don't try to push it on the rest of us.

If the world needs to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent, it can't be accomplished through sacrifice. It can only be done by inventing new buildings, transportation systems and just about everything else. And that can only be done if people see that the reinvented things are better than what we have today. During his Plain Green presentation, Brian Dunbar quoted extensively from New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, including this:

What I say is if climate change is a hoax, it's the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the United States of America. Because everything we would do to get ready for climate change, to build this new green industry, would make us more respected, more entrepreneurial, more competitive, more healthy as a country.

I think most people at Plain Green would have agreed with that, but it's not as sensational as composting your own crap.

During the breaks between speakers, the music (theme song, if you will) was Stand Up from the Prodigy. The song is from the soundtrack of the movie, Kick Ass. That felt entirely appropriate since, all things considered, the conference was kick ass. See you next year at Plain Green.