It ain’t easy being green
As promised, we spent the morning with a couple dozen folks from the Seattle Rainforest Action Group dressed as homeless caribou, wandering the streets of Everett, Washington. I’m speaking, of course, of our antics at the Built Green Conference and Expo. The annual event drew about 700 building industry professionals.
As conference attendees flooded into the building, the herd fanned out distributing flyers. Others held up a banner reading “Built Green Beware: Quadrant Homes, Green Imposter. Nearly everybody gave us their support. Green builders, it turns out, are not big fans of Quadrant Homes and the company’s prominence in the conference was a controversy well before we showed up.
Our protest drew also drew some pretty hefty security. About 20-30 of Everett’s finest greeted us bright-and early. (Can you imagine the morning briefing? “Men, we’ve got a whole herd of caribou downtown. I’m going to need at least half the squad.”) Weyerhaeuser’s head of security also showed up (He knows us by name. Hi Ron!) as did Frank Mendizabal, the ubiquitous spokesperson we met yesterday.
Inside, activists interrupted the morning awards ceremony with an award of their own: “Eco Imposter”. Security swiftly escorted the surprise presenter out of the auditorium but the show wasn’t over. She earned supporters among the audience. Some booed. Some asked why the conference couldn’t have a dialogue about its awardees. Everybody knew that a green award for Quadrant homes meant controversy.
3 Responses to “It ain’t easy being green”
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March 13th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
[...] It aint easy being green [...]
March 13th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Good for you guys! Yay Planet Earth! When I grow up, I want to be a caribou activist just like you.
April 24th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Love your work… Keep on keepin on… KNowledge is power so keep getting the word out…
Much peace and love…